JC / Railbird

Chip Woolley

The Double

There are cowboys, a bucking horse, and jockey Calvin Borel playing himself in the trailer for “50-1,” the movie loosely based on Mine That Bird’s improbable victory in the 2009 Kentucky Derby, but the image that arrested me was of Bob Baffert, played by Bruce Wayne Eckelman in a role that’s definitely true to one thing — the trainer’s distinctive hair. I tweeted about what I thought was a wig:

Hold up, @HeadRacingTwit, aka Penelope Miller, tweeted back:

“Gotta tell you,” she said. “I saw the guy at BC and he had the same ‘do. Either it’s not a wig or he’s going Method.” She was right — there was Eckelman looking for all the world like Baffert’s twin — and she wasn’t the only one who remembered the actor causing doubletakes at Santa Anita.

“I think there’s a snippet of him in the @ErnieMunick #BC13 vid come to think of it,” added Superterrific.

There is: Watch Munick’s video and look for “the stunt Baffert.”

Good thing I didn’t have any money on the wig.

“I think the lesson here for us all,” tweeted Jen Montfort to me and Penelope, “is that the direction of the part really is crucial.”

The horse agrees.

Related: Churchill’s Darren Rogers recalled how that fateful call to trainer Chip Woolley went down: “I said, ‘You know you’ve got the earnings, right?’”

(All GIFs taken from the “50-1” trailer.)

Posted in Miscellany on December 19, 2013 / Tagged 50 to 1, Chip Woolley, Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird, Movies

Quote of the Day

“Once you’re the Derby winner, you have to look out for the good of the sport.” – Trainer Chip Woolley, while discussing taking Mine That Bird to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes.

Posted in Racing on May 7, 2009 / Tagged Chip Woolley, Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird, Sportsmanship