| ||
|
Good Luck in 2012
- And that goes for all of horseracing - By Tom
Dawson for SureBet January 2012 - Good luck with favorable legislation, uniform regulation, technological improvements, regaining coverage on mainstream TV, and the numerous other immediate needs. On the entertainment front, it appears “Luck” is already here. For the first time in memory, horseracing will be the focus of a high-profile dramatic television series. If you saw the Dec. 11 sneak preview of Luck on HBO, you have no doubt formed your own opinion on the show. If you didn’t catch the sneak, that’s fine, too. The series premiere is Jan. 29. I’ll tell you up front that I am a big fan of the two creative minds behind this series. That way you can get those salt grains ready to sprinkle. Luck is the creation of writer/producer David Milch, himself a racetrack lifer. His experiences in the sport have ranged from fan to gambler to the owner of Breeders’ Cup champions and an Eclipse Award winner. And it is all of those experiences and observations that Milch brings to the show. Milch’s past performances include the title of co-creator of television staples Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue. More recently, he brought Deadwood to HBO, complete with large doses of blood, filth, profanity, morality and memorable characters. Luck’s executive producer and director is four-time Oscar nominee Michael Mann. He is a visual genius. I offer Last of the Mohicans as an example of how to bring perfect clarity to chaotic situations. The racing scenes in Luck should reap particular benefit. The characters In Luck are real. Not biographical, mind you, but real. Those of us who have spent quality time around the racetrack know all of them. There’s the master manipulator (Dustin Hoffman); his front man (Dennis Farina); the cagey trainer (John Ortiz); the gambler (Kevin Dunn); the washed-up jockey (Gary Stevens); the frenetic agent (Richard Kind); the exercise girl (Kerry Condon); the old trainer trying to remember what a good horse looks like (Nick Nolte). There is even a guy in upcoming episodes who sounds a little like Frank Stronach. I firmly believe that you will be able to put a name from your own experiences to more than one of these folks. The language is sometimes salty, but reasonably authentic. There are several clever instances of trainer speak. The gamblers generally use the right terms. The conversations sound like they took place at the racetrack. I guess the risk is that lay people won’t grasp all of the terminology. But if every cop drama stopped to explain the lingo, they would never have time to arrest anybody. Besides, you have to like a show that features a vet checking for a fecal impaction in the first half hour. Now that’s inside stuff. Mucking stalls aside, the situations in Luck won’t always be pleasing. We’ve already passed the fatal breakdown barrier in the sneak preview. Most likely there are other potentially distasteful plotlines are lurking in both the shedrow and the boardroom. But there are masters at work here. And one of them has had a lifelong affair with his subject. I firmly believe that will clearly show through. I hope the end result will be something millions want to watch every week. Something that creates the kind of social buzz the sport so desperately needs -- something that makes folks want to see for themselves, warts and all. If that happens, racing in 2012 will have at least one stroke of good “Luck.” | ||
|
|
