Saddles & Silks – A
Jockey’s Story (Special
Interest/Horses)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Main Program: B-
In a real pleasant surprise on a subject that has received
little attention on DVD, the commerce, science and art of horse racing beyond
clichés of gambling are covered in a new DVD set from BFS called Saddles
& Silks. The title program on
DVD 1 is about an hour and shows the lives of professional jockeys, the men and
women who make the horses go. It is a
very long overdue acknowledgement of their contribution to the sport and while
dispelling myths, it also updating the little-known world of how horses are
turned into potential champions. It
runs 70 minutes.
The bonus program that has all of DVD 2 to itself is the
1981 program The Thoroughbred – A Magic Way Of Going, which focuses on
the horses and all the science and advancements of the time that have gone into
improving the racing tracks, horse breeding, genetic predicting, encyclopedic
history needed and other experience involved in doing medical and calculative
work in the business. Most interesting
is the early use of film with computers of the horses shot as 500
frame-per-second. Running 53 minutes,
it is a compelling as the former and after about a quarter-century, holds up
extremely well and deserves a sequel.
The 1.33 X 1 image is problematic in both cases,
however. In the title show, there is a
terrible case of moiré patterns throughout, especially in some of the racing
footage. I have never seen anything
like it on DVD or even 12” LaserDisc, but it is odd and could be from zooming
in during editing, plus possibly some analog PAL and/or even SECAM footage
conversion troubles. The subject is so
interesting, that it is not as distracting as it would be otherwise, but the
flaws are one for the books. The bonus
program is shot on film (16mm most likely) and is a bit fuzzy and hazy, maybe
because it is an earlier analog master.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound in both cases is adequate and pretty
monophonic for the most part. Extras on
DVD 1 are brief horse photos, additional stills and text jockey profiles. Be sure to catch Saddles & Silks,
one of the best special interest titles of the year.
- Nicholas Sheffo
