To celebrate the season and reflect on the stories, heroes, indelible moments and everyday joys of thoroughbred racing, the team at America’s Best Racing offers a helpful holiday movie and TV viewing guide for horse racing enthusiasts. This post was originally posted in December 2016 and has been updated.
- For racing fans who enjoy a heartwarming comeback story like Lady Eli’s unlikely return from laminitis several years ago, be sure to check out the uplifting classic. “It’s a great life” this holiday season.
- If Throwback Thursdays is your thing because you love the great legends of the game Kelso, Refrain And Secretariattake a trip back to times gone by with “A Christmas Story”, narrated by author Jean Shepard. #TBT
- If you like races with many horses in the field, you should watch the 2003 Christmas-themed blockbuster “Love, Actually,” because there are about nine different plots woven into the film.
- If you don’t feel comfortable unless you’re around a horse, go check it out “Eleven” this season. It’s the ultimate fish-out-of-water Christmas movie!
- For racing fans who always cheer on the big star and argue for falling short of Triple Crown bids: “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” is for you. You know who you are!
- If you find yourself second-guessing every bet or wondering what would have happened if your horse had a better ride, make time to enjoy it. “The Family Man” this December. It’s a definitive holiday version of how our choices shape our lives, with a hint of the sting of a missed opportunity.
- If you find horse backstories like Cody’s wish inspiring, then Santa’s origin story in “Klaus‘ is something you will cherish.
- If you’ve experienced a Christmas crisis like missed gift deliveries or party mix-ups, but somehow find a way to save the day, like The Miracle of Journalism in the 2025 Preakness Stakesthen Kurt Russell’s Santa Claus and his helpers in “The Christmas Chronicles‘is the choice.
- Do you never give good tips about big races to make sure you get good chances on the horses you like? Then you have to tune in “A Muppet Christmas Carol” and celebrate your inner Scrooge.
- For the racing fan who cannot hold back the tears when a former claimant likes it Sea biscuit, Charismaticor Lava man perseveres and becomes a big hit, head straight to the Peanuts gang’s tree makeover “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
- Do you feel like you’re constantly missing a Pick 6, that you’re always locked out before you can place a bet, or that you forget to watch a race live and then hear about the incredible race to the finish? Watch “National Lampoon Christmas Vacation” and find a kindred spirit in Clark Griswold.
- When nothing interests you more than a regional – and meteorological – confrontation between them Aqueduct And Gulfstream Park horses on the Triple Crown Trail, enjoy the incorrigible Miser brothers “The year without Sinterklaas.”
- Are beautiful gray horses your absolute favorites? Then it’s time to check out the Bing Crosby-Danny Kaye perennial “White Christmas!”Ÿ
- If you like racehorses that are real hams California Chrome who like to stick out their tongues and make a mug for the camera, well, a kind of slapstick comedy “Home Alone” is the ticket.
- Do your friends constantly look to you to save the day at the track because you always know where the best food, the best bars and the best gambling spots are to be found? Congratulations, you’re the John McClane of your group! Go take a look “Die hard” this Christmas.
- If you’re planning on giving your friends and family presents consisting of the free hats and giveaways you scored at the track this year, then your Christmas movie is definitely a must-watch. “Bad Santa!”
- And for fans who can’t suppress the urge to take home your favorite racehorse, go back to where TV’s greatest sitcom began: “The Simpsons, Season 1, Episode 1 – Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.”
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