When Graham McNeice stumbles upon a piece of priceless racing footage, his reaction is something akin to that of Howard Carter when the British archaeologist found the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun.
“Shadow” came across some rarely seen black and white footage of Vain’s three Sydney race starts in 1969. Instinctively the master creator of documentaries wondered what he could do with his discovery if he married it up with some colour footage he already had on file.
With the aid of Melbourne audio archivist Dennis Najim, “Shadow” was able to add commentary to the Sydney film footage, and immediately began the job of creating a short documentary on the brief but spectacular career of one of the greatest sprinter-milers of all time.
The astonishing deeds of modern day champions like Winx tend to push the achievements of yesterday’s heroes into the background, at least temporarily. It takes a documentary like this one to rekindle memories of Vain, the coppery chestnut with the economical action winning twelve of his only fourteen starts - some of them by jaw dropping margins. For instance he won his last four races by an aggregate twenty two and a quarter lengths, against the best opposition of the era.
Courtesy of Shadow Productions I’m delighted to post a short documentary tribute to an unforgettable horse.