Given that I wasn't born at the time, I knew little-to-nothing about the 1973 Triple Crown-winning horse that this Disney family flick is named after. But it's not necessary to know the "true" story of the horse or the details surrounding Mrs. Penny Chenery (Diane Lane), who found a way to save her father's horse farm and deal with her grief all at once. It's exactly the kind of formula that Disney has made a track record (pun intended) of knocking out of the park, and this one is no exception.

Secretariat is as you might imagine about a horse, but in so many ways, this is more than about a horse. Penny arrives on her family farm to attend her mother's funeral and finds herself embroiled in the business of the farm, although she has no previous knowledge about what it means to be a horse owner or trainer. She quickly clears the proverbial temple courts of those trading in lies and disadvantages, throwing out the trainer who has led her father closer to bankruptcy and barging into the all-male club to make a business arrangement. Hell-fire and brimstone might be a stretch, but not by much!

Just as obstinate is Lucien Laurin, who proves to be a better trainer than golfer, played by John Malkovich. He's as grumpy and off-putting as Malkovich's Marvin Boggs in Red, but his heart is always made of gold, and he proves to be a necessary aide to Penny's turnaround. It's a Disney movie so it almost goes without saying, but this is a story about surviving and rising over great odds, in community, and recognizing that you a) can't do it alone and b) aren't really as alone as you think you are.

In one of the early flashbacks, Penny's father (Scott Glenn) tells Penny that "it's not whether they tell us we won or not, it's whether or not we think we won." It's similar to my dad's (also coach) longtime advice to his swimmers that "you can only control what the person (you yourself) is doing, so swim fast!" Penny couldn't control all of the other functioning and overfunctioning around her, but when she saw a problem that needed fixed, she took it upon herself and got it done. She recognized a fellow "hunger" in Laurin, and the two of them conquered a world bent against them together. The horse was just the vehicle that carried them along!

The Blu-ray includes a bunch of behind-the-scenes and "referral" stuff, like the director's conversation with the real Penny Chenery, watching how the races came together in the movie, watching the 1973 Preakness race (from multiple angles), and a few more deleted scenes than the standard. It's good fun for the whole family, and the beauty of the challenge, and the sport, take center stage.