The Best Horse Racing Movies

Over 1.9K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Horse Racing Movies
Voting Rules
Vote up your favorite Horse racing films, regardless of how popular or successful they were at the box office.

A list of all the best horse racing movies ever made, many of which are streaming on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Take a look to see if your favorite horse racing movies are included on this list of the most famous race horse movies ever made.

This horse racing movie list can be sorted by cast, year, director, and more. This list of horse racing films also contains horse racing movie titles that can be clicked on for more information about the film. This horse racing films list can also be copied to start your own. This list, though, contains the best horse racing movies of all time, as voted on by fans of the films This horse racing movie list is currently ordered from best to worst. Vote up your favorite movies to the top.

List of horse racing films includes horse racing movie titles that can be clicked on for more information about the film. You could always re-rank this list then share it on your social networks to get a count of what only your friends think about this topic.

These are the top films in the horse racing genre, meaning that each and every one of these is a movie with at least a single element of the horse racing genre in it. Be it the motifs of the horse racing genre or just some of the most common archetypes.

Also, you should vote on movies like Laffit: All About Winning and Dead Cert, if you like them. If we missed any horse racing movies on this list, please add them to the list yourself, as this is an open list which means you can add any movies whenever you like (choices are subject to moderation). The films on this list cover the most famous horse racing movies of all time and are voted on by people who really care about horse racing movie lists and horse movies.

You can find the release information for any of the films listed below. It's often available in the data set, so you can even find the cast of some of these by clicking on the names of the horse racing movies. List includes photos and horse racing movie trailers next to the names of the movies.

The list you're viewing is made up of many different movies, like Secretariat and Kentucky Derby Greatest Moments.

Whether you're at home and want to watch these horse racing movies on DVD, streaming Blu-ray or streaming, or if you're seeing them in theaters for the first time, this is a list of good horse racing movies that can be helpful in either situation to see where they all stack up. So from the latest, to the greatest horse racing movies, here is the full horse racing movies list, ordered from best to worst.

All sorts of directors have taken on Horse racing movies. Examples include Frank Capra, William Beaudine, and David Butler.

Most divisive: Champions
Ranked by
  • Seabiscuit
    1
    Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper
    412 votes
    • Released: 2003
    • Directed by: Gary Ross
    In the midst of the Great Depression, a businessman (Jeff Bridges) coping with the tragic death of his son, a jockey with a history of brutal injuries (Tobey Maguire) and a down-and-out horse trainer (Chris Cooper) team up to help Seabiscuit, a temperamental, undersized racehorse. At first the horse struggles to win, but eventually Seabiscuit becomes one of the most successful thoroughbreds of all time, and inspires a nation at a time when it needs it most.

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  • Secretariat
    2
    Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh
    565 votes
    • Released: 2010
    • Directed by: Randall Wallace
    Despite her lack of experience, housewife and mother Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) agrees to take over management of the family Thoroughbred farm after her father (Scott Glenn) becomes ill. Successfully navigating her way through the male-dominated world of horse racing, Chenery, together with veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), fosters a gifted colt that ultimately crosses the finish line into history as the Triple Crown winner in 1973.

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  • Seabiscuit: America's Legendary Racehorse
    3

    Seabiscuit: America's Legendary Racehorse

    230 votes
  • Phar Lap
    4
    Ron Leibman, Robert Grubb, Judy Morris
    158 votes
    • Released: 1983
    • Directed by: Simon Wincer

    Tom Burlinson, Richard Morgan

    Tommy (Tom Burlinson) works as a stable boy for horse trainer Harry Telford (Martin Vaughan). Telford takes a risk in leasing a gaunt horse named Phar Lap from his boss, Dave Davis (Ron Leibman), entrusting care of the animal to Tommy. But when Phar Lap begins an unexpected winning spree, Telford must fend off pressure from other racers and disgruntled gamblers -- not to mention the boss and his wife (Judy Morris), who have both taken a keen interest in the horse and its earning potential.
  • The Black Stallion
    5
    Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr
    141 votes
    • Released: 1979
    • Directed by: Carroll Ballard
    Alec (Kelly Reno) encounters a magnificent black Arabian horse while traveling aboard a steamship around the coast of North Africa with his father (Hoyt Axton). When a disaster destroys the ship, Alec frees the horse and escapes with it to a nearby island, where they form a close bond. When Alec is rescued, he insists the horse be rescued too, and both return to America. There, Alec and former jockey Henry (Mickey Rooney) work to train the horse, which Alec names "The Black," for a race.

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  • Dreamer
    6
    Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Kris Kristofferson
    173 votes
    • Released: 2005
    • Directed by: John Gatins
    Ben Crane (Kurt Russell) is a horse trainer who is struggling to connect with his precocious daughter, Cale (Dakota Fanning). But then a horse by the name of Soñador suffers a broken leg after its evil owner (David Morse) races her despite Ben's advice. Rather than put his client's injured horse down, Ben adopts her and welcomes Cale into the family business. They train Soñador to race again as grouchy but kind-hearted Grandpa (Kris Kristofferson) lends his encouragement.

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