http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/sports/finders-key-from-far-back-in-the-pack-to-the-lead-in-war-horse.html From Far Back in the Pack
to the Lead in ‘War Horse’
By BILL CHRISTINE
Published: January 24, 2012 Bobby Lovgren, a trainer for “Seabiscuit,” bought Finders Key for an undisclosed sum after
the filming.Lovgren, a native of South Africa, was the head horse trainer for "War Horse."Before he went Hollywood, the thoroughbred gelding
Finders Key accounted for only torn-up mutuel tickets at
Los Alamitos Race Course, a track better known for quarter horse racing in
Orange County, Calif. Winless in four $2,500 claiming races, he was beaten by a combined 30 lengths, never finishing higher than fifth.
His former trainer from Los Alamitos,
Curly Ortiz, said recently that Finders Key, despite aristocratic breeding, “was not a gem in any sense.” He also did not think Finders Key could become a movie star.
Finders Key raced as a 3-year-old in 2002, when he was owned by
Vincent Timphony and his wife,
Scarlet. Vincent Timphony was a little-known trainer and
Wild Again was a rank long shot in 1984 when they combined to win the first running of the
Breeders’ Cup Classic. Timphony, who never had another horse as good as Wild Again, died in 2010.
“Horses are like people,” Scarlet Timphony said. “You can’t tell what’s inside by just looking at them. We had a horse named
Fasternhel, who was well-bred, but he hardly lived up to his name. We sold him for $1,200, and he became one of the top polo ponies on the international circuit. So there we were, trying to force Finders Key to race, when what he wanted to do was be in the movies.”
Running before crowds that barely topped 1,000 at Los Alamitos, Finders Key now has a page on Facebook and has attracted international attention.
He was discovered by
Rusty Hendrickson, the wrangler for
“Seabiscuit,” the film about the Depression-era racehorse in which he made his screen debut in 2003. Finders Key was one of 10 horses who played Seabiscuit; two years later, he was seen in
“The Legend of Zorro,” and now, billed as
Finder, he is the lead among the 14 horses portraying
Joey in
Steven Spielberg’s
“War Horse.” The movie, set in World War I, turns on a young soldier’s devotion to his horse. Finders Key is so versatile that in an early scene, in an inventive twist, he plays his own dam giving birth to Joey.
The movie, nominated Tuesday for an Oscar for best picture, used almost 300 horses for one battle scene. The best acting was by Finders Key, said
Alex Brown, a veteran exercise rider, who wrote a book about
Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner. “Often in horse movies, as a horseman, you cringe at a couple of scenes because they are either unrealistic or simply incorrect,” Brown wrote in
Steeplechase Times. He added, “In ‘War Horse,’ Joey’s role was brilliant.”
Gene Klein, who owned the
San Diego Chargers and later a major racing stable, once said that the advantage he had with horses was that “they don’t show up with their agents and ask for their contracts to be renegotiated.” With representation, Finders Key might have been sold to Hendrickson for more. He was part of a three-horse, $4,500 package with a solid-colored chestnut Appaloosa and a bay thoroughbred mare.
Ortiz did not single out Finders Key when Hendrickson stopped by his barn looking for Seabiscuit look-alikes. Moving down the shedrow, Hendrickson stopped in front of Finders Key’s stall and said, “Who’s this?”
Ortiz responded: “You don’t want him. I have trouble even getting him to go to the track to train. Unless he has a pony alongside him, he won’t go out there.”
But Hendrickson said he would not take the Appaloosa and the mare if Ortiz did not throw in Finders Key.
“He’s just right for some of the things they want to do,” said Ortiz, who saw “War Horse” the day after Christmas. “They’ve trained him into becoming a very good trick horse. That thing he did in the first part of ‘Seabiscuit’ was really terrific.”
In “Seabiscuit,”
Chris Cooper, playing the trainer
Tom Smith, is introducing his new horse to a cocksure jockey at the barn at Saratoga. Finders Key, playing a young Seabiscuit, rears up despite being restrained by two handlers with ropes. The jockey backs off, but the horse lunges toward him and rips his shirt. The jockey backs off, muttering a profanity. “He’s nuts,” he adds.
Coincidentally, the jockey was played by
Kevin Mangold, who rode Finders Key in his final race, on Aug. 8, 2002, at Los Alamitos. Mangold, who retired from riding in 2006 after winning 52 races over six years, has appeared in several film and television productions as an actor and stunt rider.
Mangold and Scarlet Timphony said they each saw “War Horse,” but neither knew Finders Key was in the film until a reporter told them.
“I cried my eyes out during that picture,” Mangold said. “I’m kicking myself for not recognizing him. I’d say that our acting careers have turned out much better than our racing careers.”
In his last race, Finders Key, at 77-1 odds, finished next to last in an eight-horse field. The official chart of the four-and-a-half-furlong race said Finders Key “lacked the needed closing response.” Finders Key earned $500 in purses in his four starts.
“I remember standing with Vincent Timphony one morning during workouts,” Ortiz said. “He said that what the horse needed was grass racing. I thought, What’s he doing at Los Alamitos? Los Alamitos doesn’t have a grass course.”
Timphony sent the horse to Ortiz because he was ill with diabetes and still trying to train a few horses at Santa Anita. Scarlet Timphony said she did not remember what she and her husband paid for Finders Key, only that he was inexpensive because the breeder,
James J. Lindsey, had died and the estate was eager to sell his horses. Yet Finders Key’s grandsires are
Roberto and
Key to the Mint. In 1972, Roberto won the
Epsom Derby in England, and Key to the Mint, who won the
Travers and the
Whitney at
Saratoga, was voted the best 3-year-old colt in North America.
The Timphonys had a dispute with Ortiz over training bills, a matter that went before the stewards at Los Alamitos. In effect, Ortiz took over ownership of Finders Key in the settlement.
Bobby Lovgren, a trainer for “Seabiscuit,” bought Finders Key for an undisclosed sum after the filming.
“He wasn’t the easiest horse to work with,” Lovgren said. “But I liked his personality. He would get an expression on his face that was different than many horses, and great for close-ups. He brought a lot to the table, and is average-sized, which means that he can be a good fit playing other horses in a lot of films.”
Lovgren, a native of South Africa, was the head horse trainer for “War Horse.” Finders Key was flown to England from Los Angeles, a 12-hour trip, to join the production. It was the first time the horse had been on a plane, but Lovgren said he handled the flight without incident. After filming in England, Finders Key was sent to
Montreal for four months to shoot the
Snow White movie
“Mirror Mirror,” which stars
Julia Roberts and will be in theaters March 16.
“Horses actually travel better in the air than they do going by van someplace,” Lovgren said. “Most of the time, it’s a much smoother trip.”
In the
New Yorker,
David Denby called “War Horse” unimaginative but also wrote, “The horses themselves are magnificent, and maybe that’s reason enough to see the movie.”
And one of Finders Key’s friends on Facebook said: “The scene where Joey loses his friend, the black horse, made me cry uncontrollably. He just lingers, not wanting to leave his friend behind. How they brought such emotion out of an animal was remarkable and so moving. If you’ve ever loved and lost an animal, then you can relate to it. It hit home so closely for me.”
Finders Key is now back in California, at Lovgren’s ranch near Los Angeles, while Lovgren considers new scripts. Some thoroughbreds live well past 20, so Finders Key, 13, could have a long movie career ahead of him.
Before it ends, he could be driven to
Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, to have his hoof prints immortalized in cement. Right next to
Trigger’s.