Racing Stripes

Racing Stripes is a 2005 adventure/comedy movie, directed by Frederik Du Chau. It is similar in the style to the 1995 movie Babe, in that the protagonist is a talking animal and the setting is a farm. The movie was filmed in Pietermaritzburg and Nottingham Road, South Africa.

Plot

During a thunderstorm, a traveling circus leaves behind a baby Zebra. The foal is rescued by Nolan Walsh, a retired thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Nolan takes the Zebra home to his farm, and leaves it in the care of his daughter Channing, who names him "Stripes". The other farmyard animals try to educate him about life on the farm, but he is convinced that he is destined for the nearby racetrack, even though he isn't a real racehorse (a fact he doesn't realize for several years). He spends his time training, helped by Tucker, a Shetland Pony who had helped coach champion racehorses in the past.

Channing has a similar ambition; to become a jockey. Her father had refused to let her train as he believes it to be too dangerous; he retired from training when her mother, also a jockey, died in a racing accident when Channing was a toddler. However, her enthusiasm eventually wins Nolan over, and he agrees to train her and Stripes, with the aim of winning the illustrious Kentucky Open.

Tagline: His stripes made him an outcast. His heart made him a hero.

Characters

Nolan Walsh is Channing's father. Ever since his wife got killed when her racehorse stumbled, Nolan hasn't been able to bear training horses. Fearing that Channing will hurt herself if she rides, he refuses to let her anywhere near a saddle.

Channing Walsh is the movie's human star. She wants to ride, and despite her lack of opportunity she has a natural talent for it. She's determined to race just like her mom, whatever it takes.

Woodzie is an old racetrack gambler. He sympathizes with Channing, especially since he sees the same gift in her that was present in her mother.

Clara Dalrymple is Nolan's former employer and a classic example of an egotistical aristocrat. She seems at first to be the movie's main villain, but to her credit she's honest enough not to sabotage the competition; the real villain of the movie is Sir Trenton. On the other hand, she probably supposed that there was no need to sabotage the race in Pride's favor, as her complete ignorance of racing techniques kept her from seeing how much of a chance Stripes had of winning.

Animals

Stripes is the star of the movie. He may be a zebra, but he won't let that stop him from competing in the Kentucky Open. The horses from Turfway Park all make fun of him, with the sole exception of Sandy, a beautiful white jumper.

Tucker used to help Nolan Walsh train racehorses. He may be too small to stand a chance in a race himself, but he's got more than enough horse-sense to know what it takes. Years of training horses who never give him any thanks for his help has left him grumpy, though, and it takes almost as much work to persuade him to help Stripes run as it doest to convince Nolan to let Channing ride Stripes. His height and then length of his mane are the subject of something of a running gag throughout the movie.

Franny is an old goat. She has a heart of gold, and unlike Tucker she's not afraid to let it show. She takes Stripes under her wing right from the start and makes it her business to help Stripes succeed on the racetrack- even when Stripes is ready to quit. She also plays a role in Stripes' relationship with Sandy.

Sandy is a professional jumper. She's been all over the world, so of course she knows that Stripes is a zebra (a fact which Stripes did not yet realize). But unlike the other horses, she believes that there's nothing wrong with being a zebra. On the contrary, she thinks that Stripes is "the cutest thing on four hooves." The sentiment is obviously mutual: the moment he first laid eyes on her, Stripes forgot what he was doing and crashed headfirst into a tree.

Buzz and Scuzz are a pair of horseflies. They are brothers, prone to arguing, humorous, and quite alike in appearance. The easiest way to tell them apart is that Buzz has blue eyes and Scuzz has red eyes. This could be seen as an outward manifestation of their musical tastes-Scuzz is a rap fan, whereas Buzz favors more conservative music. They are old friends of Tucker from the racetrack, and play an indispensable part in Sandy's escape from Sir Trenton, as well as helping Stripes out in the race.

Reggie is the Walsh farm's rooster. He means well, but is not very bright. He seems to be in the movie mostly for laughs.

Goose is a pelican from the big city with a gangster accent so thick you could cut it with a knife. Tucker sums up Goose's personality as follows: "Goose, who is really a pelican, is really a stool pigeon, who is actually a chicken that ducks. That makes five birds in one, count 'em." In addition, he is terrified of loud noises.

Sir Trenton is the real bad guy of the movie. He is an arrogant Thoroughbred horse. Trenton sees his son, Pride, as having no purpose other than to carry on the Trenton legacy. He was trained by Nolan Walsh and Tucker, but shows no gratitude.

Trenton's Pride, Sir Trenton's son, is a bully to be sure, and he picks on Stripes virtually every chance he gets. Pride is not as bad as his father, though. He wants to win the race fair and square, and in the end he is honest enough to admit that he lost fair and square, despite his father's cheating.

Roughshod seems at first to be merely a bully-lackey to Pride, but in reality he is a worse bully by far, proving quite eager to help Sir Trenton threaten Sandy in order to keep Stripes from running in the Kentucky Open. Even when Stripes and his friends thwart the cheat, Roughshod-and even his rider- persist in fighting dirty. During the race, Roughshod's rider whacks Stripes with his riding crop, and Roughshod pins Stripes to the rail with a maneuver Goose calls "the old Jersey squeeze," until both Roughshod and his rider are taught a lesson by Scuzz. In all probability Roughshod is jealous of Stripes. When Roughshod first tried to get Sandy's attention, she bluntly turned him down, parting with a comment of "Talk to the tail." Her attentions were obviously for Stripes alone, much to Roughshod's chagrin.

Trivia

• Racing Stripes has many plot similarities to the later-released Disney movie, Herbie: Fully Loaded. Ironically, an Image Search for "Racing Stripes" on Yahoo revealed pictures of Herbie (due to his design) much sooner than it did any pictures pertaining to Racing Stripes.

• According to Ripley's Believe It or Not at least one person has succeeded in training and riding a zebra as a racehorse.

• In the movie, Tucker says he has "shorter legs than a sheepdog." This is probably a bit of a pun on the fact that he is a Shetland Pony, since there is also a Shetland Sheepdog.

• In the alternate ending on the DVD, it is revealed that Stripes and Sandy eventually had a son. Such a hybrid of zebra and horse is possible, and just as Nolan said such a crossbreed is called a "Zorse." However, professional horse-trainers claim they are not the easiest animals to get along with.

See also

• 2005 in film

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