TV review: Netflix finally brings horseracing to the masses - and it's a wild ride

After four years of waiting for its own version of the hit Formula 1 documentary Drive To Survive, horseracing finally has an imprint on the giant entertainment stage that is Netflix.

And on the evidence of the first two episodes, Race For The Crown will leave nothing out on the track as it seeks to engage the streaming giant's 200 million-plus subscribers on a wild ride around North American racing, majoring on the Kentucky Derby dreams shared by a truly eclectic cast of owners. 

Viewers who have previously watched production company Box To Box's work in the worlds of professional golf, motor racing and cycling will be familiar with the format, though refreshingly there is less of the baby-steps explanation of how the sport works than in some previous iterations; the elemental nature of one horse running faster compares favourably with, for instance, Break Point's clunky guide to how the scoring works in tennis. 

Nick Luck is used sparingly as a guide through the complexities of the sport along with fellow broadcaster Christina Blacker, and more often it is the owners themselves –for the most part rich, loud and opinionated – who provide the narrative drive to the action. 

Mike Repole (left) and Jacob West in action at the Keeneland September Yearling SaleCredit: Keeneland photo

Netflix has landed on its feet for its first venture into the sport with the emergence of 'Mike from Queens' Repole and, more recently, John Stewart as new-money owners who have declared themselves unafraid to shake up the racing establishment. 

Less well known to a European audience will be Michael and Jules Iavarone, who appear to have walked straight off the set of a 21st century reboot of Miami Vice.

Michael owned 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown and now yearns to get back to Churchill Downs for the sake of Jules, the 'spiritual' half of the partnership who wants to know what a local medium thinks of the chances of recent purchase Victory Avenue in the upcoming Florida Derby. 

If that sounds like a gimmick then the producers manage to pull it off without straying into the realms of the saccharine, while Michael Iavarone's fear of missing out again after passing on an offer to buy into 2023 Derby winner Mage is palpable. 

The trainers are yet to fully come to the party, though Brad Cox is given some humanising scenes while Stewart essentially puts him on trial as trainer of Just A Touch, and Todd Pletcher remains a brooding and largely silent presence, content to let Repole's Derby contender Fierceness do the talking on the track. 

Frankie Dettori and Inspiral following their victory at the 2023 Breeders' Cup Credit: Edward Whitaker

Then there are the jockeys. Or one jockey to be more specific, as the arrival in California of Frankie Dettori dominates the first episode, from the moment he and wife Catherine are introduced, sipping champagne on a rented yacht off the Mexican playground of Cabo San Lucas. 

Dettori says of his volte-face decision not to retire: "The day will come when I'm not wanted anymore. It's not you wanting to retire, it's the sport that retires you."

The role of wives and girlfriends in these shows is well established, often acting as surrogate interviewers in asking questions of their loved ones that advance the audience's understanding of this sport or that match. 

Although required to do some of that light lifting, Catherine Dettori is able to cut through Frankie's high-minded explanation as to why he is seeking this new challenge with an off-the-cuff putdown: "If you were at home now you would be annoying me, so it's just as well."

Antonio Fresu and Umberto Rispoli in a scene from episode one of the Netflix series Race For The CrownCredit: Netflix/Box To Box

Dettori walks into the jockeys' room at Santa Anita and immediately has company in the shape of Italian-born colleagues Umberto Rispoli and Antonio Fresu.

Rispoli proves a natural guide to the California riders' colony, an unpaid extra narrator, while the cool Fresu gives the lie to the notion that all Italian jockeys are hyperactive and wired to the moon. 

The Breeders' Cup sequence of Dettori winning aboard Inspiral is intercut with his own commentary of the pressure of the moment, as well as Rispoli and Fresu watching from their spot in the jockeys' room.

It all ends in a breathtaking drone shot which gradually pulls further and further away from horse and rider on the wind down after the line, revealing nothing else but track and fields. 

Race For The Crown is a treat for the eyes and the ears.

Read more here 

'Frankie gave us amazing access' - Dettori stars in Netflix's new horseracing documentary Race For The Crown 

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