--- description: Dark Horse is partly a story about the deep bond between humans and their horses, but it also affirms that a winner can come from anywhere. title: Review: An Unlikely Champion Runs for Glory in Winning Doc 'Dark Horse' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf8a864469773da7/698891ec5f570f8275b20c7b/1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Review: An Unlikely Champion Runs for Glory in Winning Doc _Dark Horse_  by [Stephanie Zacharek](/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Film Critic May 5, 2016 7:12 PM CUT  Dark Horse Dark HorseSony Pictures Classics  by [Stephanie Zacharek](/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Film Critic May 5, 2016 7:12 PM CUT Horse racing is the sport of kings, and of rich people. That’s what makes the story told in Louise Osmond’s lithe and lively documentary _Dark Horse_ so remarkable, and so satisfying. In 2000, in the Welsh mining town of Cefn Fforest, barmaid Jan Vokes overheard bar regular Howard Davies talking about the days he’d owned a share in a racehorse. With her husband, Brian, she decided to breed her own, taking an extra job as a cleaning person so she could buy a not-so-distinguished thoroughbred mare and mate her with a senior-citizen stallion. The product of this union was a scrappy foal, raised on a slagheap, who would come to be named Dream Alliance. Vokes persuaded her fellow villagers to form a syndicate, each member pitching in £10 per week, to raise the money for the horse’s costly training and veterinary care. Dream Alliance, a regal golden-brown fellow with a blaze of white down his nose, became an unlikely champion, but to the Vokeses and their neighbors, he represented so much more—he was one of their own, a neighbor, a friend, a member of the family. _Dark Horse_ is partly a story about the deep bond between humans and their horses, but it also affirms that a winner can come from anywhere—and that you don’t need to be rich to feel like royalty. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4319972/review-dark-horse-documentary-osmond/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4319972/review-dark-horse-documentary-osmond/"},"headline":"Review: An Unlikely Champion Runs for Glory in Winning Doc Dark Horse","datePublished":"2016-05-05T19:12:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:19:21.594Z","description":"A winner can come from anywhere","url":"https://time.com/4319972/review-dark-horse-documentary-osmond/","keywords":["movies","Documentary","Wales","Horse Racing"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf8a864469773da7/698891ec5f570f8275b20c7b/1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf8a864469773da7/698891ec5f570f8275b20c7b/1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1","caption":"Dark Horse","creditText":"Sony Pictures Classics","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4319972/review-dark-horse-documentary-osmond/","name":"Review: An Unlikely Champion Runs for Glory in Winning Doc Dark Horse"}}]}] ```