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This is a true story. A run away boy discovers the dark underworld of the horse racing, fighting in the arenas of stable boxing and starving his body to its limits in the fight to become a champion jockey.

The Sprint King is a brutally honest short that exposes the dark and gritty underworld to ‘the sport of kings’. Created by brothers Benjamin and James Ducker (BRUVA films), the film aims to make the sport accessible and interesting to a new audience, the same way ‘Black Sawn’ did for ballet.

Based on the humbling and remarkable true story of Yorkshire jockey, Dandy Nicholls, a run away boy who finds himself thrown into the dark underworld of horse racing. Battling in the arenas of stable boxing and starving his body to its limits to prove himself ready for the bright lights of the track. Taking the reigns of SOBA, a wild and unruly farm horse this underdog duo took the racing word by storm, defying royalty, prejudice and capturing the hearts of the public to be crowned ‘The Sprint King’ of the 80’s.

Money, malnourishment, royalty and rage. Decadence, destruction, pride and pain.
This is the Sport of Kings.

This rags to riches story is close to me as it comes from the life events of friends and family. My great uncle was the legendary horse trainer David Chapman and his sister, my grandma the owner of the racehorse SOBA that rose to fame in the 1980’s.

I have worked closely with David Nicholls to develop a full feature synopsis that covers the rest of his remarkable journey. The short film was made in order to prove this film’s fresh take on a well known industry and to drum up interest as we look for support and development to tell the rest of the story.

An undoubtedly rich cinematic experience that sets the dark and dramatic tone to shed some new light on true events.