BIG NEWS from the Kentucky Derby Museum! 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird will make the Museum his home during the Churchill Downs spring meet. Kentucky Derby Tours will be there Derby week to see him.

In 2009, many will remember trainer Chip Woolley wore his trademark cowboy hat and employed his crutches for many on-camera interviews, both before and during the Kentucky Derby race. Chip Woolley had experienced a motorcycle accident, which left him injured at the time.

There is history with the Mine That Bird folks and the Kentucky Derby Museum. In 2010, Chip Woolley gave the Museum some items for an exhibit. “With all the media attention about my crutches, they became a part of our Derby story,” Mine That Bird trainer Chip Woolley has explained. “If the museum can use them to share some of the memories we made that day, then that’s where they belong. I’m really excited about museum’s renovation. The Derby museum is the only way many people ever get to experience the Kentucky Derby. Celebrating racing in a way that’s meaningful and bringing more fans to the sport has always been important to me.”

Mine That Bird earned a stunning victory in the 2009 Kentucky Derby. At the starting gate, Mine That Bird went off at odds of 50-1, definitely a long-shot.

Soon everyone will know the story. “50-1” is the working title of a new movie based on Mine That Bird. Billed as – A misfit group of New Mexico cowboys find themselves on the journey of a lifetime when they learn their crooked-footed racehorse qualifies to run in the Kentucky Derby. Based on the true story of Mine That Bird, the cowboys must overcome impossible odds even before they reach Churchill Downs and the land of Kentucky’s blue bloods. Filming began in September 2012 in the deserts of New Mexico. Mine that Bird was an American thoroughbred race horse with a career in both the US and Canada. While competing and winning or placing in many races, it’s the journey to the Kentucky Derby and it’s win that caught the world’s attention. An owner of Mine that Bird, Mark Allen, will be portrayed by actor – singer Christian Kane (Leverage, Hide, Her Minor Thing), while Skeet Ulrich (Jerico, Law and Order L.A., Into the West) has been cast as the horse’s trainer, Chip Woolley. Director Jim Wilson (Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard, Wyatt Earp) has been devoted to this project since 2010. The storyline promises to be a buddy movie, likely suitable for most family members. The beauty of the New Mexico scenery featured as the horse and it’s handlers race to the Kentucky Derby at the last minute, promises to be a special treat. Definitely a family horse racing movie.

Jockey Calvin Borel is playing himself in the movie.