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Professional jockey OTTO THORWARTH (Ronnie Turcotte) makes his acting debut in “Secretariat .” At 16,
Thorwarth had no thoughts of race riding when he picked up a part-time job walking hots for Frank Brothers
at Oaklawn Park . But he discovered an innate rapport with horses and was encouraged to ride .
Thorwarth rode at Oaklawn and on the Kentucky and Ohio circuits from 1991 through the mid-1990s, earning
titles at Ellis Park, Beulah Park and River Downs . He then moved to the East Coast, where he successively
rode first call for Neil Howard, John Servis and Richard Small . He returned to the Midwest in the late 1990s
and was especially successful at Remington Park .
After a two-year break, he returned to the sport, eventually becoming the leading rider at Beulah . He
returned to Turfway for the 2008 Winter/Spring Meet . After leading that year’s Fall Meet standings from the first day, he missed the title
when Brian Hernandez Jr . topped him by one win on the last day of the meet . He has more than 1,300 wins and earnings of more than
$13 .6 million . He has 13 stakes wins, including the 2008 Weekend Delight at Turfway, and one graded event, Ellis Park’s 2004 Gardenia
Stakes .
FRED DALTON THOMPSON (Bull Hancock) has had one of the most unusual and interesting careers on the
American scene today . It has encompassed the law, politics, radio, television and motion pictures .
Thompson first appeared on screen in the film “Marie” in 1985, portraying himself in the fact-based story of
a high-profile public corruption case he handled in Tennessee . Since then, he has appeared in numerous
movies, including “No Way Out,” “In the Line of Fire,” “Die Hard II,” “Days of Thunder” and “The Hunt for Red
October .” Recently, he became known for his portrayal of New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on the
Emmy® Award-winning NBC television drama “Law & Order .”
Thompson served 8 years as a senator from Tennessee, and in 2008 sought the Republican nomination for
President of the United States .
Prior to his election, Thompson maintained law offices in Nashville and Washington . Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant United
States Attorney in Tennessee . In 1973, he was appointed by Senator Howard Baker to serve as Minority Counsel to the Senate Watergate
Committee where Thompson first gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the
White House Oval Office . He detailed his Watergate experience in his memoir, “At That Point in Time .” In his recent book “Teaching the
Pig to Dance,” he humorously recounts his growing-up years in a small Tennessee town .
He currently hosts “The Fred Thompson Show,” a daily radio talk show produced by Westwood One . He resides in McLean, Va ., with his
wife, Jeri, and daughter Hayden and son Sammy .
Born in Los Angeles, actor and activist JAMES CROMWELL (Ogden Phipps) is the son of actress Kay
Johnson and John Cromwell, a blacklisted director who served as one of the first presidents of the Directors
Guild . His stepmother, Ruth Nelson, was a noted stage and film actress and a founding member of the New
York Group Theater .
Cromwell followed in the family footsteps, heading to the South after the Freedom Rides to join the Free
Southern Theater, an integrated company that toured the South . He was also a member of the Student
Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and in the seventies, joined the Committee to Defend the Panthers,
an organization set up to defend The Panther 13 .
Cromwell has directed at resident theaters across the country and was the founder and artistic director of his own company, Stage West,
in Springfield, Mass . He also codirected a short film, which was shown at the London Film Festival .
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