WE had Red Rum, the Southport seaside scrapper who came to define the Grand National spirit in the 1970s.

Once upon an earlier time, the Americans had Seabiscuit, the squat, stroppy dirt-track runt, who captured a nation's heart with his dogged refusal to be beaten.

As the United States struggled back to its feet after the 1930s' Depression, the flying feats of Seabiscuit became a symbol of hope for the country at large, setting a huge-hearted lead for others to follow.

It became the stuff of American legend, the stuff of Laura Hillenbrand's best-seller and now the plodding stuff of Dreamworks' latest all-American movie venture.

Seabiscuit is a story of second chances, not only for post-Depression America and a truculent horse that had scrapheap written all over it, but also a jockey, an owner and a trainer.

Tobey Maguire, shedding two stone to be far more spidery than he was in Spider-Man, is the jockey with a wild attitude, the past as a failed prize fighter and not the best eyesight but an unbreakable bond with the even wilder horse.

Jeff Bridges is the dignified, always resilient, sometimes jaunty horse-owning businessman, rebuilding his life after losing his son and his fortune. Chris Cooper is almost unrecognisable in white hair after his Oscar-nominated turn as the orchid collector in Adaptation, this time playing the quietly sage, self-contained cowboy with the quirky but highly effective training techniques.

Seabiscuit's tale is told in mythological manner by Pleasantville director Gary Ross, with classy camerawork and even classier performances, not least from William H Macy as a trackside radio commentator even more excitable than John McCririck.

However, the hand of Dreamworks is at play, and for all the racing thrills and spills, there is a deadening worthiness to Seabiscuit, and the pace never matches the horse's turn of foot.

Blame it partly on Ross for stretching scenes too far but also on the use of a particularly patronising narrator. By comparison, Phil Alden Robinson's Field Of Dreams is a far more stirring yet gentle sporting fable, a hymn to self-belief that continues to inspire.

Updated: 09:44 Friday, November 07, 2003