Maguire is no champion jockey

Although Tobey Maguire learned the basics of horse-riding while filming Ride With The Devil five years ago, most of his horse-racing scenes in the new film drama Seabiscuit were faked, he has revealed.

For his close-ups he would sit on a mechanical horse attached to a flatbed truck, he told journalists at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles.

“We’re cruising around the track at 35 miles per hour, the wind is blowing and we’re moving foward and backward and side to side,” he said. “I’m on the balls of my feet, standing for a minute and ‘driving’ the horse. It’s fun but it’s a lot better being on a real horse.”

Spider-Man star Maguire plays Seabiscuit’s jockey Red Pollard in the film, which also stars Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper.

“Jockeys are extreme guys, living on the edge,” he said. “They put themselves in danger every time they race. In Seabiscuit, any stuff that’s really close – and there’s bumping – it’s not me. There was no horse going up the back end of my horse.”