The Secretariat Festival at the Bourbon County Fairgrounds Sat., Sept. 26 has extra-added importance this year, as producers of the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures film Secretariat will be picking one of the horses to star in the lead role in the movie.

Rusty Hendrickson, lead wrangler for the film, has all ready selected four horses for the title role, but left one slot vacant for a horse that may emerge from the festival’s Secretariat Look-Alike Contest. Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, producers of the movie, will be at the festival with a film crew to shoot footage on the making of the film.

There will be 20 equine hopefuls in the contest, with a judging panel that includes Secretariat’s rider, Ron Turcotte; Hendrickson; and Meadow Stable exercise riders Charlie Davis and Jim Gaffney. The top three finishers will split $5,000 in prize money.

Filming of the movie is scheduled to begin at the end of September. Locations include Keeneland and Churchill Downs. The film stars Diane Lane as Penny Chenery, Secretariat’s owner For more information, go to secretariat.com