Cyclone Larry, a 3-year-old Thoroughbred bred and raised near Newell, has beaten out a stable of Kentucky bluebloods to play the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat in an upcoming Disney film set for release next summer.

He was born at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds and raised by partners Dorothy Snowden and Dale Simanton until Heather Benson of North Dakota Horse Park in Fargo bought him.

Cyclone Larry's sire is Finn McCool, a big, chestnut thoroughbred who is as at home on the ranch as he was on the racetrack.

Larry inherited Finn's size, coloring and disposition, which helped him land the role of Secretariat, his breeders say. The markings on Larry's face aren't exactly the same as Secretariat's, but "they make makeup artists for that," Snowden said.

Several horses will play Secretariat during filming. Larry went to a training center in Bowling Green, Ky., in late August, along with the other horses that will be in the movie. From there, they will go to Lexington, Ky., to film some of the racetrack scenes this fall. Disney Head Wrangler Rusty Hendrickson, who worked on "Seabiscuit," is in charge of the training.

"He's a big, strapping horse, almost 17 hands, and Secretariat was big," Snowden said. "The thing that sold Larry was his disposition. All Finn's babies are really laid back."

Simanton said the calm disposition of the horses doesn't interfere with their racing abilities.

"They don't have to be idiots to run," he said.

The Thoroughbred that sired Cyclone Larry has a remarkable story of his own.

Finn McCool is living the life of a stud - and ranch horse - at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds.

Simanton and his partners were able to buy Finn when he fractured a small bone in a back leg at age four. Finn's bloodline has ties to Secretariat a few generations back. Simanton said the day he bought him, the horse's dam, Joying, sold for $190,000.

Finn has his own claim to fame as a racehorse. He came in second in Virginia in a stakes race, as did Secretariat. Finns' winnings when he retired from racing after just two years were $56,960.

As a first-time runner, he was a first-place winner. In six starts, he placed first or second five times. He placed second in the W. Meredith Bailes Memorial Stakes after a six-month layoff, was a wire-to-wire winner at Arlington, and an allowance winner at Arlington, Pimlico and Colonial Downs.

His first full foal crop hit the track in 2008. His foals sell for an average 11 times his stud fee, and average earning per starter is 22 times the $1,000 stud fee.

Foals sired by Finn inherit his naturally good disposition and the ability to run, his owners say. A number of his offspring are making their mark in racing circles. One of his daughters, a 2-year-old filly, M'Lady McCool, won the 2008 Chippewa Downs Futurity in track record time.

It took two years after he bought him before Simanton felt Finn was sound enough to ride. But the former racehorse turned out to be a good ranch horse, too.

"He's kind of the 'go to' horse when someone needs to drag a cow out of pen," he said.

Currently, none of his chestnut offspring are for sale at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds.

"We are sold out. But there's always the next batch, and we have a waiting list," Snowden said.

For more about Horse Creek Thoroughbreds, go online to horsecreektb.com.

You can follow Cyclone Larry on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Cyclone-Larry/122695092357