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MGM has acquired the screen rights to The Eighty-Dollar Champion, which recounts the exploits of Snowman, a former plow horse who gained fame after winning the 1958 show horse triple crown.
The 2011 book by Elizabeth Letts, a former competitive rider in show horse events, made The New York Times best-seller list.
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The book traces the story of rider and trainer Harry De Leyer, who saw show potential in Snowman and purchased the horse for $80. MGM had already acquired the rights to Leyer’s life story.
A blurb on the front cover of the paperback version of Champion compared the story with that of Seabiscuit, the horse that bested the heavily favored War Admiral in a 1938 match race.
Seabiscuit’s story was the subject of a best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand that was adapted into a 2003 film by Universal and DreamWorks that starred Tobey Maguire and Jeff Bridges and grossed $120 million domestically.
Letts is repped by APA and Folio Literary Management in New York.
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