Shannon's Rainbow

Shannon's Rainbow (also listed as Amazing Racer) is a 2009 family film produced and directed by Frank E. Johnson. It stars Julianne Michelle and Claire Forlani, with a musical score by Charles David Denler.

The film was shot in western Pennsylvania from a script written by John Mowod and Larry Richert and based on Mowod's own experiences seeing his brother rehabilitate an injured horse and win a championship horse race.

The main character's story about recently experiencing the death of her father is loosely based on the death of Jeff Gardner, good friend of Mowod and Richert. Mowod and Gardner collaborated on the outline of the film before Jeff Gardner was killed in an accident. The film takes its name from Jeff's oldest daughter, Shannon, and is dedicated to Jeff.

Plot
A 17-year-old girl named Shannon (Julianne Michelle) faces and overcomes hardship with the discovery of the mother she never knew and with her love for a hobbled horse named Rainbow. With her father dying in the earliest moments of the film Shannon has to learn from a friend of the family that her father participated in kidnapping her from her mother (Christine) moments after birth. Once the hospital therapist is through with her she ends up moving from Florida to Pennsylvania where Christine lives and works as a neo-natal pediatrician. She gets involved in the lives of Christine's boyfriend Eric and his nephew Brandon and niece Rio. They have a stables that works in harness racing and have been bringing along a filly named Rainbow who takes very strongly to Shannon. Eric and those around him are targets of a spiteful grudge held by the rich Mitchell Prescott who buys the filly for $15,000 in a claiming race she was entered in for experience. Mitchell runs Rainbow into the ground, having her beaten until nearly dead for the sin of having a mind of her own and an unshakable preference for Shannon, then sells her off to the knackers. Eric is alerted to this and tracks down the horse van en route to the location where Rainbow is due to be slaughtered and buys her back for $400. The filly is returned to Shannon's care and a trainer with a murky past (Max) is given the task to return her to health and soundness. They move Rainbow to a neighboring farm to train her to racing fitness while avoiding a spy at Parker stables. The culmination is at the Pennsylvania Cup harness race.

Cast

 * Julianne Michelle as Shannon Greene
 * Claire Forlani as Christine Pearson
 * Daryl Hannah as Dr. Rita Baker
 * Michael Madsen as Dave Blair
 * Eric Roberts as Mitchell Prescott
 * Charles Durning as Floyd
 * Steve Guttenberg as Ed
 * Stephen Colletti as Brandon
 * Jason Gedrick as Eric Parker
 * Louis Gossett Jr. as Max
 * Tom Atkins as Captain Martin
 * Krista Allen as Jessica
 * Lauren Potter as Kerry
 * Carson Brown as Rio
 * Scott Eastwood as Joey
 * Joanna Pacula as Emily Blair

Additional sources

 * Thoroughbred Times: "Harness racing movie to be filmed at the Meadows"
 * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "British actress enjoyed time with good ol' boys"
 * Harnasslink: "Shannon's Rainbow begins shooting"
 * KDKA Television: "Larry On The Job: Movie Director"