Director Gábor Ferenczi (The possibilities of making friends, Best Television Film Award, Hungarian Film Week, 2009) and his co-creators Flóra Idrányi and Gül Togay have been following the racing career of the then unbeaten “wonder horse”, a rising star, and the surrounding events since November 2008.

“It was nice to be working on news that had nothing to do with daily politics and was a real success story,” Gábor Ferenczi said. “In 2008 a Slovakian Hungarian businessman suddenly found himself in the limelight of Hungarian media attention. He was telling the media how his most beautiful dream had come true, hearing the Hungarian national anthem played all round Europe each time after Overdose won a race. Then there was a race in Paris which, although he had won it, a re-run should have taken place because of the bad start. I was touched by what the trainer said about this. ‘How was I supposed to explain to him, “although you’ve won, sorry, you have to do it again, please...”?!’ It was those two circumstances that got us going: we wanted to find out how this out-of-the-ordinary ‘film’ would end, and how the people waiting for this to happen all their lives would react to the miracle...”

In 2009 Overdose unexpectedly became injured. His hooves got inflamed which resulted in laminitis and, being one of the dreaded diseases of English thoroughbreds, specialists soon gave up on him. However, after 15 months of recuperation, Overdose the wonder horse, made a comeback. In the meantime, five major Hungarian companies co-operated to bring back Overdose, now hailed as the symbol of the nation; the team that had managed his 12 unbeaten series broke up; interests and emotions clashed.

The documentary takes us behind the scenes during the illness, recovery and comeback of Overdose; we are introduced to his owner, trainer, work rider, and the dramatic story of many emotional threads of the horse’s strenuous career.

"The makers of Overdose have followed the journey of this amazing racehorse for five years - longer than most documentaries. The result is the gripping story of a truly heroic animal, an icon and example of true perseverance in the face of adversity, and we at HBO are delighted to be able to bring it to Hungarian audiences." – said Hanka Kastelicova, the executive producer of documentaries, HBO Europe.

The film was produced under a long-term co-operation agreement signed in October last year between HBO Hungary and the Hungarian National Film Fund seeking to produce creative, full-length documentaries. Overdose will be aired on HBO and HBO GO on 28 November.