Walter Matthau was in real life a horse-racing fan and a big gambler. He once estimated that he had lost more than a million dollars betting on races over the years. He had long wanted to make a racing picture and said that this film "is the first race picture that's come my way that I've liked". A couple of years later he followed up this horse racing movie with another, Little Miss Marker (1980).
Reportedly, the only preparation that star Walter Matthau did for the lead role was listen to Cajun music for his character's Creole accent. Matthau's Lloyd Bourdelle character had been described as being a "coonass Cajun", a "coonass" being a slang term for a person of Cajun ethnicity.
Final theatrical feature film of actor Whit Bissell who portrayed the veterinarian character of Dr. Williamson. The actor continued to work in television productions up until around 1984.
In a 1985 interview with Patrick Milligan, director Martin Ritt, listed this picture as one of his favorite films of those he had directed, alongside such classics as Hud (1963) Sounder (1972) and Norma Rae (1979).
Debut theatrical feature film of actor Andrew Rubin. He was billed in the credits as "Andrew A. Rubin". His casting playing Lloyd Bourdelle (Walter Matthau)'s son Buddy Bourdelle was announced in the 24th August 1976 edition of show-business trade paper 'The Hollywood Reporter'.