Benjamin Woodgates may be young but his resume reads like that of a seasoned pro. In addition to making his debut feature film score in the Toni Collette-starring drama Dream Horse, Benjamin has also orchestrated music for a wide range of films and TV programs including Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

He’s even adapted Jonny Greenwood’s Phantom Thread score for the film’s UK premiere with the London Contemporary Orchestra, as well as created arrangements for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, just to name a few of his many accomplishments.

In this exclusive track premiere that we are excited to share, Benjamin Woodgates proves once again that he’s professionally wise beyond his years as he elegantly captures the sounds of optimism in director Euros Lyn’s Dream Horse (in theaters this Friday).

Dream Horse tells the true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely racehorse bred by small-town Welsh bartender Jan Vokes (Toni Collette), who dreams of entering into prestigious competitions. With the support of her community and determination to achieve a goal, Jan’s inspirational journey takes her and Dream to the Welsh Grand National, proving that anything is possible with hard work and a little luck.

To capture the Jan’s evolving unity with the beloved race horse, Benjamin got creative: he assembled a mix of instruments including an old upright piano, a harmonium, a fiddle, and an accordion which, when initially played together, resulted in wheezy, clunky, and jagged-edged melodies. However, as the characters’ bond grows closer together, so does the sound of the ensemble of instruments. In “Let Him Run,” whimsically frenetic orchestral strings transport us into the film’s center of gravity where emotional tension is high and the impossible seems to actually be within reach.

On working with director Euros Lyn, Benjamin says, “[He] and I worked closely together to create the musical blueprint for this score, meeting regularly in the cutting room in Cardiff and picking up the phone to bounce ideas back and forth. Euros is an accomplished musician himself but made a point of communicating through dramatic and emotional ideas rather than using musical terminology so that we could build a musical language from the ground up.”

Bleecker Street Media is releasing ‘Dream Horse’ in the U.S. on Friday, May 21 and in the U.K. Friday, June 4, and Decca Records is releasing the OST on Friday, May 21, 2021.