It would be easy to shove “Secretariat” into the cubbyhole of sports movies because it focuses on one of the greatest accomplishments in horse racing. That would be like calling “Rocky” nothing more than a boxing movie or “Miracle on Ice” just a retelling of the United States Olympic hockey’s team success in 1980.

“Secretariat” is so much more, a story of determination, family, sexual bias, hope, second chances and strength that just happens to be set against a sports backdrop.

You’ll leave the theater cheering Secretariat’s victories — but it will be the human stories that linger.

The main force is Diane Lane’s turn as the spunky Penny Chenery, which should get the attention of Oscar voters. Lane’s almost regal performance as the horse-farm owner who defied social practices, horse racing logic and her own family, creates the film’s heart and soul.

“Secretariat” looks at the horse’s 1973 win of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes — known as the Triple Crown. No horse had won all three in the same year for 25 years. Chenery takes over the family horse farm in Virginia where Secretariat was raised and trained when her father (Scott Glenn) becomes too ill to manage.

There are two unlikely champions in this story: Secretariat, whose huge size and tendency to start races slow were odds against him, and Chenery, who became a horse-farm owner in a world dominated by men.

Director Randall Wallace is smart enough to allow Lane to drive the production. She didn’t need any help, but her scenes with John Malkovich, who plays the colorful trainer Lucien Laurin, sparkle. If Lane wasn’t such a force on screen, Malkovich could have easily stolen this movie.

The film’s only flaw is having too much material. Wallace has to devote so much time to Chenery’s story and Secretariat’s races that there is little left to examine the social issues of the early 1970s, Chenery’s marriage or the distraction Secretariat had on a country divided by the Vietnam War.

Despite that slight misstep, “Secretariat” is a winner because of Wallace’s tight reins on the direction and Lane’s victorious acting efforts.

Film focus

WHAT: “Secretariat”

RATED: Rated PG for language

GRADE: B

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Diane Lane appears in a scene from “Secretariat.”