Could eating your Weetabix each morning make you run faster than a racehorse?
A popular new advert for the family cereal features a fallen horse urging his jockey to “Go on without me”.
Fuelled by Weetabix, the jockey storms past his equine competitors to pass the post first, on foot, to the roars of the crowd.
The advert took a week to film and was shot at a racecourse in Prague.
Although some of the crowd scenes were filmed during a real race, the rest of the racing was staged specifically for the ad.
And the hard work has paid off — it has proved to be extremely popular on YouTube and has nearly 9,200 fans on Facebook.
“I thought it was going to be a betting advert, but when it turned out to be for Weetabix I almost fell off my chair laughing,” said one Facebook fan.
The super-speedy jockey was played by Irish actor Anthony Morris, who is no stranger to horses as he worked on a stud farm for three years.
The equine star is a mare called Pilas, although voiced by Sir Michael Gambon. Other than Anthony, all the riders were professional jockeys from the Czech Republic.
“The ‘steeplechase’ ad is an intentional return to the simple, funny style of the older Weetabix campaigns,” said a spokesman for the brand.
“Anthony and Pilas hit it off and had great chemistry. The finishing-line shot was Anthony’s last run of the last day — and the only one he could manage!”
