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The
following story resume was submitted to Second Running by Laura Hillenbrand in
conjunction with the TRC and was a Press Release. The extraordinary
career of Seabiscuit was recounted in a lengthy feature in the
July/August issue (98) of American Heritage magazine. The author, Equis
magazine contributing editor, Laura Hillenbrand is writing a book on the
horse. The story received an Eclipse Award for 1998. |
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When
the partnership which campaigned Seabiscuit formed in 1936, it seemed an
unlikely formula for success. The jockey, Red Pollard, was a one-eyed
former boxer whose riding career was foundering. The owner, C. S. Howard,
was a bicycle repairman-turned overnight millionaire. The trainer, Tom
Smith, was a wild west show groom whom Howard had found living in a stall
in Mexico. The horse was a bent-legged claimer. But the odd alliance
worked: Bought by Howard and guided by Smith and Pollard, Seabiscuit was
transformed into one of history's greatest race horses.
Over five years, the Seabiscuit team combined to win nearly every major
American handicap, earning more press coverage than Roosevelt, Mussolini
and Hitler. In 1938, when Pollard was nearly killed in a racing pileup,
his best friend George Woolf joined the team as stand-in rider, guiding
the horse to several major wins. The Pollard-Seabiscuit reunion was set
for the horses' most formidable test, the 1938 match with Triple Crown
winner War Admiral, but when Pollard's leg was virtually severed in a
workout accident, Woolf got the nod. He rode Seabiscuit to an
over-whelming victory, then mailed half the jockey's purse to Pollard.
But it was the dauntless quest to win the Santa Anita Handicap which
defined Seabiscuit's greatness. Twice defeated by a nose in the race, once
carrying 30 pounds more than the winner, he tore a tendon just before his
scheduled third try in 1939, forcing him to join Pollard in retirement at
Howard's ranch. After a year-long convalescence together, the horse and
jockey with 'four good legs between us' made an unprecedented
comeback to win the Santa Anita Handicap. Seabiscuit's immortality was
assured: He had won 33 races, set 16 track records and became racing's
all-time leading earner.
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One of the grandest and gamest Thoroughbreds ever to race
in California, or the entire United States, was Seabiscuit. There was
something about him that reached out and took hold of the hearts and
minds of every man, woman and child
that was privileged to see him run.
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His was a remarkable record,
not only because of the great things he did but, more particularly,
because of the kindly, courageous and honest manner in which he did
them. He started 89 times, winning 33 races, being 15 times second and
finishing third on 13 occasions. He wound up in the winter of 1940 with
earnings of $437,730, which at that time, made him the leading
money-winner of the world. |
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May
17, 1947: Seabiscuit, owned by Charles S. Howard, succumbed to a
heart attack at Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, Calif. He was 14. |
