Seabiscuit: An American Legend Hits Home

It was love at first sight for Laura Hillenbrand, author of the best-seller "Seabiscuit: An American Legend."

"When I was 5, my father took me to Charles Town Race Track in West Virginia one night and I fell in love with racing," she told me, "and with the first horse I saw."

A quarter-century later, she fell in love with Seabiscuit and decided to write a book about the unlikely champion the color of mud with crooked legs.

"I did my research everywhere," said Hillenbrand, who has produced magazine articles about the sport since 1988. "I did, at least, 150 interviews. I looked at hundreds of record books, newspapers from the 1930s, poured over memorabilia. The research process took four years."

It was worth it. Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit captures an era when racing was truly the Sport of Kings.

She cleverly uses flashbacks on the main characters, human and equine, in a storyline that covers more than a half-century. She knows her horseflesh. "My father had a farm when I was growing up and he took in abused horses and unwanted horses. I used to ride them on the weekends and in the summers."

Her favorite track: "Arlington Park outside Chicago. I found Arlington extraordinarily beautiful. I first visited in 1989; Clever Trevor competed against Easy Goer."

Her next favorite horse: "Who would that be? That's a hard question. Perhaps, Alysheba, who was a horse with similar charisma."

But her focus is Seabiscuit. On Sept. 7, 1936, jockey Red Pollard was aboard Seabiscuit when he won the Governor's Handicap, the big event of the Detroit Fair Grounds season.

"Red Pollard had won his fourth stakes race in eleven long years in the saddle," Hillenbrand writes. "He was radiant. He galloped Seabiscuit out to the cheers of the crowd, then turned him back toward the grandstand. He was a new horse. In the fiftieth start of his life, Seabiscuit finally understood the game."

Hillenbrand was born before Seabiscuit passed away. But she was so enthralled with the thoroughbred that she decided to write a book about him. It became a best seller.

She describes how the less-than-spectacular thoroughbred achieved immortality. It all began when trainer Tom Smith and Seabiscut crossed paths at Suffolk Downs in Boston on June 29, 1936. Fascinating doesn't adequately describe the detailed account of how Seabiscuit was transformed from an also-ran into a champion, thanks to:

*Smith, a virtually silent mustang breaker, who came from the vanishing frontier with little experience training thoroughbreds.

*Charles Howard, a former bicycle repairman who rose in General Motors to become sole distributor of Buick and Oldsmobile in the West; he paid $7,000 for the 3-year-old.

*Pollard, a half-blind jockey who retired from the ring a beaten fighter; he rode Seabiscuit to some of his greatest victories.

Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, a legend in his own time who trained Gallant Fox and Omaha, the second and third Triple Crown winners, had no luck with Seabiscuit.

The son of Hard Tack made his debut at Hialeah Park on Jan. 19, 1935. He finished fourth.

Sometimes running three times in five days and in claiming races where he could be plucked for $2,000, Seabiscuit only won five of 35 races as a 2-year-old.

Hillenbrand identifies with Pollard:

"He was a star-crossed man from the beginning of his life to the end. He faced tremendous hurdles in bringing Seabiscuit to the top of his sport. He was repeatedly injured, and he was blind in one eye.

"He was abandoned at a racetrack as a boy. I identify with Red because I face serious health problems of my own. I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

"I have difficulty finding the strength to leave the house (in Washington, D.C.) and sometimes to work. So it was a long push. But I very much enjoyed researching the lives of these men and this horse. It made it an escape from my illness."

On Sept. 7, 1936, Pollard was aboard Seabiscuit when he won the Governor's Handicap, the big event of the Detroit Fair Grounds season.

But Hillenbrand believes Seabiscuit's greatest accomplishment came in '40 when he won the Santa Anita Handicap after years of failing. Ironically, Pollard was the jockey in The Big Cap like he had been in the beginning.

"Seabiscuit was 7 years old and he had been retired for a year," she said. "He was returning from a severe (ankle) injury that was thought to have made racing impossible for him. No elite horse in history had ever returned to top form after such an injury. And Seabiscuit not only won the race, he ran the second fastest 1 ¼ miles ever run in America.

"When Seabiscuit retired that year, he was literally worth his weight in gold, having earned a world record $437,730, nearly sixty times his price."

In addition to becoming a best seller, Hillenbrand's book was turned into a film. And Seabiscuit the Movie was a winner just like Seabiscuit the Book.

Seabiscuit, played by 10 or so horses was an unlikely champion who became the people's choice. "The colt's body, built low to the ground, had all the properties of a cinder block . . . blunt, coarse, rectangular, stationary," Hillenbrand wrote.

"He had a sad little tail, barely long enough to brush his hocks. His stubby legs were a study in unsound construction, with huge, squarish, asymmetrical 'baseball glove' knees that didn't quite straighten out all the way, leaving him in a permanent semi-crouch."

The book took years to publish. "I did my research everywhere," Hillenbrand said. "I did, at least, 150 interviews. I looked at hundreds of record books, newspapers from the 1930s, poured over memorabilia. The research process took four years."

The film took a year to produce. It didn't didn't lose much, if anything, squeezing several lifetimes, mainly six years, into 140 minutes.

Obvious standouts were the actors, each portraying the main characters perfectly: Toby McGuire as Pollard, Jeff Bridges as Howard and Chris Cooper as Smith. Director Gary Ross, who also wrote the screenplay, did a commendable job.

The unsung heroes, however, were casting director Bill Dance and associates Terri Taylor and Debra Zane. Even the extras were a perfect fit for the 1930s.

Narrator David McCullough: You'll recognize the voice, but maybe not the name. He has done voiceovers, mainly for TV movies and specials since the early '80s. His articulate contribution complimented the presentation, especially when the scenes of the era were black-and-white.

The jockeys, the real jockeys, were also fine, especially Gary Stevens. He portrayed the famous George "Iceman" Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit 10 times when Pollard was laid up with a badly damaged leg. Ricky Frazier, the double for Maguire, is still riding around the country.

The horses, biught by Universal Pictures, portrayed Seabiscuit for various sequences. Fighting Furrari, the main thoroughbred when Maguire was on his back, was no stranger to tracks, but only visited the winner's circle once (by a nose) in 16 races.

Rusty Hendrickson, the head trainer who has handled horses for several big movies, located the animals. "We cast a big net over the states and ended up with 40-odd horses that cost us anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 apiece," he said in an interview.

"We didn't need a horse to run for more than 2 ½ furlongs at a time. That was about the longest take we did, and those kinds of horses don't cost a lot. We weren't looking for great breeding or staying power. We were making a movie, not trying to win horse races."

Amazingly, Fighting Furrari and three other thoroughbreds had bloodlines that go back to Man o' War - Seabiscuit's granddad.
"At no moment of his racing career did Fighting Furrari display any special talent," thoroughbred guru Andy Beyer wrote. "He was modestly bred. He was chronically slow. He ran mostly in cheap races at minor-league tracks. He was an unlikely candidate to become the most-watched thoroughbred in America. When one of Hendrickson's emissaries spotted Fighting Furrari, he purchased the horse . . . for $2,000."

Ironically, Beyer also wrote, "it was Fighting Furrari who had the most all-around talent as an actor. 'A lot of racehorses are pretty skittish,' Hendrickson said. 'But he had a lot of courage around the commotion and the cameras. He was inquisitive. He was real accepting. He was a people horse.' "

And Seabiscuit was a great champion considering he didn't win a race until start No. 18. Before the son of Hard Tack came under the guidance of the turn-around trio, he won only 9 of 47 races. In his next 42 trips to the post, taken as a 3-year-old until he was seven, Seabiscuit was 24-7-7.

He was Horse of the Year in '38, when he won two match races. On Aug. 2 at Del Mar, Seabiscuit edged Ligaroti, an Argentine-bred speedball who captured a number of stakes for owner Bing Crosby. The horses were never more than a head apart during the 1 1/8 miles as Seabiscuit won by a nose, giving away 15 pounds.

On Nov. 1 at Pimlico, as depicted in the film, Seabiscuit led War Admiral at every call of the 1 3/16 miles as both carried 120 pounds. He won by four lengths.

The true crowning glory of Seabiscuit's career is slightly different than the movie version. He did not come from the back of the pack nor did he win by a big margin. Actually, he never was worse than second.

On his third attempt to take the $100,000-plus Santa Anita Handicap in '40, he defeated stablemate Kayak II by 1 ½ lengths and set the track record of 2:01 1/5 for the 1 ¼ miles.

After Seabiscuit was retired, his statue was erected at Santa Anita. And his legend lives on.