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His life story -- an underachiever who becomes a champion and an idol for a nation caught in the grip of the Great Depression -- has universal appeal.
Hillenbrand’s book has been brought to the silver screen by Hollywood folk who felt that Seabiscuit’s life and the lives of his owner, trainer and jockey make for a compellingmovie.
With the opening of Seabiscuit today at theaters nationwide, the movie is generating excitement not only with the general public, who have being bombarded by rave reviews the last two weeks, but by those in the horse racing industry, who hope that the movie will compel people to visit their local racetrack and become enamored with the beauty of the thoroughbred and the excitement of a horse race.
Having loved racing since I was old enough to read the Daily Racing Form, I know that Seabiscuit-type stories abound in the history books. There’s the rags-to-riches tale of the great gelding John Henry, for instance.
It was sad to watch the Sport of Kings slowly lose its lifeblood, the fan, to other sports which marketed themselves better and got more national television coverage.
While horse racing movies were made frequently in the 1940s and ‘50s, they became as scarce as the fans in the empty grandstands.
Thus, it was heartening to see Hillenbrand’s magnificently written book make The New York Times bestselling list, and even more exciting that a Hollywood production company began to translate it into a major motion picture.
Several local jockeys -- former Bucks County resident Bob Colton, and Delaware Park-based Joe Rocco, Jr. and William Hollick, went to California to act as extras in the film and also serve as consultants, making sure that the film was correct down to the last detail.
Hollywood had tackled the story of Seabiscuit before, and while it was an entertaining film starring Shirley Temple, it took creative liberties that didn’t tell the true story. The true story is so interesting and heartwarming that one can only wonder why that early attempt at making the Seabiscuit film strayed so far from reality.
In case you’re not familiar with Seabiscuit’s tale, he was bred by the famed Wheatley Stable, and had blue blood flowing through his veins. After starting an almost unheard-of 35 times at age 2 in 1935, he was toiling in claiming races, even racing for price tags as low as $2,500 -- with no takers.
Seabiscuit’s first trainer was James "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, who conditioned many of the sport’s great champions, including Triple Crown winner Omaha and handicap star Granville. Many felt that since Fitzsimmons couldn’t make a great horse out of Seabiscuit, nobody could.
One person willing to take a chance on Seabiscuit was Charles Howard, who owned one of the largest auto dealerships in California. He was looking for a horse that could compete at mid-level races, and Fitzsimmons was interested in culling Seabiscuit from his stable. The deal was made in August of 1936: Seabiscuit was sold to Howard for $7,500.
Howard turned over the colt to "Silent" Tom Smith, a former ranch hand and blacksmith for a Wild West show. For Smith, Seabiscuit made 42 starts and won 24 times, the majority of which were with Red Pollard, a jockey who was blind in one eye, aboard.
Under Howard’s crimson and white colors, Seabiscuit set 12 track records and equaled two others between 1937-40, often carrying weights in excess of 130 pounds.
The epitome of a late bloomer, Seabiscuit reached the apex of his career at age 5, when he defeated Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a celebrated match race at Pimlico, in Baltimore, in 1938. The Seabiscuit-War Admiral match race is considered one of the country’s all-time, best known sporting events, broadcast nationwide on NBC radio.
That year, Seabiscuit was voted Horse of the Year.
Though he suffered a rupturedligament of his left front leg at age 6, an injury that usually forces the retirement of a racehorse, he returned at age 7 to win the one race that had eluded him twice before -- the Santa Anita Handicap. In winning the Big ‘Cap, Seabiscuit became the world’s leading money earner.
I’ve already bought my tickets to Seabiscuit for its grand opening today, and fully expect to laugh -- and cry -- as the film unfolds. But the tears won’t be just because Seabiscuit triumphs above all odds -- they’ll be because this movie will be helping to resurrect the grand old Sport of Kings.
-- Linda Dougherty covers horse racing for The Trentonian.
