SEABIS
a racehorse with the will to succeed
Seabiscuit (born May 23, 1933, in Lexington, Kentucky; died May 17, 1947, in Willits, California) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. The stallion, whose racing career did not begin very promisingly, became the most successful racehorse of his time, running a series of races with spectacular finishes and becoming a symbol of hope for many Americans against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Seabiscuit was sired by the mare Swing On and the stallion Hard Track, who was a son of the famous racehorse Man O' War. The colt was raised at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Little suggested that he was suited to be a successful racehorse; he was relatively small for an English Thoroughbred, his knees were not ideally formed, and he was prone to long periods of sleeping and eating.
Charles Howard hired Tom Smith as trainer, who countered the horse's lethargic nature with unorthodox training methods. Tom Smith also found a rider for the horse in the Canadian jockey Red Polland (1909-1981), who was well-suited to the horse's temperament. On August 22, 1936, Seabiscuit ran his first race for his new owner. In November 1936, Seabiscuit was transported by train to California.
His last two races of 1936 took place at Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Francisco. Both races, won by Seabiscuit, demonstrated the potential of this stallion. The Bay Bridge Handicap, with a prize purse of $2.700 USD, was a one-mile race.
Seabiscuit had a poor start in this race; he was behind the field when he came out of the starting box, but he worked his way through the field of his competitors over the short distance, winning by a margin of five lengths and missing the record for this race track by only 0,4 seconds.
This style of racing would characterize Seabiscuit's races for the next few years and made him a favorite with the American public. The press described him as a horse with the heart of a fighter, who battled his way forward even from a seemingly hopeless situation.
And Seabiscuit became an increasingly popular favorite with Californian racers. He won his next three races in the West, and Howard decided to have the horse moved to the eastern United States, where the most important American horse races were held. Seabiscuit's winning streak continued there as well.
Between June 26, 1937 and August 7, 1937, he started in five races and won every one of them.
With this series of successes, Seabiscuit was the racehorse that had won the most prize money in the USA.
On the West Coast, the unassuming horse, which had lethargically endured victory celebrations, had become a celebrity. Its races were followed with almost fanatical enthusiasm on the radio; its successes filled the weekly news reports in cinemas, and thousands of newspaper lines were devoted to this horse, which had had such an unpromising start, was trained by a previously unknown trainer, and whose owner was an upstart who, just a few years earlier, had been repairing bicycles. The horse racing establishment was located in the eastern states of the USA and reacted considerably more cautiously to Seabiscuit.
Despite Seabiscuit's successes, the three-year-old War Admiral was chosen as "Racehorse of the Year" because he had won the most important East Coast races. The rivalry between Seabiscuit and War Admiral would continue to dominate 1938. As early as 1937, the press had speculated about the race between Seabiscuit and the seemingly invincible War Admiral.
The “Race of the Century”
On Tuesday, November 1, 1938, the two racehorses finally met in what was euphorically dubbed the "Race of the Century." The race, to be run over one mile and three-sixteenths, remains one of the greatest sporting events in U.S. history. Although it was a weekday, an unusually large crowd of 40.000 spectators gathered at the racetrack. So many people wanted to witness this racing event that the infield even had to be opened to spectators. Trains brought spectators from all over the country to Pimlico Racecourse near Baltimore, Maryland, and 40 million people listened to the race on the radio. War Admiral was the undisputed favorite; the odds with most bookmakers were 4 to 1 in his favor, and most sportswriters agreed on the outcome of this race.
When the starting bell rang on November 1st, Seabiscuit took off with such speed that he was already a length ahead of War Admiral after just 20 seconds. Seabiscuit maintained this lead for most of the race, but on the back straight, War Admiral began to close the gap and catch up with Seabiscuit. George Woolf didn't immediately urge Seabiscuit on, but instead let him become aware of the other horse beside him. When he then released the reins, Seabiscuit still had enough strength to increase his speed even further. War Admiral couldn't keep up; when Seabiscuit crossed the finish line, he was four lengths ahead of his opponent. On April 10, 1940, it was officially announced that Seabiscuit would no longer race. He returned to Howard's Ridgewood Ranch as a stud stallion.
He left the turf as the most successful racehorse of his time.