![]() His first win didn't come until five months later, in his 18th start, when he captured an allowance race. "He struck me as a bird that could sing," Fitzsimmons said, "but wouldn't unless we made him." The horse was branded lazy and defiant by his trainer, Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons. "Seabiscuit floated along in a state of contented, bovine torpor," Hillenbrand wrote. Seabiscuit's early life was spent at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. Hard Tack, known for his nasty temperament, raced to limited success before entering stud in 1932. Seabiscuit's parents were Swing On and Hard Tack, who was the son of the legendary Man o' War. "Runty little thing," said the foaling groom when he pulled the horse into the world. This came after Hillenbrand's 2001 book shot to No. In 2003, Seabiscuit's story was turned into a successful movie. She wrote that in 1938, when he was voted Horse of the Year, Seabiscuit was the subject of more newspaper column inches than any newsmaker, including Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler. "In the latter half of the Depression, Seabiscuit was nothing short of a cultural icon in America, enjoying adulation so intense, it transcended sport," author Laura Hillenbrand said in Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Seabiscuit's best work was as an ambassador for the sport. "You could kill him before he'd quit," Woolf said. The horse also had the heart of a champion. "Seabiscuit's like a hunk of steel - solid, strong," said George Woolf, the Hall of Fame jockey who rode Seabiscuit in the race against War Admiral. When he retired in 1940, his earnings were $437,730, a record and almost 55 times the price owner Charles Howard paid for him four years earlier. In 89 starts, Seabiscuit finished in the money 61 times (33 victories, 15 seconds and 13 thirds). His legacy might have been even greater if not for two prior photo-finish defeats in that race. Remarkably, he returned as a seven-year-old and won the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, the world's richest race. After beating War Admiral in their epic battle, Seabiscuit raced only once in 1939 because of a serious injury. Many still consider his 1938 match race with War Admiral one of the sport's classic events.Ī rags-to-riches story, Seabiscuit didn't begin thriving until he had run dozens of races. At a time interest in horse racing was blossoming, the grandson of Man o' War became the people's choice for his determination, resiliency and raw talent. Perhaps no horse in the 20th century captivated a nation the way Seabiscuit did in the late 1930s. They don't always do it in real life, but this is one story where they did," says Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series. There were families who were losing everything, but tried to keep up appearances and continued to invest in horse racing, even though their homes lacked the basics."Everybody identifies with the underdog, they want them to win. As the saying goes, ‘look the part, be the part’. Horse racing was king among the American aristocracy, and it was necessary to attend top race meetings in order to maintain their place among the elite. Given the country’s situation, cutbacks were constant and the order of the day, and the American upper classes dispensed with many luxuries, but continued to maintain their horse racing tradition. At these hard times, he became a symbol of hope and excitement for many Americans. He lived during the Great Depression (also known as the Great Crash of 1929), a time of severe global financial crisis that lasted until the end of the 1930s. He was born in May 1933 (Swing On x Man O’ war), and passed away fourteen years later. Seabiscuit was, is and will undoubtedly always be an important figure. In a digital era in which everything is just a click away and you can Google everything, which is the most mentioned horse in history? Which is the horse that made more rivers of ink flow in those not-so-distant times when the press was printed on paper? If we were to look back over the last 15 years, the place of honour would undoubtedly go to Totilas, but if we go back as far as our memory takes us, the ‘platinum medal’ would go to Seabiscuit, very close to Secretariat, both of them racehorses.
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