Wonder Horse ... Seabiscuit

When Seabiscuit was ridden by Fitzsimmons, he failed to win the first 17 races. He then won two races and set a track record at Narragansett Park. He was in a claiming race for $2,500 but found no takers. Smith was a brilliant trainer (but not too sociable) and he studied Seabiscuit and decided to let him sleep when he wanted to and eat the best hay he could find. Howard hired a bit of a unconventional man to ride Seabiscuit — “Red” Pollard. Howard raced the horse eight times in the East and Pollard won several times.

Howard lived in Burlingame and he decided to head west and stable the horse at Tanforan Race Track. He won his first two races on the West Coast, at Bay Meadows Race Track, his only races that year. People were beginning to take notice of this horse. Pollard found out that Seabiscuit was not a lazy horse but a smart horse that few riders picked up on his style. He was a pace stalker, skilled at holding with the pack before pulling ahead with late acceleration. He did not like to be told what and when to do things so Pollard rarely used the whip to motivate him. The horse’s tactics was as if he knew he was better than the other horse and he “toyed” with them then sped away to win. This infuriated the other riders but made the fans go wild. Seabiscuit was becoming a hero of the underdog. He didn’t look like a champion or act like a champion and this mindset endeared the public to this “underdog.” Millions of people listened on the radio when he raced.

In 1937, Seabiscuit won at the $125,000 (“The Hundred Grander”) race of the Santa Anita Handicap. In 1937, with another race facing the jockey Rosemont, Pollard lost by a nose. Howard and the fans were shocked. Later Howard talked to Pollard and asked why he did not see Rosemont out of his left eye at the finish and Pollard shocked Howard by admitting that he was blind in the left eye from a riding accident years ago. This was actually illegal but nobody but Howard found this out. Pollard won the next three races, then Howard decided to take the horse to the East Coast. The East Coast acted rather snobbish about western horses — they felt they were all inferior to the eastern horses and would not acknowledge that any could be champions. After all, the best horse at that time was the winner of every award — War Admiral (also sired by Man o’ War). In 1937, Seabiscuit won 11 of his 15 races and was the year’s leading money winner. War Admiral won the Triple Crown and was awarded the American Horse of the Year trophy.

On Feb. 9, 1938, Pollard was injured while riding and suffered a crushed chest. George Woolf then rode Seabiscuit in the 1938 Santa Anita Handicap. Stagehand had a handicap of 13.6 Kg less than Seabiscuit and Stagehand won in a photo finish. After recovering from his crushed chest accident, Pollard again suffered an injury that put him out of riding for a while.

The race of the century was to be run on Nov. 1, 1938, between Seabiscuit and War Admiral at Pimico Race Course. Forty-thousand fans were at the track and more than 40 million were listening on the radio. Pollard’s tactic of having Seabiscuit start fast (rather than her slow usual pace) and stay ahead of Man o’ War worked for jockey Woolf and Seabiscuit won by four clear lengths.

Seabiscuit was named the American Horse of the Year for 1938.

Pollard recovered his injury and he raced again. His comeback race was Feb. 9, 1940, at the La Jolla Handicap at Santa Anita and he lost by two lengths. After this race, he got back to his old ways and won numerous meets.

The final spectacular race for Seabiscuit occurred in 1940 when Pollard won the “Hundred Grander” by beating Kayak II by 1 1/2 lengths.

Rediscovering the Peninsula runs every weekend. It is compiled through our archives created by Jim Clifford and the late Darold Fredricks.