Seabiscuit

In April, Agnes joined Pollard at the Howards’ ranch, Ridgewood, and it was there they had their wedding. Seabiscuit joined them, too, in a private paddock when Smith set out for races with Kayak. Pollard took Seabiscuit on slow walks, carefully feeling his way with crutches while holding the horse’s lead. He referred to that period of his life as “a long, hard pull” (296). He slowly improved, trading his crutches for a cane, and Seabiscuit’s gait strengthened. Howard began joining them, and one day he helped Pollard mount Seabiscuit while he rode another horse to guide them by a lead rope. Before long, he had a small track made on a flat area of his ranch, and they all took walks there. 

Seabiscuit improved steadily and showed signs of the old fire within, getting antsy with the slow pace. By early summer, Pollard had him cantering, but he kept a close eye on the horse and never pushed things. At the end of the summer, Seabiscuit was going five miles at a time. He had changed his gait as a result of his injury, so that all his legs stayed directly under him, whereas one foreleg used to kick out sideways a bit. Hillenbrand writes that it “was a beautiful, smooth gait, and probably a sounder one” (299). When Smith returned in the fall, he was impressed with the work they had done. Everyone began to think the impossible: that Seabiscuit might make it back to the hundred-grander. Later that fall, they set out for Santa Anita.

Training in Santa Anita began in December for the race that would be held March 2, 1940. Smith worked on getting Seabiscuit down to racing weight, and the workouts went well: Seabiscuit’s legs were sound. When the imposts were announced, Smith stormed into the office to protest the 130 pounds assigned to Seabiscuit. He argued that the horse hadn’t run for a year. Kayak’s impost of 129 pounds wasn’t much better. After Smith vented, he vowed, “We’ll run one-two anyway” (304). 

Early January was rainy, and Seabiscuit was scratched from several prep races. Pollard was having a tough time returning to life as a jockey. He had ridden a couple of races at the Tanforan track in San Francisco but had come away in obvious pain and looked weak. No one in Santa Anita wanted to hire him. Howard had let him come along with his team but made no promises about riding Seabiscuit in the hundred-grander. He, like all the owners, was afraid of the risk Pollard was taking by even being on a horse. The doctor had said another racing injury could cripple him entirely, and no one wanted to be responsible for that. 

Pollard had a reason other than pride to return to riding: his wife Agnes was pregnant, and he was basically broke. He needed the winnings from the hundred-grander to earn some money and provide for his family. Despondent, he turned to drinking, something he had begun doing to excess after his accidents to deal with the pain. Slowly, he was becoming an alcoholic. His agent Yummy and friend David Alexander tried to be around him as much as possible to keep an eye on him and keep him sober. 

Throughout January, Seabiscuit was behind schedule in training. Toward the end of the month he had a couple of hard workouts, finally paired again with Pollard. Both horse and jockey fared well. Seabiscuit was entered in a race at the end of January, but Howard didn’t name a jockey. If Pollard was sound, he’d ride; if not, Woolf had the mount. This led to a falling out between the two old friends. In the end, Seabiscuit was scratched once again because of rain.

In two races in February, Pollard rode Seabiscuit to disappointing results. The horse didn’t respond as he used to when it was time to take charge at the end. Smith began to worry after the second race, and some in the press pronounced Seabiscuit washed up. Finally, in the San Antonio Handicap, the old Seabiscuit emerged and he raced to victory with Pollard in the saddle. Next up was the hundred-grander.

A total of 78,000 people crammed into the Santa Anita park to watch the hundred-grander handicap held there. They included celebrities like actors Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart. Days of rain had muddied the track until two days before the race, when the weather cleared and the drying equipment was sent out. As Smith helped Pollard up onto Seabiscuit, he said, “You know the horse, and the horse knows you. Bring him home” (320). 

The horses set a fast pace from the start. At the second turn, a horse named Whichcee was leading and Seabiscuit was near the rail, with a path forward clear ahead. The pack soon narrowed, and another horse called Wedding Call pushed Seabiscuit leftward a bit, closing the path. At first, Pollard thought there was no way out; then the path eased open again. It was narrow, and Pollard was afraid he might clip his bad leg passing another horse, but he prompted Seabiscuit, who burst through the hole and into the lead. In the homestretch, Kayak made a move on him. Pollard felt Seabiscuit ease up slightly; the horse had always liked to torment rivals by letting them get close before dashing their hopes, and here he did it one last time. Pollard soon asked for more, and Seabiscuit broke ahead to win. Kayak came in second. Afterward, Seabiscuit strutted to the winner’s circle. Pollard would later remark, “Don’t think he didn’t know he was the hero” (324). 

In the epilogue, Hillenbrand explains what happened to each of the main players in the saga of Seabiscuit. Howard retired the horse after winning the Santa Anita Handicap. In April, Seabiscuit left the track for good to go live at Ridgewood. George Woolf continued his success as a jockey until early 1946, when his diabetes caught up with him. He passed out during a race and fell from his horse, hitting his head on the track, which killed him. 

Pollard gave up riding after the hundred-grander, only to return to it later when other things didn’t work out. He ended up in “bush league” races and continued to be injured from falls, including suffering a broken hip and a broken back. He finally gave up at age 46 and worked various other jobs at a track in Rhode Island. He died in 1981.

Smith continued as Howard’s trainer until 1943, when a lengthy convalescence after back surgery led to Howard hiring someone else. When he was well again, Smith was hired by Elizabeth Arden Graham, founder of the cosmetics empire, and won the 1947 Kentucky Derby with one of her horses. He died ten years later.

Seabiscuit and Howard, as Hillenbrand writes, “grew old together in the slow rhythms of Ridgewood” (336). Howard taught the horse how to herd cattle and opened the ranch to visitors. He even built a little grandstand near Seabiscuit’s paddock so they could watch him. Howard continued to race horses, having some success with one of Seabiscuit’s grandsons and even greater success with a horse named Noor, who won the Santa Anita Handicap. When a reporter remarked that Howard had another Seabiscuit on his hands, Howard replied, “there will never be another Seabiscuit” (338). In the spring of 1947, Seabiscuit died of a heart attack at only 14 years old. Howard buried the horse on the ranch and marked the spot by planting a small oak tree at the grave, telling only his family the location. He died three years later.