![]() ![]() There Smith patiently worked on Seabiscuit’s strengths, corrected his weaknesses, and encouraged his ability to run faster than any other horse. Smith believed he had potential, however, so Howard bought him and took him back to California. The colt was a descendant of the famous Man o’ War, but his body was stunted, his legs stubby, and he walked with an odd gait. Howard first saw Seabiscuit racing in 1936. Both men were well suited to invest emotionally and financially in Seabiscuit, as were the two jockeys who would be associated with him, Red Pollard and George Woolf. Howard, a sucker for lost causes, took on as his trainer Tom Smith, a taciturn westerner down on his luck who studied horses for days until he took their measure. Racing was a popular, often unregulated sport in the 1930s, and wealthy men like Bing Crosby and his friend Charles Howard, who became Seabiscuit’s owner, fielded strings of horses all over the country. Hillenbrand deftly mixes arcane horse lore with a narrative as compelling as any adventure yarn as she introduces first the men who would make Seabiscuit great and then the horse himself. Like all heroes of an epic, Seabiscuit had to endure setbacks, dispel doubts about his abilities, and contend with formidable rivals. ![]() The former editor of Equus magazine retells the riveting story of an unlikely racehorse that became an American obsession during the Depression. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |