Hillenbrand details the ups and downs of 'team Seabiscuit,' from early training sessions to record-breaking victories, and from serious injury to 'Horse of the Year'-as well as the Biscuit's fabled rivalry with War Admiral.

Seabiscuit rose to prominence with the help of an unlikely triumvirate: owner Charles Howard, an automobile baron who once declared that 'the day of the horse is past' trainer Tom Smith, a man who 'had cultivated an almost mystical communication with horses' and jockey Red Pollard, who was down on his luck when he charmed a then-surly horse with his calm demeanor and a sugar cube. But looks aren't everything his quality, an admirer once wrote, 'was mostly in his heart.' Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. JUST AS COMPELLING TODAY AS IT WAS IN 1938.” - The Washington Post shows an extraordinary talent for describing a horse race so vividly that the reader feels like the rider.” - Sports Illustrated More than just a horse’s tale, because the humans who owned, trained, and rode Seabiscuit are equally fascinating. A first-rate piece of storytelling, leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of a horse but a fascinating slice of American history as well.” - The New York Times

Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:Ĭharles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. From the author of the runaway phenomenon Unbroken comes a universal underdog story about the horse who came out of nowhere to become a legend.

Seabiscuit an american legend book