Seabiscuit

Two hundred fans, along with the press, greeted Seabiscuit when the train arrived in New York. Smith got to work training right away. To give Seabiscuit a chance to keep up with War Admiral, he knew he had to teach the horse to break faster out of the starting gate. Using a bell and a buggy whip, he conditioned the horse to bolt when he heard the bell. With Pollard in the saddle, Smith rang the bell and gave Seabiscuit a quick snap with the whip. Smith also trained him to be jumpy in the gate, much like when they first got him. If he were too calm, War Admiral would get the better of him; he needed to match his competitor’s intensity. Finally, Smith prepared his horse for having a skittish partner nearby by putting him in the gate time and again with an unruly horse Howard had acquired. If War Admiral caused a commotion, Seabiscuit had to keep his cool. 

Smith and his crew were subjected to a full onslaught by the press all this time. Though he didn’t say much, he tolerated them until mid-May, when it was time to ratchet up preparations, and he virtually shut down communication. Another reason may have been worry over Seabiscuit’s condition. His workouts were slow for him, and although Smith found nothing wrong with the horse, he couldn’t help thinking something wasn’t quite right. Smith holed up in the cottage his was staying in and scheduled nighttime workouts for Seabiscuit. The reporters responded by teaming up, working in tag-team fashion so that one of them was always following Smith around, hoping to ferret out some news. They learned that Smith had worked at 8:00 p.m. in the past, so one of them hid out in the grandstand to time a workout. The resulting, rather slow time was printed the next day in the papers. This continued for days, with reporters and Smith trying to outwit and one-up each other.

On May 20, Seabiscuit turned in another slow time during a workout that reporters attended. Word went around that something was wrong with the horse; Smith assured them he was fine, but that did not put an end to things. One newspaper called for an investigation. The focus was on Seabiscuit, but War Admiral was not training well, either, also running slow in workouts. Riddle considered pulling him from the race but didn’t want to be the one to end things. To quell the rumors, Howard promised to hold a workout open to the public a week before the race. However, readying Seabiscuit that day, Smith finally found the problem: sore knees. After some consultation, and despite all the hype and publicity surrounding the race, Howard scratched Seabiscuit. 

Howard was in a bad spot, but he refused to risk the health of his horse. He offered to reschedule at a later date and race for no money. Belmont officials were piqued but said they’d consider it. Then Riddle pulled War Admiral from another race at the track, at the last minute without giving a good reason. Now really annoyed, C. V. Whitney stated that any possible rescheduling of the match race was now off. Rumors flew regarding both horses, including one that accused Howard of fabricating Seabiscuit’s bad leg to avoid losing. Howard knew he’d have to face War Admiral in a race with a full field, so he registered Seabiscuit in War Admiral’s next race, the Massachusetts Handicap at the end of June.

Six days before the race in Boston, Pollard had just finished a workout with Seabiscuit when he met an old friend from Tijuana. The friend was in a pinch financially, and needed his horse worked out before a race he hoped to earn some money from. Another rider had canceled and no one else was available. Pollard offered to do it and took off on the horse. Running hard on the track, the horse spooked at something and dashed sharply right, crashing through the outer rail. From there he bolted back toward the barns, with Pollard hanging on, unable to stop him. Turning sharply between two barns, he hit the corner of one and crashed. Pollard screamed wildly and everyone came running over to witness an ugly scene. Hillenbrand writes that “[h]is right leg was nearly sheared off below the knee” (218). He had shattered both bones in his lower leg and the flesh was torn away. He was taken to the hospital and Howard was called in San Francisco. Howard flew in the best orthopedists, who were able to save the leg but said Pollard would never walk again.

George Woolf was brought up from New York to ride Seabiscuit. The horse’s knee had healed, and he was back in good shape. A workout in the rain several days before the race went well, but the rain continued. They decided to play it by ear and see how the weather turned out. On the morning of the race, the rain stopped. Seabiscuit ran a good workout and was led back to the barn to rest and await the race. The track was still wet but not yet thick and muddy, so Howard decided to run him. Back in the barn, Smith gave Seabiscuit a final check and while running his hands along one of the horse’s forelegs, Seabiscuit flinched. The skin was intact, and it looked okay, but there was definitely something bothering Seabiscuit. Smith noticed the area was hot, though, indicating an injury. 

He ran out to try to withdraw him but had missed the final deadline. The other horses were already being led out. Smith dashed to the room with the track stewards with the news, but no one believed him. They may have been influenced by what happened at Belmont and the rumors that Seabiscuit had not really been hurt then. Howard came in and asked the track veterinarians to look at Seabiscuit themselves to settle the matter. Two were sent and both confirmed Smith’s fears: a tendon was strained. In their opinion, Seabiscuit’s running days were over. The stewards were furious, and the crowd booed when Seabiscuit’s name was taken off the scoreboard. War Admiral himself had a poor race, stepping in a hole in the track and finishing fourth—the first time he earned no money from a race. The next day, Howard’s team left for Chicago