|
Seabiscuit
|
|
Seabiscuit
|
|
Seabiscuit - Stamtavla |
|
Hard Tack |
Man o' War |
Fair Play |
Hastings |
|
Fairy Gold |
|||
|
Mahubah |
Rock Sand |
||
|
Merry Token |
|||
|
Tea Biscuit |
Rock Sand |
Sainfoin |
|
|
Roquebrune |
|||
|
Tea's Over |
Hanover |
||
|
Tea Rose |
|||
|
Swing On |
Whisk Broom II |
Broomstick |
Ben Brush |
|
Elf |
|||
|
Audience |
Sir Dixon |
||
|
Sallie McClelland |
|||
|
Balance |
Rabelais |
St. Simon |
|
|
Satirical |
|||
|
Balancoire II |
Meddler |
||
|
Ballantrae |
|
Breeder: Mrs. Gladys Phipps Trainer: Silent Tom Smith Riders: Red
Pollard, George Woolf |
Titles: |
|
This is the true story of Seabiscuit. His father Hard Tack was certainly bred like a champion. His dam, Tea Biscuit, was sired by the great Rock Sand, who won the English Triple Crown and was one of the top sires in the country. His second dam, Tea's Over, produced the champion Ort Wells and the good mare Toggery, who produced several stakes winners. Tea's Over was by the great Hanover. Hard Tack was sired by the immortal Man o' War himself. Yet due to a difficult temperament, Hard Tack was only a modest stakes winner, earning a mere $16,820 before bowing a tendon. In 1933 his book included only a handful of mares, including the well bred but poorly made broodmare Swing On, who had also done nothing to distinguish herself on the racetrack. Only her pedigree made her worth breeding at all. A daughter of the great Whisk Broom II, she was from the same female family as two-time Horse of the Year Equipose, then at the height of his career. Equipose was out of Swinging. Swing On was out of Balance. Both were out of Balancoire II. Swing On was later the third dam of Kentucky Derby winner Determine. On May 23, 1933, Swing On had a bay colt by Hard Tack who was later named Seabiscuit. He grew up on Claiborne Farm, with his age mates including Flares, Snark, Tintagel, Forever Yours, and Granville. Snark and Seabiscuit were among the horses bred by Mrs. Gladys Phipps' Wheatley Stable, and when she came to inspect her yearlings in April of 1934, Bull Hancock had Seabiscuit hidden away, knowing she wouldn't be impressed. He was undersized, knobby, and refused to shed his winter coat. Twenty one years later Bull Hancock hid another yearling from Mrs. Phipps. That was the accident prone Bold Ruler. The great trainer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons had trained both Hard Tack and Swing On, and he hadn't been fond of either of them. He therefore could hardly be expected to get excited about their undersized son, especially when he came fully equipped with all the conformation faults of his dam, a dangerously sprung knee, and a good dose of his sire's willfulness. The colt, nicknamed the Runt, did nothing to gain Sunny Jim's respect. The two had a personality clash that was never overcome, and with horses like Omaha, Granville, and Faireno in the stable, the trainer wasn't inclined to go out of his way to pamper what he saw as a claimer with an attitude problem. He worked the colt hard, and was said to have instructed his exercise riders not to spare the whip. He was used as a work horse for Granville. Legend has it that he remembered the colt from their days on Claiborne Farm, and actively tried to beat him in their trials. Horses have been known to do stranger things than that, and it seems that Seabiscuit did run harder in his works with Granville than he did when galloping alone. Whether he nursed an active grudge or simply liked the company can't be proven. The cranky disposition that Seabiscuit developed that winter was sometimes attributed to the fact that he was never allowed to win the matches with the Gallant Fox colt. The cause could have simply been pain in his inflamed knee, or a lack of recreation, but regardless of the cause, Seabiscuit became a stall walker, losing weight and condition. The habit didn't do his bad knee much good, either.
Silent Tom Smith had taken an interest in the bay son of Hard Tack, and bought him on behalf of Charles S. Howard for the sum of $7,500. Buying Seabiscuit was the turning point in Tom Smith's career. The first thing Tom Smith did for Seabiscuit was provide him with a social life. He first tried putting a goat in the stall, but when the creature got between Seabiscuit and his dinner, the horse picked it up by the neck and set it firmly outside the door. So instead, the trainer put Pumpkin, the stable pony, in with Seabiscuit. Through the rest of his career, Seabiscuit either roomed with Pumpkin, or was put in the stall next door, and Silent Tom would cut a hole in the wall so the two horses could visit. The trainer also devised a knee and ankle brace for Seabiscuit to wear in the stall, and kept the horse rather creatively bandaged. The horse's crankiness faded with time. The story was that the first time Silent Tom worked his new charge, he rode the horse himself and Seabiscuit ran away with him. The horse only stopped when he realized his rider wasn't making any attempt to slow him down. Red Pollard, a former boxer who had won only three stakes races in his entire career, became Seabiscuit's new regular rider, and the pair took a shine to each other immediately. Seabiscuit was beaten by the brilliant Jacola when he tried to give her twenty four pounds in the Laurel Stakes, and therefore he had lost his most recent race when the 'Match of the Century' finally took place in the Pimlico Special, which War Admiral had won the previous year. War Admiral seemed to have all of the advantages. The conditions of the race included even weights and a walk up start. In a match race, the horse who gets the early lead has the advantage, and War Admiral was accustomed to showing the way, while Seabiscuit usually came from behind. But Silent Tom Smith had other plans. Seabiscuit was schooled carefully for the walk up starts, and he bolted away from the Triple Crown winner, leading from wire to wire and winning by four lengths. Seabiscuit could have retired the undisputed champion of his day. The win over War Admiral had earned him Horse of the Year honors, and it didn't seem he had anything more to prove. When he ran second in an allowance race at Santa Anita in February, it seemed his racing days were over. He came back lame, and was retired to stud. There was yet another chapter to be written, however, and Seabiscuit returned to the races at the age of seven. Horses simply were not brought out of retirement with success. It didn't happen. But Seabiscuit's connections were determined to try. Just when things seemed bleak, Seabiscuit streaked home the two and a half length winner in the San Antonio Handicap. He was assigned 130 pounds for his final try at the Santa Anita Handicap. Red Pollard kept him out of traffic and close to the early leaders, then took command at the head of the stretch. At the wire it was Seabiscuit, a length and a half better than his stablemate, Kayak II. His time of 2:01 1/5 was a new track record. The win made him the all time leading money winner, topping Sun Beau by $60,986 with $437,730 in lifetime earnings. Seabiscuit was then permanently retired. At stud, Seabiscuit got some stakes winners, but never topped the charts. Whether he would have had more success had he stood outside of California can't be said. He often carried his owner on trail rides among the redwoods, and when he died on May 17, 1947 he was buried in a favored spot, although Charles Howard never revealed the exact location. A life sized bronze statue of Seabiscuit stands at Santa Anita, reminding racegoers of his deeds. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1958 and was twenty-fifth on the end of the century poll published by Blood-Horse. The legendary Seabiscuit has been the subject of several books, including Ralph Moody's children's book Come on Seabiscuit and Laura Hillenbrand's best seller, as well as two major motion pictures.
|
|
|
|
Webdesign Katja Sjöberg 2004-2005 |
