The Thrilling Seabiscuit

Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit, thunders out a well-researched story that builds in page-turning momentum, much like the Thoroughbreds that hurl their bodies around the track at killer speeds to lunge for the finish line. A most compelling read! After reading her literary piece of excellence, her other book, Unbroken, a story of a ship-wrecked WWII and POW survivor, is hot on my list!

Laura did a phenomenal job of digging through archives, placing extensive phone calls, and interacting with people in the horse track world to write her compelling book. It took her four long years and the outcome is the testament of a well-crafted published work that will grace any bookshelf. Not because of my love of horses, but because of my love of literary art do I give this book the full 5.0 score! In fact, I think it's one of the most well-written books I've had the joy to read.

In the 1930s the gangly knock-kneed Seabiscuit became the sweetheart horse of America. If going by appearance, Seabiscuit wasn't much too look at, but the horse had heart, he had endurance, and he had the zany personality of a champion with a definite character. After winning the hearts of the west, he was shipped east to take the hearts of the more conservative half of the US where there were the venerable old stables and races, the home of racing elites, and the place where prestige was accumulated by one's style and classiness. Because Seabiscuit wasn't considered good enough to strike first for the east's great races, he was first placed in the Scarsdale Handicap, a midlevel stake, and because Seabiscuit was the longest shot on the board, few people paid him much mind ... but he had one minute forty seconds to change their minds! Fighting his way through a mass of horses, and chain-action collisions Seabiscuit, guided by his jockey Red Pollard, came from behind, extended his neck and won by inches. "The finish photo captured the scene: a dense cluster of horses stretched out for the wire, ears flat and lips peeled back in extreme effort. Ahead of them all, ears tipped forward with a jaunty expression, was Seabiscuit's heavy, homey head. Easy."

With horse racing the fastest growing sport in the 1920s and early 1930s, Seabiscuit became the icon. He was featured in the nation's corner theaters that ran pictures of Seabiscuit, he appeared on magazine covers, but it was through radio that people were most thrilled by the racing of this racing god. 

"In the 1920s the cost of a radio had been prohibitive - $120 or more - and all that bought was a box of unassembled parts. In unelectrified rural areas, radios ran on pricey, short-lived batteries. But with the 1930s came the advent of factory-built console, tabletop, and automobile radio sets, available for as little as $5. Thanks to Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Administration, begun in 1936, electricity came to the quarter of the population that lived on farmlands. Rural families typically made the radio their second electric purchase, after the clothes iron. By 1935, when Seabiscuit began racing, two thirds of the nation's homes had radio. At the pinnacle of his career, that figure had jumped to 90%, plus eight million sets in cars. Enabling virtually all citizens to experience noteworthy events simultaneously and in entertaining form, radio created a vast common culture in America, arguably the first true mass culture the world had ever seen. Racing, a sport whose sustained dramatic action was ideally suited to narration, became a staple of the airwave. The Santa Anita Handicap, with its giant purse and world-class athletes, competing in what was rapidly becoming the nation's most heavily attended sport, became one of the premier radio events of the year.
"In February 1937, all of these new social and technological forces were converging. The modern age of celebrity was dawning. The new machine of fame stood waiting. All it needed was the subject himself. At that singular hour, Seabiscuit, the Cinderella horse, flew over the line of the Santa Anita Handicap. Something clicked: here he was."

With the charge of horse racing electrifying America, language from the races was incorporated into mainstream speech. Idioms like "going to get your goat", "off to the races", "a dark horse racing", among others enriched everyday speech. One specific idiom is traced back to Seabiscuit's greatest race at Pimlico against the Triple Crown winner War Admiral, sired by Man O'War, who was also the grandsire of Seabiscuit. In the race with jockey George Woolf, replacement to the injured Red Pollard, aboard Seabiscuit and Charles Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral, the since oft repeated phrase was born when Seabiscuit looked across at War Admiral as they came around in the final stretches and then with a burst a speed shot four lengths ahead to win the race. As Woolf felt the power surge through Seabiscuit and grinned as the gap appeared, Woolf called out cheerily to Charles Kurtsinger, "See you later, Charlie" ... and linguistic humor was born.

Seabiscuit and jockey George Woolf lead War Admiral and jockey Charles Kurtsinger - source 

America loved the little knobbed-kneed horse that rocketed around racetracks and which galloped into their hearts. To commemorate their icon, a wild odd assortment of memorabilia with Seabiscuit's name or picture were sold - signature board games, pinball machines, wastebaskets, postcards, "endorsement" ads for two beer brands, two lines of Seabiscuit oranges, whiskey, a hotel, a humor magazine, a dry-cleaning service, and ladies' hats. Seabiscuit was obviously so in the minds of the American people that he became a household word, and literally was featured in many households. He was an icon of the dreams and hearts of the American people when, during the Great Depression, there was little to dream about, but Seabiscuit's grand performances sure promised a lot to hope about.