Blogging Challenge Week 7: Seabiscut the Horse not the Bread

     Seabiscut the Horse not the Bread       

Seabiscut was born on May, 17 1933. When Seabiscut was born he was a knobbly kneed bay colored colt. Seabiscut grew up on Claiborne Farm Paris, Kentucky. Seabiscut had been trained by Sunny Jim Fitzsimmions. Sunny Jim thought at first that Seabiscut was too lazy. After Seabiscut won his first two races he became very, very famous. Hi first race was in Narragansett Park. He set a new track record in the second race… a Claiming Stakes race. As soon as Seabiscut was 2 years old he had to get to business. He raced 35 times when he was 2. Out of all his races he came in first 5 times. Also he came in second 7 times. Those included 3 claiming races, while during those races he could have been purchased for 2,500 dollars but nobody wanted him. The final 2 races he did were in minor mistakes. His owners sold him to Charles S. Howard for $8,000 in August.

Charles S. Howard  gave Seabiscut a new trainer to work with. His name was Tom Smith. He assigned Seabiscut a new jockey too. His name was Red Pollard. When they raced Seabiscut for the first time on August, 22 1936.  Seabiscut and Pollard won several times. In early November 1936 Howard then again shipped Seabiscut by rail to California. His 2 final races of the year were at Bay meadows and in San Mateo. if he won the first race he would get $2,700. Which to me is a lot of money for back in the day. He did win but, he was pushed in the beginning and he was carrying 116 lbs. He did another race in 1937. If he won he would get 125,000 dollars. It was known as the “Hundred Grander”. He lost at the race. He lost to Rosemount and came in 5th. So in a week they had a match race. Rosemount won by a nose. He came in first for his next 3 races. Since his was more famous his new nick name was “The Biscuit”. He finished that year with a race, and he came in 2nd at Pimlico. In 1937 he won 11 of his 15 races. He was awarded the American Horse of the Year Award.

In 1938 he was 5 years old. On February, 19 his jockey suffered a HORRIBLE fall !! His leg was shattered by Seabiscut’s heavy weight. Seabiscut needed a new jockey. He owner tried 3 then finally settled on George Woolf. With Seabiscut’s new jockey their first race was the “Hundred Grander”. Unfortunately they lost the race. War Admiral won he was assigned 30 lbs. Much less than Seabiscut. So through 1937 and 1938 Seabiscut and War Admiral had a match race. War Admiral was scratched, and usually due to a scratch the post-pone the race. Then Seabiscut was scratched. So they didhave a match race, and Seabiscu won. By June Pollard [Seabiscut’s jockey] was recovered. He started working with a younger horse named Modern Youth. When they were riding the horse got spooked and threw Pollard off ending his career. His jockey arranged another match race with Seabiscut and Ligaorti. Ligaorti was owned by California’s famous entertainer Bing Crosby. Seabiscut and Ligaorti finally raced. Seabiscut won !! After 3 more outings, and him winning only 1. He was scheduled to go head-to-head with War Admiral again. The race was in November and in Baltimore, Maryland. He won, and easily beat War Admiral. Also he was sent to race on the East Coast. The race was on October 16, 1938. Seabiscut was up against Jacola. Seabiscut lost, and Jacola set a record of 1.37 for only 1 mile.

So I’m passionate about horses and that they are very fast. So I wrote about Seabiscut. If you want more information go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabiscuit Also if you want to learn even more you can go to http://www.tbgreats.com/seabiscuit/bio.htm