page_title: Seabiscuit
section_title: 1936/1937: The beginning of success
hierarchical_section_title: Seabiscuit / 1936/1937: The beginning of success
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Seabiscuit e Tom Smith English: Seabiscuit and Tom Smith
context_page_description: Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money winning racehorse up to the 1940s, as noted in films and books. He beat the 1937 Triple-Crown winner, War Admiral, by 4 lengths in a 2-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.
  A small horse, at 15 hands high, Seabiscuit had an inauspicious start to his racing career, winning only a fourth of his first 40 races, but became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many Americans during the Great Depression.
  Seabiscuit has been the subject of numerous books and films, including Seabiscuit: the Lost Documentary; the Shirley Temple film The Story of Seabiscuit; a book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand; and a film adaptation of Hillenbrand's book, Seabiscuit, that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
context_section_description: Howard assigned Seabiscuit to a new trainer, Tom Smith, who, with his unorthodox training methods, gradually brought Seabiscuit out of his lethargy. Smith paired the horse with Canadian jockey Red Pollard (1909–1981), who had experience racing in the West and in Mexico. On August 22, 1936, they raced Seabiscuit for the first time. Improvements came quickly, and in their remaining eight races in the East, Seabiscuit and Pollard won several times, including the Detroit Governor's Handicap (worth $5,600) and the Scarsdale Handicap ($7,300) at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York.
  In early November 1936, Howard and Smith shipped the horse to California by rail. His last two races of the year were at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, California. The first was the $2,700 Bay Bridge Handicap, run over one-mile (1.6 km). Despite starting badly and carrying the top weight of 116 pounds (53 kg), Seabiscuit won by five lengths. At the World's Fair Handicap (Bay Meadows' most prestigious stakes race), Seabiscuit led throughout.
  In 1937, the Santa Anita Handicap, California's most prestigious race, was worth over $125,000 ($2.3 million in 2010) to the winner; it was known colloquially as "The Hundred Grander." In his first warm-up race at Santa Anita Park, Seabiscuit won easily. In his second race of 1937, the San Antonio Handicap, he suffered a setback after he was bumped at the start and then pushed wide; Seabiscuit came in fifth, losing to Rosemont. 
  The two met again in the Santa Anita Handicap a week later, where Rosemont won by a nose. The defeat was devastating to Smith and Howard, and was widely attributed in the press to a jockey error. Pollard, who had not seen Rosemont over his shoulder until too late, was blind in one eye due to an accident during a training ride, a fact he had hidden throughout his career. A week after this defeat Seabiscuit won the San Juan Capistrano Handicap by 7 lengths in track record time of 1:48​⁴⁄₅ for the ​1 ¹⁄₈ mile event. 
  Seabiscuit was rapidly becoming a favorite among California racing fans, and his fame spread as he won his next three races. With his successes, Howard decided to ship the horse east for its more prestigious racing circuit.
  Seabiscuit's run of victories continued. Between June 26 and August 7, he ran five times, each time in a stakes race, and each time he won under steadily increasing handicap weights (imposts) of up to 130 pounds (59 kg). For the third time, Seabiscuit faced off against Rosemont again, this time beating him at seven lengths. On September 11, Smith accepted an impost of 132 pounds (60 kg) for the Narragansett Special at Narragansett Park. On race day, the ground was slow and heavy, and unsuited to "the Biscuit", carrying the heaviest burden of his career. Smith wanted to scratch, but Howard overruled him. Never in the running, Seabiscuit finished third. His winning streak was snapped, but the season was not over; Seabiscuit won his next three races (one a dead heat) before finishing the year with a second place at Pimlico.
  In 1937, Seabiscuit won 11 of his 15 races and was the year's leading money winner in the United States. War Admiral, having won the Triple Crown that season, was voted the most prestigious honor, the American Horse of the Year Award.
caption: Seabiscuit with trainer Tom Smith
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