He
didn't
look
like
much.
With
his
smallish
stature,
knobby
knees,
and
slightly
crooked
forelegs,
he
looked
more
like
a
cow
pony
than
a
thoroughbred.
But
looks
aren't
everything;
his
quality,
an
admirer
once
wrote,
"was
mostly
in
his
heart."
Laura
Hillenbrand
tells
the
story
of
the
horse
who
became
a
cultural
icon
in
Seabiscuit:
An
American
Legend.
Seabiscuit
rose
to
prominence
with
the
help
of
an
unlikely
triumvirate:
owner
Charles
Howard,
an
automobile
baron
who
once
declared
that
"the
day
of
the
horse
is
past";
trainer
Tom
Smith,
a
man
who
"had
cultivated
an
almost
mystical
communication
with
horses";
and
jockey
Red
Pollard,
who
was
down
on
his
luck
when
he
charmed
a
then-surly
horse
with
his
calm
demeanor
and
a
sugar
cube.
Hillenbrand
details
the
ups
and
downs
of
"team
Seabiscuit,"
from
early
training
sessions
to
record-breaking
victories,
and
from
serious
injury
to
"Horse
of
the
Year"--as
well
as
the
Biscuit's
fabled
rivalry
with
War
Admiral.
She
also
describes
the
world
of
horseracing
in
the
1930s,
from
the
snobbery
of
Eastern
journalists
regarding
Western
horses
and
public
fascination
with
the
great
thoroughbreds
to
the
jockeys'
torturous
weight-loss
regimens,
including
saunas
in
rubber
suits,
strong
purgatives,
even
tapeworms.
Along
the
way,
Hillenbrand
paints
wonderful
images:
tears
in
Tom
Smith's
eyes
as
his
hero,
legendary
trainer
James
Fitzsimmons,
asked
to
hold
Seabiscuit's
bridle
while
the
horse
was
saddled;
critically
injured
Red
Pollard,
whose
chest
was
crushed
in
a
racing
accident
a
few
weeks
before,
listening
to
the
San
Antonio
Handicap
from
his
hospital
bed,
cheering
"Get
going,
Biscuit!
Get
'em,
you
old
devil!";
Seabiscuit
happily
posing
for
photographers
for
several
minutes
on
end;
other
horses
refusing
to
work
out
with
Seabiscuit
because
he
teased
and
taunted
them
with
his
blistering
speed.
Though
sometimes
her
prose
takes
on
a
distinctly
purple
hue
("His
history
had
the
ethereal
quality
of
hoofprints
in
windblown
snow";
"The
California
sunlight
had
the
pewter
cast
of
a
declining
season"),
Hillenbrand
has
crafted
a
delightful
book.
Wire
to
wire,
Seabiscuit
is
a
winner.
Highly
recommended.
--Sunny
Delaney
