Seabiscuit

Howard lived from 1877 to 1950 and made his fortune through car dealerships throughout the western United States before going on to become the owner of racehorses based in California. He had four sons by his first wife, one of whom died as a young teen. In 1932, he married his second wife, Marcela, who was involved in the horseracing business with him. Seabiscuit head-butted Howard the first time they met, and “I fell in love with him right then and there,” he later said (44). He purchased Seabiscuit in 1936 for $8,000 and was one of three people integral to the horse’s success (trainer Tom Smith and jockey Red Pollard being the others). He was outgoing and gregarious, constantly working the press for favorable coverage as well as using it to his advantage by leaking news at times. This helped to make Seabiscuit a national star. 

Smith was employed by Charles Howard as a horse trainer starting in 1934 and continuing for nearly a decade. Early in his career, he trained mustangs in the West and then worked on a cattle ranch in Colorado followed by a stint with a Wild West show. He and Howard found success with Seabiscuit, who Smith developed into a champion. He was the opposite of Howard in temperament: a quiet loner who seemed to prefer horses to people. He famously shied away from reporters, and when he couldn’t escape them took pleasure in deceiving them. For example, when bombarded with questions about a minor injury to Seabiscuit, he told one reporter that the horse had broken all four legs—and the gullible newsman printed it. Later he worked for Elizabeth Arden Graham, producing a Kentucky Derby winner for her in 1947. He lived from 1878 to 1957.

John Pollard was born in 1909, in Alberta, Canada, to a family that was well off until his father’s business was destroyed by floods. He was known by the nickname “Red” because of his bright red hair. He and his six siblings were immersed in literature from an early age, and Pollard would quote from Shakespeare or Ralph Waldo Emerson throughout his life. Eager to venture out in the world, he became a jockey as a young teenager. He worked for several years in Tijuana, Mexico, where he became close friends with the jockey George Woolf. In 1936, he was hired by Smith and Howard to work with Seabiscuit and became the horse’s main jockey. He had a riding accident in early 1938 that seriously injured his chest, and then sustained a leg injury in the summer that nearly required amputation. His career was believed to be over until he returned to ride Seabiscuit to victory in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap. He died in 1981.