Seabiscuit: An American LegendLaura Hillenbrand, author of the runaway phenomenon Unbroken, brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story in this #1 New York Times bestseller. Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes: Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. From the Hardcover edition. |
Contents
The Day of the Horse Is Past | 3 |
The Lone Plainsman | 19 |
Mean Restive and Ragged | 31 |
The Cougar and the Iceman | 49 |
A Boot on One Foot a Toe Tag on the Other 65 128 | 83 |
Learn Your Horse | 99 |
War Admiral | 141 |
No Pollard No Seabiscuit | 155 |
The Dingbustingest Contest You Ever Clapped an Eye On | 239 |
Deal | 251 |
The Second Civil War | 265 |
All Four of His Legs Are Broken | 281 |
A Long Hard Pull | 295 |
Four Good Legs Between Us | 303 |
One Hundred Grand | 317 |
Epilogue | 329 |
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Common terms and phrases
Admiral Admiral's asked backstretch Bay Meadows Beckwith began Belmont Bill Buck Biscuit bug boys California called Charles Howard clockers colt crowd cuit Daily Racing Form Fair Knightess fans February Fitzsimmons gallop George Woolf grandstand groom hands head homestretch horse horse's horsemen Howard and Smith hundred-grander Irwin January jockey jockey's Kayak knew Kurtsinger later Ligaroti looked Luther Marcela March match race mile Morning Telegraph/Daily Racing never paddock Pimlico pounds press box pulled purse racetrack rail Red Pollard reporters Riddle ride rider rode Rosemont saddle San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Examiner Santa Anita Handicap Seabis Seabiscuit shed row speed sport Stagehand stall starter stewards stood Telegraph/Daily Racing Form telephone interview Thoroughbred Tijuana told Tom Smith took track record trainer Turf turn Vanderbilt walked wanted War Admiral watched weight whip winner wire workout York York Journal American Yummy