American Experience

Learn More

Find more information about the important people and events in Seabiscuit, and read excerpts from an interview with author Laura Hillenbrand.

People and Events

Read more about important people and events in this film.

• Racing in the Depression
• Seabiscuit
• Charles Howard, the owner
• Red Pollard, the jockey
• Agnes Conlon, Pollard’s wife
• Tom Smith, the trainer
• Seabiscuit-itis, branding in the 1930s
• The rivalry between Eastern and Western racing
• War Admiral
• George Woolf, the jockey
• A jockey’s hard life
• Breeding Thoroughbreds
• Racing and radio broadcasts

Original Interviews

Primary Sources

• Frustration at Santa Anita. Two Los Angeles Times articles covering Seabiscuit’s disappointing 1938 loss at the Santa Anita hundred-grander.
• Pay-offs Explained. Learn how Santa Anita paid out winnings to bettors in 1938.
• The Match Race. The Baltimore Sun covered Seabiscuit’s historic 1938 match race against War Admiral.
• Tribute to a Hero. When Seabiscuit finally won the Santa Anita handicap in 1940, the Los Angeles Times could not find enough superlatives.
• Seabiscuit’s Obituary. Red Smith’s tribute column and a wire story on Seabiscuit’s last hours.