Yeah Pollard was badly hurt on Feb. 19th. 1938, falling off a horse named Fair Knightness at the far turn of the San Carlos Handicap, a race ran in the mud which caused Seabiscuit to be scratched. Pollard's left side was crushed by a horse named Mandingham, and his own mount Fair Knightness. He ended up with several broken ribs, a shattered collarbone, broken shoulder, internal injuries, and a concussion. He almost died but obviously pulled through. Seabiscuit ran a dozen races while he recovered, all but two with Woolf in the saddle. Pollard returned to ride the Biscuit on Feb. 9th. 1940 at Santa Anita and ran third, raced him again on the 17th in the San Carlos and ran out. He then finished his and Seabiscuit's career by winning the San Antonio Handicap on Feb. 26th and finally The Hundred Grander on March 2nd. 1940. Woolf rode Seabiscuit against War Admiral.
wil.
wil.
Wilheim,
Looks like you found a few inaccuracies on your own.
Charles Howard had an older son that we never see in the film. In 1932 Howard married his daughter-in-law's 25 year old sister. He was 52.
His youngest boy died at 15. He is depicted as being much younger in the film.
We don't see a hint of it in the film, but Howard was a skilled horseman who had enlisted in the cavalry during the Spanish-American war.
Howard got rich by going to Detroit and meeting with Will Durant, the future founder of General Motors. Durant sent him back to S.F. to establish Buick dealerships. He struggled until the 1906 earthquake, and then sales took off. In 1909 Howard was made the sole distributor for Buicks in the Western U.S.
Charles Howard found "Silent Tom" Smith after being introduced to him by Noble Threewit, who was sleeping in the same stall with Smith at Caliente in 1934. Noble was training for a good friend of Howard's at the time.
Howard (along with Bing Crosby) provided most of the funding to build Santa Anita. He went looking for horses to run in the Santa Anita Handicap, which was then the richest race in the country. He sent Smith back east in 1936 to pick up well-bred young horses that had failed to reach their potential.
Smith saw Seabiscuit on one of his scouting missions but did not recommend his purchase. Two months later Mr. & Mrs. Howard watched him race and asked Smith to check the horse out. Seabiscuit was then purchased for $8,000.
Smith had another rider work with Seabiscuit before Red Pollard, who didn't come into the picture until he had a car accident outside of Detroit and hitched a ride to the track outside the city. This was where Seabiscuit and Co. were located at the time.
To get Seabiscuit to calm down, Smith not only put another horse in with him, he also put a stray dog, a goat and a spider monkey.
Seabiscuit was entered to race against War Admiral twice before their famous match race, but Seabiscuit had to scratch both times because of a recurring problem in his left foreleg. The match race was negotiated by the owner of Pimlico.
Howard promoted Seabiscuit relentlessly. He had the names and phone numbers of reporters, and would call them to fill them in on his horse's progress. Howard would also sell ashtrays made out of the imprint of Seabiscuit's shoes.
Pollard left home of his own choice to try his hand at riding. His father insisted that a guardian accompany him, but after taking Red to Butte, Montana, the guardian abandoned him. Pollard had very little success until finally being paired with Seabiscuit.
We don't see any of it in the film, but during his rehab, Pollard met, fell in love, and married one of the nurses caring for him.
Hollywood took quite a few liberties with the true story, but it's an excellent movie nonetheless.
Looks like you found a few inaccuracies on your own.
Charles Howard had an older son that we never see in the film. In 1932 Howard married his daughter-in-law's 25 year old sister. He was 52.
His youngest boy died at 15. He is depicted as being much younger in the film.
We don't see a hint of it in the film, but Howard was a skilled horseman who had enlisted in the cavalry during the Spanish-American war.
Howard got rich by going to Detroit and meeting with Will Durant, the future founder of General Motors. Durant sent him back to S.F. to establish Buick dealerships. He struggled until the 1906 earthquake, and then sales took off. In 1909 Howard was made the sole distributor for Buicks in the Western U.S.
Charles Howard found "Silent Tom" Smith after being introduced to him by Noble Threewit, who was sleeping in the same stall with Smith at Caliente in 1934. Noble was training for a good friend of Howard's at the time.
Howard (along with Bing Crosby) provided most of the funding to build Santa Anita. He went looking for horses to run in the Santa Anita Handicap, which was then the richest race in the country. He sent Smith back east in 1936 to pick up well-bred young horses that had failed to reach their potential.
Smith saw Seabiscuit on one of his scouting missions but did not recommend his purchase. Two months later Mr. & Mrs. Howard watched him race and asked Smith to check the horse out. Seabiscuit was then purchased for $8,000.
Smith had another rider work with Seabiscuit before Red Pollard, who didn't come into the picture until he had a car accident outside of Detroit and hitched a ride to the track outside the city. This was where Seabiscuit and Co. were located at the time.
To get Seabiscuit to calm down, Smith not only put another horse in with him, he also put a stray dog, a goat and a spider monkey.
Seabiscuit was entered to race against War Admiral twice before their famous match race, but Seabiscuit had to scratch both times because of a recurring problem in his left foreleg. The match race was negotiated by the owner of Pimlico.
Howard promoted Seabiscuit relentlessly. He had the names and phone numbers of reporters, and would call them to fill them in on his horse's progress. Howard would also sell ashtrays made out of the imprint of Seabiscuit's shoes.
Pollard left home of his own choice to try his hand at riding. His father insisted that a guardian accompany him, but after taking Red to Butte, Montana, the guardian abandoned him. Pollard had very little success until finally being paired with Seabiscuit.
We don't see any of it in the film, but during his rehab, Pollard met, fell in love, and married one of the nurses caring for him.
Hollywood took quite a few liberties with the true story, but it's an excellent movie nonetheless.
Here's a Dallas Morning News column on the inaccuracies in the movie:
By Gary West
The Dallas Morning News
(KRT)
DALLAS – It’s true, even if it didn’t happen.
Art doesn’t tell the truth; it reveals the truth. And the movie Seabiscuit, which opened Friday, reveals much truth about people’s relentless capacity for renewal, about this country’s indomitable spirit, about the struggle to recover from the Depression and even about horse racing.
The film entertains, excites and amuses. It’s uplifting, even inspiring. But it’s also Hollywood, and faithfulness can’t be counted among the film’s many virtues. Neither to its source, Laura Hillenbrand’s superb biography, nor to history is the film faithful.
Seabiscuit, quite simply, is rife with inaccuracies. For example, jockey Red Pollard and Seabiscuit return from injuries in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap. In fact, Seabiscuit prepared for the Big ‘Cap by running three races, winning the San Antonio Handicap, and Pollard rode him in all three.
But, of course, the movie’s version is more dramatic.
In the film, Pollard seriously injures his right leg during the week leading up to the famed match race with War Admiral. In fact, Pollard injured the leg more than four months earlier, on June 23, 1938, just before the Massachusetts Handicap, where Seabiscuit would have taken on War Admiral but, because of injury, was a late scratch.
But, of course, the movie’s version is more dramatic.
In the film, Seabiscuit rallies from a distant planet to win the Santa Anita Handicap. In truth, he raced close to the pace and assumed the lead before reaching the second turn.
But, of course, the movie’s version is more dramatic.
In the film, Charles Howard bought Seabiscuit after his trainer, Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, and just about everybody else had given up on the headstrong colt. In fact, prior to his sale, Seabiscuit won consecutive races at Saratoga.
But the movie’s version is more dramatic.
The actual events are so fraught with drama that they would seem to obviate any need for revisionism. Seabiscuit, who raced for a claiming price of $2,500 as a 2-year-old, indeed overcame injury, many injuries in fact, to become one of the most accomplished horses of the era. He won 33 races and retired with $437,730 in earnings, a record for the time. Pollard, too, had an inspiring career. When he shattered his right leg, he was even then coming back from injuries suffered in a spill that had shoved him into death’s anteroom.
But Seabiscuit is Hollywood, and it’s art, and so the facts are subordinated to the show. The inaccuracies don’t diminish the film. And given the film’s artistic objects, the revisions are forgivable – at least most of them.
But some of the infidelities, those revisions not made for dramatic effect, are just sloppy and careless. Prior to the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, for example, Pollard is at the barn talking to Howard and Seabiscuit’s trainer, Tom Smith, about the race. And Pollard is wearing his silks.
In another scene, War Admiral is described as being nearly 18 hands tall and the diminutive Seabiscuit as weighing about 1,200 pounds. Ridiculous. At one point, Pollard and jockey George Woolf greet each other as their horses are being loaded into the starting gate, as if the riders hadn’t seen each other for weeks and until that very moment. Nonsense. And when Pollard rationalizes a poor ride by saying another jockey came in on him, nearly putting him over the fence, he had it wrong. The other ride came out and bumped him.
Early in the film, there is some discussion about Seabiscuit’s attempt to win a record seven consecutive stakes. Actually, in 1907-08, Colin won 15 consecutive races, including 14 stakes.
Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit 10 times, was nicknamed “The Iceman.”
And in talking about Woolf’s riding Seabiscuit in the famed match race, radio personality “Tick-Tock” McGlaughlin alludes to the Eugene O’Neill play “The Iceman Cometh,” which wouldn’t appear on the stage for another seven years.
But the most egregious and unforgivable error occurs in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, which distorts, even perverts, the actual race. Gary Stevens, who plays Woolf, drags his mount back to last, presumably with the thought that in doing so he’ll provide Seabiscuit, who’s lagging, a competitive incentive. The awkward dramatization insults the sport. If any jockey rode a horse as Stevens does in the film, he’d be suspended for the duration of the season.
So the movie, like the horse, stumbles in a few places. Some of the races seem too choreographed; some of the scenes too contrived. Still, this isn’t a documentary. And even if the film isn’t entirely factual, it’s largely true. Most of all, it’s true to a nation and a sport that have limitless capacities for inspiring dreams and encouraging hope.
–––
By Gary West
The Dallas Morning News
(KRT)
DALLAS – It’s true, even if it didn’t happen.
Art doesn’t tell the truth; it reveals the truth. And the movie Seabiscuit, which opened Friday, reveals much truth about people’s relentless capacity for renewal, about this country’s indomitable spirit, about the struggle to recover from the Depression and even about horse racing.
The film entertains, excites and amuses. It’s uplifting, even inspiring. But it’s also Hollywood, and faithfulness can’t be counted among the film’s many virtues. Neither to its source, Laura Hillenbrand’s superb biography, nor to history is the film faithful.
Seabiscuit, quite simply, is rife with inaccuracies. For example, jockey Red Pollard and Seabiscuit return from injuries in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap. In fact, Seabiscuit prepared for the Big ‘Cap by running three races, winning the San Antonio Handicap, and Pollard rode him in all three.
But, of course, the movie’s version is more dramatic.
In the film, Pollard seriously injures his right leg during the week leading up to the famed match race with War Admiral. In fact, Pollard injured the leg more than four months earlier, on June 23, 1938, just before the Massachusetts Handicap, where Seabiscuit would have taken on War Admiral but, because of injury, was a late scratch.
But, of course, the movie’s version is more dramatic.
In the film, Seabiscuit rallies from a distant planet to win the Santa Anita Handicap. In truth, he raced close to the pace and assumed the lead before reaching the second turn.
But, of course, the movie’s version is more dramatic.
In the film, Charles Howard bought Seabiscuit after his trainer, Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, and just about everybody else had given up on the headstrong colt. In fact, prior to his sale, Seabiscuit won consecutive races at Saratoga.
But the movie’s version is more dramatic.
The actual events are so fraught with drama that they would seem to obviate any need for revisionism. Seabiscuit, who raced for a claiming price of $2,500 as a 2-year-old, indeed overcame injury, many injuries in fact, to become one of the most accomplished horses of the era. He won 33 races and retired with $437,730 in earnings, a record for the time. Pollard, too, had an inspiring career. When he shattered his right leg, he was even then coming back from injuries suffered in a spill that had shoved him into death’s anteroom.
But Seabiscuit is Hollywood, and it’s art, and so the facts are subordinated to the show. The inaccuracies don’t diminish the film. And given the film’s artistic objects, the revisions are forgivable – at least most of them.
But some of the infidelities, those revisions not made for dramatic effect, are just sloppy and careless. Prior to the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, for example, Pollard is at the barn talking to Howard and Seabiscuit’s trainer, Tom Smith, about the race. And Pollard is wearing his silks.
In another scene, War Admiral is described as being nearly 18 hands tall and the diminutive Seabiscuit as weighing about 1,200 pounds. Ridiculous. At one point, Pollard and jockey George Woolf greet each other as their horses are being loaded into the starting gate, as if the riders hadn’t seen each other for weeks and until that very moment. Nonsense. And when Pollard rationalizes a poor ride by saying another jockey came in on him, nearly putting him over the fence, he had it wrong. The other ride came out and bumped him.
Early in the film, there is some discussion about Seabiscuit’s attempt to win a record seven consecutive stakes. Actually, in 1907-08, Colin won 15 consecutive races, including 14 stakes.
Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit 10 times, was nicknamed “The Iceman.”
And in talking about Woolf’s riding Seabiscuit in the famed match race, radio personality “Tick-Tock” McGlaughlin alludes to the Eugene O’Neill play “The Iceman Cometh,” which wouldn’t appear on the stage for another seven years.
But the most egregious and unforgivable error occurs in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, which distorts, even perverts, the actual race. Gary Stevens, who plays Woolf, drags his mount back to last, presumably with the thought that in doing so he’ll provide Seabiscuit, who’s lagging, a competitive incentive. The awkward dramatization insults the sport. If any jockey rode a horse as Stevens does in the film, he’d be suspended for the duration of the season.
So the movie, like the horse, stumbles in a few places. Some of the races seem too choreographed; some of the scenes too contrived. Still, this isn’t a documentary. And even if the film isn’t entirely factual, it’s largely true. Most of all, it’s true to a nation and a sport that have limitless capacities for inspiring dreams and encouraging hope.
–––
The problem the director of Seabiscuit had with this race is it is only briefly described by author Hillenbrand in the book. I suppose he could have used other research materiel but I believe the entire movie was based soley what was included in "Seabiscuit - An American Legend".
Here is the passage describing the race:
"The crowd of thirty thousand hushed and the bell rang. Seabiscuit broke alertly and bounded up with the early leaders. The field flew off into the backstretch. A minute later the field bent around the far turn and rushed at the grandstand. There was one horse in front pouring it on. His silks were red. It was Seabiscuit. The crowd roard. Pollard and Seabiscuit glided down the lane all by themselves, reaching the wire in track record equaling time. Kayak right behind him. It was Pollard's first win since 1938.
So you can see they were left with a lot of leeway to stage the entire race. None the less I am really glad the movie is being recieved so well. It is truly an American story and worth watching horse racing fan or not.
wil.
Here is the passage describing the race:
"The crowd of thirty thousand hushed and the bell rang. Seabiscuit broke alertly and bounded up with the early leaders. The field flew off into the backstretch. A minute later the field bent around the far turn and rushed at the grandstand. There was one horse in front pouring it on. His silks were red. It was Seabiscuit. The crowd roard. Pollard and Seabiscuit glided down the lane all by themselves, reaching the wire in track record equaling time. Kayak right behind him. It was Pollard's first win since 1938.
So you can see they were left with a lot of leeway to stage the entire race. None the less I am really glad the movie is being recieved so well. It is truly an American story and worth watching horse racing fan or not.
wil.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by -SLIM-:
yeah but in about 50 days Im guessing....
I promise I'll let you know the second I find anything...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
just download it off the internet somewhere..i'm sure someone can help you out!!!
yeah but in about 50 days Im guessing....
I promise I'll let you know the second I find anything...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
just download it off the internet somewhere..i'm sure someone can help you out!!!
