Top Racing Moments of 2001


One of the nominated NTRA Moments of the Year takes a bit longer to digest than an exciting stakes race.

It’s among a dozen racing thrills: Laura Hillenbrand’s “Seabiscuit: An American Legend.” The book was on the New York Times Best Seller list for many weeks, nearly two months at the top.

Even though I went for Tiznow (who should be Horse of the Year again) because of his second consecutive Breeders’ Cup Classic victory, that takes nothing away from Hillenbrand. You can vote your choice until Dec. 31 at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s website, http://www.ntra.com/moty/2001/index.html. The winner will be announced Feb. 18 during the 31st Eclipse Awards ceremony in Miami.

By the way, Hillenbrand has already captured the 2001 Big Sport of Turfdom award, which will be presented by the Turf Publicists of America at a luncheon on Eclipse Day.

“When I was 5, my father took me to Charles Town Race Track in West Virginia one night and I fell in love with racing,” Hillenbrand informed me when we exchanged e-mails, “and with the first horse I saw.” A quarter-century later, she fell in love with Seabiscuit and wrote about the unlikely champion the color of mud with crooked legs.

“I did my research everywhere,” said Hillenbrand, who has written magazine articles about the sport since 1988. “I did, at least, 150 interviews. I looked at hundreds of record books, newspapers from the 1930s, poured over memorabilia. The research process took four years.”

It was worth it. She captures an era when racing was truly the Sport of Kings. Seabiscuit was transformed from an also-ran into a champion, thanks to:

*Tom Smith, a mustang-breaker who came from the vanishing frontier with little experience training thoroughbreds.

*Charles Howard, a former bicycle repairman who rose in General Motors to become sole distributor of Buick and Oldsmobile in the West; he paid $7,000 for the 3-year-old.

*Red Pollard, a half-blind jockey who retired from the ring a beaten fighter; he rode Seabiscuit to some of his greatest victories.

When ’36 ended, Seabiscuit had won a total of 14 races in 58 attempts. The best was yet to come.

In ’37, Seabiscuit captured 11 of 15 races, including 10 in a row and stakes on both coasts. He earned the most money, $168,580, even more than Triple Crown winner War Admiral.

In ’38, Seabiscuit convincingly defeated War Admiral in a match race on Nov. 1 at Pimlico and later was declared Horse of the Year; the grandson of Man o‘ War had whipped the son of Man o‘ War.
The copyright of the article Top Racing Moments of 2001 in Horse Racing is owned by Greg Melikov. Permission to republish Top Racing Moments of 2001 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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