Seabiscuit - an American legend in reborn on the big screen
by Alexandra Heilbron
In the 1930s, people from all over North America travelled miles to
watch a very special horse. The horse was Seabiscuit, grandson of
the great racehorse Man O’War, and he was the biggest newsmaker
of the year. When he raced, thousands of people lined up from the
early morning hours just to catch a glimpse of him. More than 65 years
later, the movie Seabiscuit was filmed, capturing all the excitement
of the era so that modern audiences can enjoy the story of the little,
reddish-brown bay thoroughbred.
Based on the best-selling
book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, the film
stars Tobey Maguire as Seabiscuit’s jockey, Red Pollard. Pollard
left his home and his family in Edmonton, Alberta, when he was just
15 to become a jockey. Although jockeys are usually very short, at
5’7” Red Pollard was taller than most and so he had to watch
his weight throughout his entire career. To play the role, Tobey,
who is 5’8”, dropped more than 20 pounds and three clothing
sizes in preparation by cutting meat, dairy products and eggs out
of his diet. With little riding experience, he started off by practicing
on an Equicizer — a mechanical horse with different speeds and
gaits.
Tobey learned how to ride a real horse, too, although stunt doubles
were used in some scenes. To play the role of Seabiscuit, the producers
had to search far and wide. Although Seabiscuit was a special horse,
he had a small body and bent knees. His tail was short and thin, and
his stubby, crooked legs gave him a running motion that some compared
to a duck waddle. Nonetheless, he was an extremely fast horse who
won 33 races and set 13 records in his lifetime, even though he often
carried as much as 30 pounds of extra weight to even up the field.
He was a saucy, temperamental horse who, when his owners provided
him with a goat named Whiskers as a companion, took the goat in his
teeth and lifted her over his stall door, plunking her down in the
aisle. They later provided him with a calm, steady cow pony named
Pumpkin and this time, Seabiscuit approved. Pumpkin was given the
stall next to Seabiscuit’s and the wall between was taken down
to create one extra large stall. Seabiscuit made more friends —
Pocatell, a little spotted stray dog who slept on Seabiscuit’s
belly; and a spider monkey called Jo Jo who curled up in the crook
of his neck at night.
In total, 40 horses
were chosen to be in the film, with 10 horses to play various aspects
of Seabiscuit. Some were picked because they were fast runners, while
others were selected for their personalities. One of the horses, named
Biscuit by the trainers on the set, quickly learned to perform tricks
like using his teeth to rip off a jockey’s silks. A bay called
Gravy was hired because he was good at pretending to be angry by rearing
and pawing his hooves in the air. And because Seabiscuit loved to
sleep a lot and would usually sleep lying down, a very calm horse
named Muffin got the plum job of portraying the champion relaxing
in his stall.
Four horses were
hired to play War Admiral, who was not only Seabiscuit’s greatest
rival, but his uncle, even though he was a year younger. War Admiral
was a beautiful, near-black horse with exquisite conformation who
often drew gasps of admiration from the crowd. A Triple Crown winner,
he had as many fans as Seabiscuit did and a race between the two was
inevitable.
Recreating the
race between the two superstars was tricky — in real life, Seabiscuit
won by four lengths. Many takes were required to get the right distance
at the finish, but the horses were never overworked. Each horse was
only allowed to do three takes and/or run three furlongs per day,
then they had to rest until the next day.
Tobey Maguire learned to appreciate what jockeys endure — he
sustained back injuries so severe that they almost kept him from being
able to film the Spiderman sequel — but luckily, he finally managed
to convince the producers he was up to the job. The real-life Red
Pollard was just as plucky and persevering — he returned to riding
again and again, despite his many injuries.
Soon after his
great victory, Seabiscuit retired and spent his remaining years at
(his longtime owner) Charles Howard’s Ridgewood ranch, relaxing
and fathering foals. A sign was hung outside Ridgewood that read:
Seabiscuit. Visitors welcome. Over the years, 50,0000 people came
to see the champ, sometimes as many as 1,500 at a time.
Seabiscuit’s
memory still lives on, immortalized in movies and books, while brand
new audiences learn about the lovable, funny, talented little bay
horse who shone so brightly all those years ago.
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