War Admiral

War Admiral was one of the greatest racehorses Seabiscuit ever raced against. War Admiral was an amazing race-horse. He won practically ever well-known race back then and also was a triple-crown winner. He was tall, thin, and had a beautiful black coat. He looked exactly how a winner looked. His owner thought he had finally created the perfect horse but Seabiscuit was about to prove him and the rest of the world wrong.

Why

There were many reasons why Charles Howard and Seabiscuit wanted to race War Admiral. There was because Was Admiral was the best in the East and Seabiscuit was the best in the West. But the main reason was to prove that Seabiscuit was truly a great horse and that the little guy could beat the bigger guy.

Turned Down

For some reason War Admiral kept turning the race offers down and scratching from every race that both Seabiscuit and he were in. His owner Samuel Riddle said it was because there was no competition. Charles Howard said it was because he was afraid. “What’s he afraid of I mean our horse is too small, our jockeys too big, our trainers too old, and I’m too dumb to no the different” said Howard. Finally Samuel Riddle gave in but demanded some requests for the race. Charles gladly accepted and the “race of the century” was scheduled.

Right before the “race of the century” Red Pollard was helping a friend out with a horse when all the sudden a loud noise came from near by. It scared the horse so badly that it fell to the ground. Red tried desperately to get his feet from the stirrups but unfortunately could not free his left foot. As the horse got up and started to run Red Pollard was dragged along but was eventually became free. He was rushed to the hospital and sadly had shattered his left leg. Obviously he was in no condition to race and Charles was bout to scratch when Red insisted he called his old friend to ride. His name was George Wolf and he would take Reds Pollards place in the race against War Admiral.

After Charles, Tom and Red saw how War Admiral raced they realized they would have to retrain Seabiscuit. War Admiral was fast so if Seabiscuit got behind they would never be able to catch him. They new they had to teach Seabiscuit to go to the lead. Once he was in the lead they strategy was to pull him back so he would was neck and neck with War Admiral. Then with his energy built up they would let him loose.

It was the day of the race and 40,000 people showed up at Pimilico but it only seated 16,000! It was known as the “race of the century”. “And they’re off!” as they started Seabiscuit was inching into the lead and at the first turn he still had the lead. Just like their strategy coming into the home stretch Woolf pulled Seabiscuit back so he was neck and neck with War Admiral. Then Woolf let him loose and he was gone! As you probably could have guessed Seabiscuit won but not only by a little by a lot! The crowd went wild and stormed the track. Seabiscuit would forever be in our history for that one race.