**#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of the runaway
phenomenon Unbroken comes a universal underdog story about the horse
who came out of nowhere to become a legend.
**
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in
sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938,
receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success
was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the
crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed
Seabiscuit's fortunes:
Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the
automobile to the western United States and became an overnight
millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired
Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith
urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired
as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye,
half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of
bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from
a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports
icon.
Praise for Seabiscuit
"Fascinating . . . Vivid . . . A first-rate piece of storytelling,
leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of a horse but a fascinating
slice of American history as well."--The New York Times*
*
"Engrossing . . . Fast-moving . . . More than just a horse's tale,
because the humans who owned, trained, and rode Seabiscuit are equally
fascinating. . . . [Laura Hillenbrand] shows an extraordinary talent
for describing a horse race so vividly that the reader feels like the
rider."--Sports Illustrated
"REMARKABLE . . . MEMORABLE . . . JUST AS COMPELLING TODAY AS IT WAS IN
1938."--The Washington Post
