Seabiscuit's "gallop was so disorganized that he had a maddening tendency to whack himself in the front ankle with his own hind hoof." And so the spell-binding story about a horse that runs with a duck waddle, a jockey (Red Pollard) who is blind in one eye, a trainer (Tom Smith) who is practically mute, and an owner (Charles Howard) who brought cars to the West is born. This unlikely group of misfits joins together through chance -- and because all three men immediately see the untapped potential in a mistreated, high-spirited, and lazy horse named Seabiscuit. This trio devotes their love, skills, and energy into turning Seabiscuit into one of the most phenomenal horse racing legends.

Tom Smith, perhaps the original "horsewhisperer", spends hours learning and understanding his horse. When Seabiscuit is first put into his care for training, the horse is nervous, paces incessantly, weighs too little, and suffers from a sore body. Tom spends time caring for Seabiscuit, showering him with affection and carrots, even sleeping in Seabiscuit's stall at night. A daily routine is introduced plus animal companionship. Before long, Seabiscuit has his own entourage: a cow pony named Pumpkin, the little stray dog Pocatell, and Jojo the spider monkey. Under Tom's care, the high-spirited Seabiscuit learns to trust, becomes calm, and, most importantly, starts winning horse races.

The triumph of Seabiscuit is ultimately the story of what any person (or animal) may accomplish when their talents are recognized, supported, and expanded. Seabiscuit, given his inauspicious start in life, could just as easily have faded away into non-existence running third tier races. However, the love and care he receives from his owner, jockey, and trainer have you cheering until the end of the book for Seabiscuit to keep running (and winning) with his heart. Not only does Seabiscuit capture the hearts of the misfit trio, he will capture yours.

This fascinating work of non-fiction is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Unlike a lot of historical non-fiction, this intriguing story did not read like a textbook - it read like fiction and not once did I find myself skimming the details ... too interesting to skim through!

When I first heard about this story, I wasn't sure about it - after all, I really know (or should I say "knew") very little about horse racing. Despite my misgivings, I soon realized that a major purpose of this book was not only to teach the reader about this sport via Seabiscuit's career but also to memorialize the amazing individuals (Charles Howard, Tom Smith, Red Pollard, George Woolf, etc.) who defied all odds to make such a successful racing career possible.

I especially liked the chapters dealing with the difficulties of life as a jockey - the way the jockeys punished their bodies to the extreme for the honor of participating in a harrowingly dangerous sport was truly unbelievable...and I thought ballerinas were harsh on their bodies when it came to weight loss! Red was my favorite character and I can't help wondering if the author felt a particular kinship with the jockey as a result of her own struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - after all, she did have to push her own body beyond her normal physical limits to complete her research and write this amazing book!

Ms. Hillenbrand successfully incorporated the story of Seabiscuit's racing career into the historical context of the era. Seabiscuit was a much needed diversion for Americans who were suffering the depths of the Great Depression. ...And perhaps, through Laura Hillenbrand, Team Seabiscuit is still providing us all with an inspirational diversion from today's distressing headlines!

Oh - and don't skip the interview with Laura Hillenbrand at the end of the book. It was very interesting to see how Ms. Hillenbrand's own background influenced her writing and how her research helped her to resurrect this intriguing epoch in American history.

I'm excited about the movie although I hope Universal Studios does this wonderful literary work justice!

Laura Hillenbrand is a wordsmith of the top rank. She has written a great book about a horse who has largely been forgotten except by veteran racing fans: Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit, a descendent of the legendary Man O' War, had a rather modest racing career at the beginning having started from the claiming ranks. Thanks to a great trainer, he galloped his way up to the stakes level after having literally dozens of races under his girth. Seabiscuit was not the only colorful character in this claimer-to-champion saga. His trainer Tom Smith was a controversial character who loathed publicity and yet at the same time encouraged it. For example, Hillenbrand's stories of Smith's attempts to thwart the media and racing timers from reporting Seabiscuit's workouts (because Smith feared the weights assigned by the track would be so great as to hamper the horse's considerable ability) are hilarious. Seabiscuit's regular jockey, Red Pollard, was a man who loved to quote Shakespeare but also had to cover up a disability that may have contributed to one of Seabiscuit's most famous losses: Pollard was blind in one eye. Like most jockeys he battled a weight problem. (In one chapter, Hillenbrand writes brilliantly and humorously of the struggle of jockeys like Pollard to make the unnaturally low weights required of racing.) Finally, Seabiscuit's millionaire owner, Charles Howard, was perhaps the least colorful of the horse's connections, but he lost faith in neither Smith nor Pollard. He was the glue who held this unlikely hodgepodge together.

Hillenbrand slowly but very entertainingly works the Seabiscuit story to the legendary 1938 match race with yet another descendent of Man O' War, 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral. She doesn't ignore the Admiral's connections either. Sam Riddle comes to life, as do the horse's infamous temper tantrums on the racetrack. There are constant difficulties in getting the two great horses together on the same track on the same day, including jockey Pollard's injuries (vividly described by Hillenbrand), Seabiscuit's injuries, and other delays. When the horses finally do get together (with the underdog Seabiscuit clobbering the Admiral), Hillenbrand writes with such vividness that you feel you are right there at the track witnessing the race. (She was fortunate enough to have obtained rare footage of this race and several other Seabiscuit races.)

After the climax of this famous race, Hillenbrand continues the Seabiscuit saga to the deaths of the principals. On the last page she writes of Howard having buried Seabiscuit to a secret site at his ranch where he had an oak sapling planted where the great horse was buried. She writes: "He told only his sons the location of the grave and let the oak stand as the only marker. Somewhere in the high country that was once Ridgewood, the tree lives on, watching over the bones of Howard's beloved Seabiscuit."

What a great writer. What a read.