Seabiscuit - Early Days

Early Days

Seabiscuit was foaled on May 23, 1933, from the mare Swing On and sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War. Seabiscuit was named for his father, as hardtack or "sea biscuit" is the name for a type of cracker eaten by sailors.

The bay colt grew up on Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, where he was trained. He was undersized, knobby-kneed, and given to sleeping and eating for long periods.

Initially, he was owned by the powerful Wheatley Stable and trained by Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, who had taken Gallant Fox to the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Fitzsimmons saw some potential in Seabiscuit, but felt the horse was too lazy. He devoted most of his time to training Omaha, who won the 1935 Triple Crown.

Seabiscuit was relegated to a punishing schedule of smaller races. He failed to win his first seventeen races, usually finishing back in the field. After that, Fitzsimmons did not spend much time on him, and the horse was sometimes the butt of stable jokes. Seabiscuit began to gain attention after winning two races at Narragansett Park and setting a new track record in the second - a Claiming Stakes race. As a two-year-old, Seabiscuit raced thirty-five times (a heavy racing schedule), coming in first five times, and finishing second seven times. These included three claiming races, in which he could have been purchased for $2500, but he had no takers.

While Seabiscuit had not lived up to his racing potential, he was not the poor performer that Fitzsimmons had taken him for. His last two wins as a two year old came in minor stakes races. The next season, however, started with a similar pattern. The colt ran 12 times in less than 4 months, winning four times. One of those races was a cheap Allowance race on the "sweltering afternoon of June 29", 1936 at Suffolk Downs. That is where trainer Tom Smith first laid eyes on Seabiscuit. His owners sold the horse to the automobile entrepreneur Charles S. Howard for $8000 at Saratoga in August.