Help me find a link between next week and the racehorse SEABISCUIT?

Question

What connection (date or else) is May 18->May 23 to the racehorse of Kentucky downs-fame SEABISCUIT?

I am writing a speech about this infamous pony for my Toasmasters club meeting on May 23. Thanks for references and links.

Answer 1

The only connection is the obvious but sad fact that Seabiscuit died of a heart attack 61 years ago on 18th May 1947, age 14 and is buried at Ridgewood Ranch under an oak tree.

One interesting point is that great rivals Seabiscuit and War Admiral were in fact uncle and nephew.  

Seabiscuits grandsire being Man o' War and Man 'o War being the sire of War Admiral

Answer 2

Your answer is that he was born on MAY 23, 1933 and that he died on MAY 17, 1947

Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933—May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred race horse in the United States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many US citizens during the Great Depression. Seabiscuit became the subject of a 1949 film, The Story of Seabiscuit, a 2001 book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, and a 2003 film, Seabiscuit, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Early days

Seabiscuit was born from the mare Swing On and sired by Hard Tack (son of Man o' War). The son was named for the father; the word seabiscuit is the name for a type of cracker eaten by sailors known as hardtack. The bay colt grew up on Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. He was owned by Gladys Mills Phipps. He was undersized, knobby-kneed, and not much to look at, and was given to sleeping and eating for long periods. Initially, he was trained by the legendary 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 lazy, and with most of his time taken training Omaha (a Triple Crown winner), Seabiscuit was relegated to a punishing schedule of smaller races. He failed to win his first ten races (not uncommon in horse racing), and most times finished back in the field. After that, training him was almost an afterthought and the horse was sometimes the butt of stable jokes. Then, as a three-year-old, Seabiscuit raced thirty-five times (a heavy racing schedule), coming in first five times, and finishing second seven times. Still, at the end of the racing season, he was occasionally used as an outrider horse. The next racing season, the colt was again less than spectacular and his owners sold the horse to automobile entrepreneur Charles S. Howard for $8,000, the equivalent of about 100,000 dollars in 2007. This was no bargain basement price for a horse, and the sale price proves Fitzsimmons thought Seabiscuit had potential, and was also probably going to be a decent racehorse sire. Seabiscuit was not as bad a runner for Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons as the 2003 movie and even the book by Hillenbrand made him out to be. Many thoroughbred racehorses never break their maiden and do not win even one race. However, Seabiscuit had not lived up to his racing potential when Charles S. Howard bought him.

1936–37: The beginning of success

His new trainer, Tom Smith, understood the horse, and his unorthodox training methods gradually brought Seabiscuit out of his lethargy. Smith paired the horse with Canadian jockey Red Pollard (1909-1981), who had experience racing in the west and in Mexico, but was down on his luck. On August 22, 1936 Seabiscuit raced for the first time for his new jockey and trainer, in Detroit, without impressing anyone. But improvements came quickly and in their remaining eight races in the East, Seabiscuit and Pollard won several times, including Detroit's Governor's Handicap (worth $5,600) and the Scarsdale Handicap ($7,300) at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York.

In early November 1936, Howard and Smith shipped the horse to California in a rail car. His last two races of the year were at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, California (just south of San Francisco), and gave some clue as to what was to come. The first was the $2,700 Bay Bridge Handicap, run over one mile (1.6 km). Seabiscuit started badly, but, despite carrying the top weight of 116 lb (53 kg), ran through the field before easing up to win by five lengths, in a time only two fifths of a second off the world record. This form was carried over to the World's Fair Handicap (Bay Meadows' most prestigious stakes race) with Seabiscuit leading throughout.

For 1937, Howard and Smith turned their attention to February's Santa Anita Handicap. California's most prestigious race was worth over $125,000 (over $1.5 million in 2006 dollars) to the winner and was known colloquially as "The Hundred Grander". In their first warm up race at Santa Anita Park, they again won easily. In his second race of 1937, the San Antonio Handicap, Seabiscuit suffered a setback. Bumped at the start and then pushed wide, the horse trailed in fifth, with the win going to the highly-fancied Rosemont.

The two would be rematched in the Hundred Grander just a week later. After half a mile (800 m), front runner Special Agent was clearly tired and Seabiscuit seemed perfectly placed to capitalize, before inexplicably slowing on the final straight. The fast closing Rosemont edged out Seabiscuit by a nose. The defeat was devastating to Smith and Howard, and widely attributed in the press to a riding error. Pollard, who had seemingly not seen Rosemont over his shoulder until too late, had lost the sight in one eye in an accident during a training ride (not during a boxing match as implied in the 2003 film), a fact he hid throughout his career. Regardless, the horse was rapidly becoming a favorite among California racing fans, and his fame spread as he won his next three races, before Howard chose to again relocate the horse, this time for the more prestigious Eastern racing circuit.

Once there, Seabiscuit's run of victories continued unabated. Between June 26 and August 7, he ran five times, each time a stakes race, and each time he won, despite steadily increasing imposts of up to 130 lb (59 kg). The seven consecutive stakes victories tied the record. On September 11, Smith accepted an impost of 132 lb (60 kg) for the Narragansett Special. On race day, the ground was slow and heavy, and entirely unsuited to "the Biscuit", even without the heaviest burden of his career. Smith wished to scratch, but Howard overruled him. Seabiscuit was never in the running, and trudged home in third, four lengths behind Calumet d**k, who was carrying only 115 lb (52 kg). The streak was snapped, but the season was not over. Seabiscuit won his next three races (one a dead heat) before finishing the year with a valiant second place at Pimlico.

In 1937, Seabiscuit won eleven of his fifteen races and was the leading money winner in the United States that year. On the west coast, he had become a celebrity. His races were followed fanatically on the radio and newsreel and filled hundreds of column inches in the newspapers. Howard, with his business acumen, was ready to cash in, marketing a full range of merchandise to the fans. The Eastern racing establishment was considerably less impressed. The great three-year-old, War Admiral, had won the Triple Crown that season and was voted the most prestigious honor, the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

The best horse in America

In 1938, as a five-year-old, Seabiscuit's success continued. On February 19, Pollard suffered a terrible fall while racing on Fair Knightess, another Howard horse. With Pollard's chest crushed by the weight of the fallen horse, and his ribs and arm broken, Howard tried three jockeys, before settling on George Woolf, a great rider and old friend of Pollard, to ride Seabiscuit.

Woolf's first race was the Santa Anita Handicap, the "hundred grander" that Seabiscuit had narrowly lost the previous year. Seabiscuit was drawn on the outside, and from the start, was impeded by another horse, Count Atlas, angling out. The two were locked together for the first straight and by the time Woolf had his horse disentangled, they were six lengths from the pace. The pair battled hard, but were beaten by the fast finishing Santa Anita Derby winner, Stagehand, which had been assigned 30 pounds (13.6 kg) fewer than Seabiscuit. However, not all was lost for the Howard family as Stagehand was owned by Charles' son Maxwell Howard.

Throughout 1937 and 1938, the media speculated about a match race with the seemingly invincible War Admiral (also sired by Man o'War, Seabiscuit's grandsire). The two horses were scheduled to meet in three stakes races, but one or the other was scratched, usually due to Seabiscuit's dislike of heavy ground. After extensive negotiation, a match race was organized for May 1938 at Belmont, but again Seabiscuit scratched. By June, however, Pollard had made a recovery and on June 23 agreed to work a young colt named Modern Youth. Spooked by something on the track, the horse broke rapidly through the stables and threw Pollard, shattering his leg, and seemingly ending his career.

A match race was held, but not against War Admiral. Instead, it was against Ligaroti, a highly regarded horse owned by the Hollywood entertainer Bing Crosby in an event organized to promote Crosby's resort and Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. With Woolf aboard, Seabiscuit won that race, despite persistent fouling from Ligaroti's jockey. After three more outings, with only one win, he would finally go head to head with War Admiral in the Pimlico Special in Baltimore, Maryland

Match of the century

On November 1, 1938, Seabiscuit met War Admiral in what was dubbed the "Match of the Century". The event itself, run over 1 and 3/16 miles (1.91 km), was one of the most anticipated sporting events in U.S. history. The Pimlico Race Course, from the grandstands to the infield, was jammed solid with fans. Trains were run from all over the country to bring fans to the race, and the estimated 40,000 at the track were joined by some 40 million listening on the radio. War Admiral was the prohibitive favorite (1-4 with most bookmakers) and a near unanimous selection of the writers and tipsters, excluding the California faithful.

Head-to-head races favor fast starters, and War Admiral's speed from the gate was the stuff of legend. Seabiscuit, on the other hand, was a pace stalker, skilled at holding with the pack before destroying the field with late acceleration. From the schedule

Answer 3

Seabiscuit was born on May 23, 1933 and died on May 17, 1947