The all time greatest rivalry between Seabiscuit and War Admiral
Seabiscuit was a horse who was given a second chance to the popularity that gets linked to his name due to the efforts of his new trainer, Tom Smith, who blessed the horse with a new life and career.
During the same reign, the other most famous horse to race the tracks was War Admiral whose pedigree has been originated from the royalty, reflective in the successes that he posted race after race.
Both the horses were charismatic and extraordinary in their own way. However, during the initial stages of their careers, no one could anticipate that the two will make history of the all time greatest rivalry and confront each other in a match that would
later be termed as ‘the match of the century’.
The event marked 1st November, 1938, of the calendar and for many it was a more exciting occasion than their own weddings, as special trains were run throughout the country for gathering fans for the race.
The race course itself held an estimated 40,000 spectators, with around forty million following the grand race on radio.
The race was to be run over 1 and 3/16 miles at the Pimlico Race Course and the favourite for the race was the all time great, War Admiral.
Seabiscuit’s signature style while racing was to stay in the rear initially and then later shoot off for the wire, leaving the rest of the lot behind. However, this time Smith, very tactfully, manipulated the expected style for achieving success.
War Admiral, on the other hand, had the approach of running all out throughout the race by beginning with thundering speed. After the bell, instead of being the typical pace stalker, Seabiscuit rode away from the Triple Crown champion.
Halfway down the backstretch, War Admiral started edging for the lead, progressively getting at par with Seabiscuit.
This was the moment when instead of rushing for the wire, Smith held Seabiscuit back, giving a chance to the horse to look at his competitor and as soon as that was done, the jockey pressed on to speed up.
Following the tactic, Seabiscuit won the race by a clear four lengths even though War Admiral was reported to have run his best time for the distance.
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