Tom Smith was one of three men to emerge from America's depression years to guide a beaten down, forgotten Thoroughbred to greatness. The horse, Seabiscuit, changed Smith's life, and that of his owner, Charles Howard, as well as the life of down and out jockey John "Red" Pollard.
Smith Meets Charles Howard
Automobile business millionaire Charles Howard discovered Smith when Smith was a cattle ranch loner in Colorado, a horse whisperer, a man who had a gift for the language of horses, but few words for humankind and no real home of his own.
Howard needed a trainer. He wanted to get into the sport of Thoroughbred racing, about which he knew little. Smith became his friend and partner in an enterprize still discussed today, decades after its ending. Howard liked Smith's positive philosophy concerning life, and animals in particular.
Smith went horse-hunting for the enterprising Howard and obtained at the throw away price of less than $8,000, the soon-to-be-legend, Seabiscuit. Smith later reported his "meeting" of Seabiscuit, a cast-off grandson of Man o' War, no less, to have been an eyeball-to-eyeball encounter as the horse ended a track workout.
Smith Meets Jockey John "Red" Pollard
Smith found John "Red" Pollard, a struggling, half blind (as Smith learned later) jockey barely hanging onto a living in the Thoroughbred business. Down, a little hard-edged, but not hardened altogether, Pollard was always ready with an optimistic Shakespearean quote, or an Arabian tale. Pollard boxed, and nearly always lost in a sound thrashing, to sustain his life as an underemployed jockey.
Smith and Howard Teamed in 1934
Smith and Howard teamed up in 1934, when Smith was recommended to Howard to serve as a private Thoroughbred trainer by San Francisco banker George Giannini, whose young trainer, Noble Threewit, shared stable quarters with Smith.
Before Smith met Howard, he had spent twenty years on the Unaweep Cattle Ranch in Colorado, near Grand Junction. A native Georgian, Smith quickly had become friends with nature and horses in the west. Because he spoke less often than sleeping barn owls fall from their rafter perches, Smith became known as Silent Tom. But to horses, he spoke volumes.
Seabiscuit Was Trainer Fitzsimmons Reject
Seabiscuit had been taught to lose races to other, seemingly more capable Thoroughbreds by his previous trainer, Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons. Sunny Jim had acquired Seabiscuit's training schedule for the Ogden Phipps family at Wheatley Stable, an elite racing stable of the day. Smith, with Pollard astride Seabiscuit, taught the small bay Thoroughbred to run for the win.
With Fitzsimmons, Seabiscuit worked to lose alongside such giants as 1935 Triple Crown champion Omaha, as well as next to green, promising two-year-olds. In thrity-five starts as a two-year-old himself, Seabiscuit won just five times. Before Smith's tutoring, the castoff recorded nine wins from forty-seven total starts.
With Smith, Seabiscuit reawakened, lost his obnoxious off the track behavior, and soon turned everything around. Silent Tom socialized him, worked him routinely out of range of curious reporters and by-standers, and slowly taught him to catch the competition, to win and to enjoy it. The little horse that actually could, found the finish wire ahead of his challengers twenty-four out of forty-two times for his new trio of benefactors.
Seabiscuit More Popular Than Roosevelt
Seabiscuit became one of the most loved public personalities ever, collecting more popular votes than Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was commonly noted. Smith became even more a man of mystery as he protected Seabiscuit from any exposure that would interfere with his training.
In nighttime works, Smith retrained Seabiscuit to begin racing from a standing start rather than from the usual starting gate in order to better prepare him for his highly anticipated match race in 1938 with War Admiral, a bold runner who had won the 1937 Triple Crown. Smith's crafty handling paid off. Seabiscuit manhandled the Triple Crown champion at Pimlico, winning their match race going away by four lengths. That celebrated victory earned Seabiscuit the title of Horse of the Year for 1938.
Seabiscuit and Pollard Suffer Injuries
Then came a serious tendon injury that threatened Seabiscuit's life. Pollard, too, had been grievously injured in a freak accident that had sidelined him for the match race with War Admiral. George Woolf had ridden Seabiscuit to glory in the Pimlico Special. Howard refused to give up hope for Seabiscuit's recovery. He sent his superstar to his breeding farm to heal. Smith concentrated on training Seabiscuit's stablemate, Kayak ll.
Pollard and Seabiscuit spent much of 1939 hobbling through the green stretches of Howard's farm. They recovered as a team, although doctors weren't convinced Pollard should return to a saddle. But by Santa Anita Handicap weekend in 1940, the two were cleared to race again, and they made their last pairing a winning one, pulling away from Kayak ll before the wire.
Howard Gets Leading Money in 1940
As a result of the "hundred-grander" win, a $100,000 payoff, the Howard stable became the leading money earner for 1940.
While Seabiscuit recouped in 1939, Smith handled Kayak ll, an Argentine-bred purchase, to victory at Santa Anita, giving the Howard stable back-to-back wins there in the richest payout race in the country. Smith also geared Mioland to a winning record of fifteen firsts from eighteen starts. All three Thoroughbreds were top money earners for the Howard stable.
Seabiscuit was a top money earner in the 1930s, and the first seasonal half million dollar baby, a huge sum at the time that he raced. His public persona was almost mystical, due to a horse whisperer named Tom Smith whose own public presence was overshadowed.
Silent Tom never seemed to mind that his horse got more attention than he did. He was always content to be in the shadow of his most famous Thoroughbred.
