Seabiscuit: How An Underdog Became a Champion

The true meaning of the phrase “the American Dream” is a topic that could be debated by Americans all across the nation. For some, it is accomplishing the ambitions they set for themselves as youngsters or teenagers. For others, it is merely being the very best version of themselves that they can be at all times. But for most, it is the seemingly impossible activity of coming back from hardship to reign supreme. Regardless of whether this hardship is minor, such as losing in a sports game, or key, like getting involved in a near-fatal vehicle accident, bouncing back from mentioned hardship to achieve accomplishment is noticed as inspirational in America, and has been for many years. In Seabiscuit, Seabiscuit comes back from getting an underachieving horse and becomes a single of the greatest racehorses of all time. With the assist of his superb team, which involves his owner Charles Howard, his trainer Tom Smith, and his jockey John “Red” Pollard, Seabiscuit goes on to embody the “American Dream” at numerous points in his life. In Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit and his group embody the concept of the “American Dream” by overcoming every single hardship that is thrown at them and going on to achieve immense success in the globe of racing.

Seabiscuit and his team’s initial productive attempt at overcoming a hardship stems from Seabiscuit’s first defeat in the 1937 Santa Anita Handicap. When Seabiscuit and Pollard shed the biggest race on the West Coast the first time, public ridicule of Pollard spread like wildfire. A few days following the loss, Smith stunned reporters by uttering comprehensive sentences in regard to the Santa Anita Handicap, saying, “Pollard deserves at least half the credit for the brilliant showing of Seabiscuit in the Santa Anita Handicap. He is the only boy who knows of his peculiarities, his idiosyncrasies, who knows how to get the ideal of him. Criticism of Pollard is unjust. He rode the horse completely,” the reporters have been still not convinced that Pollard was not at fault for the race (Hillenbrand 132). Even soon after Smith’s sort words, reporters and fans were still not convinced. They would attribute Seabiscuit’s loss in the 1937 Santa Anita Handicap to Pollard’s poor handling of Seabiscuit forever. Soon after their stunning defeat, and following Pollard experiences a life-threatening accident even though racing with an additional 1 of Howard’s horses, Fair Knightess, Pollard and Seabiscuit do not truly overcome the judgements set on them as a pair till the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap. The race was close up till the final stretch, when Seabiscuit and Pollard bolted ahead of the rest and crossed the wire alone. Right after the shock of it all wore off, Seabiscuit and Pollard strode to the winner’s circle, exactly where they would lastly feel the overpowering feeling of happiness from lastly reaching the Seabiscuit team’s long-term aim: winning the Santa Anita Handicap. Soon after the heat of the race was more than, Hillenbrand states, “The globe broke more than Santa Anita,” which is a gross understatement, contemplating the condition of America throughout this time. As the nation was still feeling the overly harsh effects of the Fantastic Depression, they required something to believe in (Hillenbrand 323). Seabiscuit and Pollard, who have been both deemed a lost lead to but eventually discovered achievement when place into the proper predicament, have been the glimmer of hope that they required in a globe that seemed dimmer than ever. After losing the Santa Anita Handicap twice prior to, Seabiscuit and his group surely felt rejected and disappointed in themselves and their performances, but they never ever gave up, and in the end, their difficult function paid off in extraordinary techniques. Seabiscuit and his group overcoming their loss in the 1937 Santa Anita Handicap and going on to lastly win it in 1940 shows their commitment to overcoming hardships and reaching success, which shows their embodiment of the “American Dream.”

The Seabiscuit team’s second scenario where one or more of them overcame a hardship to attain accomplishment is when Pollard suffers a life-threatening injury although riding a horse named Fair Knightess. Throughout the race, Fair Knightess’ forelegs have been “kicked out from beneath her”, sending Pollard flying off of her back. Pollard ends up underneath Fair Knightess, and she ends up falling directly on best of him, successfully crushing the left side of his chest and fracturing several bones. This injury left Pollard unable to race for a long period of time, successfully rendering him unemployed and void of goal. Being a jockey was all he knew how to do, and possessing that ripped away from him was the cruelest punishment imaginable to him. After recovering from these injuries in the spring of 1938, Pollard broke his leg whilst galloping a horse for an old friend in June of 1938. Right after the second injury, it requires a lot longer for Pollard to heal. By the fall of 1938, Pollard’s leg had still not healed, as a result of faulty East Coast doctors. Soon after Seabiscuit wins his match race against Ligatori, Pollard appears sadder than ever about not being able to race. In the beginning of Chapter 18, Hillenbrand states, “He kept a brave face before his close friends, assuring them that he would ride again, but they didn’t think it and neither did he” (Hillenbrand 251). As soon as Pollard returned to the West Coast, a medical doctor was finally capable to reset his leg so that it would heal. He was over the moon at the possibility of lastly getting in a position to mount a horse once again. A couple of months later, he would go on to ride Seabiscuit to victory in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap. His show of bravery in dire circumstances is an inspiration to Americans everywhere suffering from both physical and mental disorders. His story shows that no matter how significantly life hurts you, if you hold a brave face all through it all, the globe will reward you. Pollard’s recovery from two intense injuries top up to his and Seabiscuit’s win in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap embodies the Seabiscuit team’s uncanny capability to overcome any hardship they face, consequently displaying their embodiment of the “American Dream.”

Seabiscuit was well-known in the course of a time exactly where life was significantly bleaker than it is now. Any story of overcoming the odds or bouncing back from an immense hardship was seen as inspirational to the American folks. What made Seabiscuit’s inspirational story even much more inspirational than the other people was the fact that he did not attempt to outshine everybody else with his achievements. A person who is genuinely living by the aforementioned definition of the “American Dream” lets his achievements speak for him, and that is precisely what Seabiscuit and his team did. The Seabiscuit team’s embodiment of the “American Dream” is as inspiring now as it was then, and it will be an inspiration for numerous years to come. In Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit and his group embody the notion of the “American Dream” by overcoming every hardship that is thrown at them and going on to accomplish immense good results in the planet of racing.