SeaBiscuit

A small horse SeaBiscuit knocked around the horse racing circuit for a few years, he never amounted to much during those years but he did run in more races than most of the other apparently superior thoroughbred horses of that time.

There was nothing much to see SeaBiscuit wasn't a beautiful horse by any standard or yardstick and there was more than a bit of the sod you street kid about him. I chose the picture above because the look of SeaBiscuits ears, mouth and particularly his eyes show he's ready to push well known rider George Woolf out of the way If anyone did the messing around it would be SeaBiscuit.

What no one noticed until Howard his last owner saw it was while this ungainly, ugly, horse had all the looks and build of a donkey, he also had the heart, brain, stamina and temperament of his grandfather - the bad tempered, bad mannered, unbeatable and totally thoroughbred Man O' War The fastest, strongest and most belligerent horse of his or any other time except so it is said for his own grandfather a horse called Hastings.

Whatever it was it worked and the reason it worked is a knobbly, stubborn, bad tempered little horse with magic in his heart and gold in his ancestry

SeaBiscuit and a horse called Secretariat were descendants of Man 'O War. In Secretariat it was obvious from birth, his size, colouring and his imperious, aristocratic manner. Not so with SeaBiscuit he had no obvious attributes he was small, ungainly, and in light of his achievements obvious proof that appearances aren't everything. I do wonder if both Secretariat and SeaBiscuit may have inherited the spirit, heart, stamina and temperament of Man O War.

I don't study horses I don't know about horses but like all of us sometimes a family resemblance whilst not physically visible shines like a star when they move. Man O War parents were Fair Play and Mahubah and whatever 'gift' they gave him must still be in the family.

Sometimes the cynic who lives on my shoulder wonders if SeaBiscuits owner Charles S Howard, a very good salesman saw the need for something to boost the confidence of the American workers who had suffered so much during the depression and persuaded the establishment and Mr Riddle the owner of War Admiral, who was also the offspring of Man O' War, that maybe a David to beat the Goliath of the depression would give people confidence, and perhaps, maybe, just possibly a wee deal was done. War Admiral did lose so easily and so convincingly to SeaBiscuit..

None of us just get on our feet and recover from something that devastates us, saps our confidence and knocks us not just off our feet but off our balance. SeaBiscuit was the little man to the little people they had faith in him and he did not let them down He loved being the hero.

Update

I should add I have seen a You Tube clip that said Secretariat is maybe thought to have got his enlarged heart from his mothers side of the family. Out of the depths of my ignorance I believe it...But I keep thinking Secretariat, SeaBiscuit and War Admiral are direct descendants of  Man O' War, as are many other thoroughbred horses, but, hmm, but...Man O' War just happened to be a chestnut coloured horse with a star on his forehead...I do know, of course I do that we all including all horses inherit many and varied bits of our ancestors, colouring from this one, height from that one and so on, but even so...

I almost forgot to mention Secretariat wasn't the only horse called Big Red at home the name first belonged to Man O' War...

Huh! Did you know they did an autopsy on SeaBiscuit and discovered he had larger lungs than most other horses? He may, like Secretariat also have had a larger heart but that bit of the clip wasn't entirely clear so I can't say for sure. But, if had to choose the line of inheritance of speed, stamina and strength and temperament - I'd still choose Man O' War.