Charles Howard builds a fortune through Buick dealerships, becoming one of the most successful car dealers in the western United States.

Howard meets Marcela Zabala at the Tijuana racetrack, marries her, and together they set their sights on winning the Santa Anita Handicap.

Charles Howard hires the mysterious loner Tom Smith as his trainer after hearing remarkable reports about the man's skill with horses.

Howard purchases the worn-out, losing racehorse Seabiscuit from the Wheatley Stable after Smith argues passionately for buying the horse.

Smith restores Seabiscuit's health and spirit using companion animals, a special diet, and patient, coercion-free training methods.

Red Pollard rides Seabiscuit for the first time and advises Smith never to use a whip, proving himself the right jockey for the horse.

Seabiscuit wins the Governor's Handicap in Detroit, his first major race victory under trainer Tom Smith.

Seabiscuit loses the 1937 Santa Anita Handicap to Rosemont by a nose in a photo finish, suddenly making him nationally known.

Red Pollard is critically injured when Fair Knightess crashes in a rainy race, leaving him hospitalized with a crushed chest and broken bones.

Seabiscuit and George Woolf lose the 1938 Santa Anita Handicap to Stagehand by a nose after rival jockeys swap caps to fool Woolf.

Alfred Vanderbilt brokers a deal between Howard and Riddle, finally arranging a match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral at Pimlico.

Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral by four lengths at Pimlico, setting a track record as 40 million Americans listen on the radio.

Seabiscuit's suspensory ligament ruptures during a training run and experts declare his racing career effectively over.

Seabiscuit and Pollard spend months slowly recovering together at Howard's Ridgewood ranch, both rebuilding from devastating injuries.

Seabiscuit wins the Santa Anita Handicap with Pollard riding, finally claiming the race that had always eluded the team.

The story begins with Charles Howard building a fortune through the automobile industry, then turning his ambitions toward horse racing with a new wife and a dream of winning the Santa Anita Handicap. He assembles an unlikely team around a worn-out, losing racehorse named Seabiscuit, pairing the quiet genius trainer Tom Smith with the scrappy jockey Red Pollard. Together they transform Seabiscuit from a burned-out claimer into a national celebrity, though the Santa Anita Handicap repeatedly slips away from them. Pollard's severe injury forces a jockey change, and even the great replacement George Woolf can't quite get the job done against a field full of tricks. The match race against Triple Crown winner War Admiral becomes the team's defining triumph, but a career-ending ligament rupture threatens to erase everything. After a long, patient recovery, horse and jockey reunite for one final run at the race they could never win, finally succeeding in front of a roaring crowd.

The headline story of Seabiscuit's rise from obscurity to racing legend.

Howard's 15-year-old son Frankie dies in a truck accident on the ranch, profoundly affecting Howard and inspiring him to build a local hospital.

Red Pollard is abandoned by his travel companion in a small Montana town at age 15 and begins his jockey career entirely alone.

Pollard is struck in the head by flying debris during a track workout and permanently loses all sight in his right eye.

George Woolf wins the first-ever Santa Anita Handicap while Pollard's racing results begin a period of decline.

Seabiscuit is entered in claiming races at the Wheatley Stable and loses sixteen consecutive races without attracting a single buyer.

Smith cures Seabiscuit's terror of the starting gate by repeatedly climbing inside it with the horse and tapping his chest until calm.

Seabiscuit wins the San Juan Capistrano race by seven lengths, setting a new track record against a field that included top rivals.

Howard purchases Seabiscuit's half-brother Grog to use as a decoy, allowing Smith to conduct secret training sessions away from reporters.

War Admiral wins the Triple Crown, injuring his hoof during the Belmont Stakes but winning anyway in dominant fashion.

Seabiscuit is forced to race in muddy conditions while carrying 132 pounds and finishes a disappointing third.

Seabiscuit wins the inaugural Hollywood Gold Cup under Woolf, charging from near last place to overtake the field.

Pollard's second serious accident occurs when a runaway horse crashes him into a barn wall, nearly severing his leg below the knee.

Track stewards refuse to believe Smith's claim of a tendon injury and require their own veterinarians to examine Seabiscuit before allowing a scratch.

Seabiscuit wins the San Antonio Handicap with Pollard riding, signaling the return of his old competitive form.

Seabiscuit is retired to Howard's ranch after the 1940 victory, and George Woolf dies in 1946 after falling unconscious mid-race.

Before Seabiscuit became a star, the people around him each carried their own burdens: Howard grieved a lost son, Pollard was abandoned as a teenager in Montana, and Woolf's early dominance contrasted with Pollard's fading career. Seabiscuit himself was losing race after race at the Wheatley Stable, unloved and unseen, before Smith's patient groundwork began to work its magic. His rise included memorable blowout victories, clever deceptions to hide his training, and the strategic acquisition of a look-alike decoy horse. The great War Admiral loomed as a rival while injuries, bad weather, and hostile track officials created new obstacles at every turn. Pollard was struck down a second time in a horrific accident, and even Seabiscuit's leg troubles repeatedly brought his team into conflict with a skeptical racing establishment. Through it all the team persisted, and the story closes with Seabiscuit's quiet retirement and the tragic early death of the jockey who rode him to some of his greatest wins.

The supporting stories and secondary battles that shaped Seabiscuit's journey.

George Woolf is diagnosed with Type I diabetes and must drastically reduce his racing schedule, riding only the most prestigious horses.

Tom Smith nurses a discarded racehorse named Knighthood back to competitive form, drawing enough attention that Charles Howard eventually hires him.

Trainer Fitzsimmons discovers that Seabiscuit is deliberately refusing to run fast and begins using a flat whip to force the horse to compete.

Tom Smith spots Seabiscuit briefly at a Boston racetrack and later argues strongly to Howard that this overlooked horse is worth buying.

Seabiscuit stops fighting his riders and his natural love of running returns after Smith allows him to gallop freely until exhausted.

Seabiscuit reveals his taunting competitive instinct in a workout, deliberately letting a stablemate draw even before easily accelerating away to win.

Pollard's hidden blindness in his right eye goes undisclosed, costing him clear sight of Rosemont closing on the outside in the 1937 Santa Anita Handicap.

Howard cancels Seabiscuit's entire race schedule in solidarity after Pollard receives an unusually harsh suspension, declaring his loyalty to his jockey.

Smith secretly trains Seabiscuit to bolt at the sound of a bell, a crucial step to counter War Admiral's notoriously explosive gate starts.

Howard scratches the highly publicized May match race with War Admiral after Smith discovers that Seabiscuit has developed sore knees.

The Ligaroti match race dissolves into an on-track brawl as rival jockeys grab and foul each other, sparking suspensions and a public scandal.

Woolf consults Pollard before the War Admiral race and learns to briefly ease Seabiscuit's pace mid-race to keep the horse hungry to fight.

Seabiscuit bursts to an early lead at the War Admiral match race starting bell, shocking observers who expected War Admiral to dominate the start.

Howard relents to Pollard's desperate pleas and allows the still-injured jockey to ride Seabiscuit in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap.

Seabiscuit dies of a heart attack at age 14, and Howard buries him quietly at Ridgewood ranch beneath a small oak tree.

The story of Seabiscuit turns on a series of revelations and choices that repeatedly altered the course of events, beginning with the discovery that the horse was deliberately sandbagging and Smith's quiet emergence as the one man who could unlock him. Hidden disabilities, secret training tactics, and carefully guarded strategies formed the backbone of the team's approach, with Pollard's concealed blindness casting a shadow over his partnership with the horse. Howard's fierce loyalty to Pollard shaped the team's roster decisions at every stage, even when it cost them races and strained relationships. The buildup to the War Admiral match race was filled with setbacks, a foul-riddled side bout, and meticulous preparation, all converging on a single afternoon at Pimlico where Seabiscuit's trained explosive start overturned every expectation. A devastating injury seemed to close the book permanently, but Howard's willingness to trust Pollard one final time gave both horse and jockey the chance to prove themselves. The story ends not simply with a victory but with the peaceful death of a horse who had become a symbol of American resilience.