FILM · 2003 · USA
Seabiscuit
31 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (31)
- #001
The film describes War Admiral as enormous, standing nearly 18 hands tall. In real life, War Admiral was about 15 hands and was the same size as Seabiscuit.
- #002
A mechanism called an Equicizer was used to film the close-up action. It resembled a hobby horse: a mechanical horse with springs, a wooden head and a carpet body, affectionately named SS Seabiscuit. In reality, it was a rolling platform 12 feet by 20 feet with steering wheels at the back and front. Although it simulated the rolling motion of a running horse, it ran on rails around the track. It was powered by a 454 Chevy engine and could go 40-50 miles per hour.
- #003
War Admiral was portrayed by a gelding named Verboom, one of his descendants.
- #004
Jockey Red Pollard is shown keeping his weight down to 115 pounds by starving himself. This was because Seabiscuit, when young and already small, had to run in races known as handicap races. A "handicap" is an additional weight assigned to each horse based on its past races and an estimate of its ability to run against horses carrying more or less weight than itself. Many jockeys starve themselves so their horses carry as little weight as possible: their own weight plus the lead weights placed in the running horses' saddles. Red Pollard, at 5'7", raced against professionals who were 5'3" — but many jockeys will do almost anything if they love racing enough and are brave enough to risk their bodies.
- #005
Although it is never mentioned in the film, War Admiral and Seabiscuit were of the same lineage and fairly close relatives. A stallion named Fair Play was the sire of Man o' War, and Man o' War was the sire of War Admiral and Hard Tack. Hard Tack was Seabiscuit's sire, and Seabiscuit was War Admiral's nephew.
- #006
Chris Cooper's character needed to look old for him to appear good. Because Cooper was 25 years younger than his character, his hair was whitened and his hairline was shaved to show a widower's peak hairline. Although Cooper was two years younger than Jeff Bridges, he conversely looked older.
- #007
In the scenes shot at the Santa Anita racetrack, a horse statue is visible at the edge of the paddock. This statue is the monument to Seabiscuit located at Santa Anita. Another statue stands about 100 meters away; it is a tribute to George Woolf, Gary Stevens's character in the film.
- #008
Tobey Maguire, who had just played Spider-Man, had to lose 20 pounds of muscle to play a jockey (Liz Banks, who was cast, also appeared with Tobey in Spider-Man as J. Jonah's assistant).
- #009
It sold more than 5.5 million copies on DVD, the highest figure for a dramatic film.
- #010
Gary Stevens, who plays jockey George Woolf, was awarded the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1996.
- #011
More than 40 horses appear in the film, 10 of which share the role of Seabiscuit. The horses' running distances never exceeded three furlongs, or three-eighths of a mile, per shot.
- #012
The Seabiscuit/War Admiral race, originally held at Pimlico racetrack, was actually filmed at Keeneland racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky. Some minor cosmetic changes had to be made to the track and some surrounding areas to accurately reflect the time period.
- #013
Tobey Maguire stuck to a daily intake of 1,500 calories to get down to jockey size and ultimately lost 21 lbs.
- #014
Gary Stevens and Chris McCarron are successful professional jockeys; both have won the Kentucky Derby and the Breeder's Cup. McCarron had retired a few months before accepting the role of Charles Kurtsinger.
- #015
Most of the spectators at the Pimlico Race with War Admiral were inflatable dummies with masked faces, long-sleeved T-shirts with suits and plastic hats (these were given to all the free extras).
- #016
Although it is not mentioned in the film, Seabiscuit and War Admiral were supposed to race in the Massachusetts Handicap in June 1938. Seabiscuit was scratched due to "fevered legs." War Admiral finished fourth and was out of the money for the first time.
- #017
Director Gary Ross's six-year-old son Jack told him that John Schwartzman should be the film's cinematographer. The child had just seen Schwartzman's previous film The Rookie (2002) and loved its look.
- #018
The success of Spider-Man (2002) meant that Tobey Maguire could demand a fee of 12 million dollars for this film.
- #019
One of the horses that played Seabiscuit was named Popcorn Deelites, and he lived at the Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Georgetown, KY. Old Friends is open to the public. Popcorn Deelites died in January 2022.
- #020
The unspoken connection Marcela raised at her first meeting with Charles is that she is the sister of his eldest son's wife, effectively making him her uncle. Neither her sister nor his eldest son is depicted in the film.
- #021
Author Laura Hillenbrand's boyfriend appears as the Farm Manager.
- #022
The X-ray of Red's broken right Tibia and Fibula that the Doctor and Mr. Howard argue over is hung backwards.
- #023
Robert Duvall turned down the lead role because he was filming Secondhand Lions (2003).
- #024
It is the only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year that was not nominated for Best Director.
- #025
The film's cast includes two Oscar winners, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper, and two Oscar nominees, William H. Macy and Gary Ross.
- #026
The 35 mm prints of this film come from a digital intermediate that was digitally degrained. As a result, they are full of degraining artifacts from beginning to end.
- #027
Some of the music in the trailer is from the Medal of Honor video games.
- #028
This reunites Tobey Maguire with Gary Ross, the director of Pleasantville (1998).
- #029
Near the end of the head-to-head race with War Admiral, Tom Smith (played by Chris Cooper) says to himself "turn him loose," meaning the jockey should not hold Seabiscuit back. Chris Cooper says the same thing as Deputy Sheriff Dwayne Looney in A Time To Kill (1996) when asked what should be done about Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson).
- #030
Jamie Lee Redmon's debut.
- #031
The comment came that Pollard could not let his left foot drag inside the stirrup. Speaking from personal experience, that is absolutely possible!
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