THROWING A LIFE AWAY?
Lost behind the story of Seabiscuit, the most celebrated racehorse of the 20th century, and the jockey played by Spiderman’s Tobey Macguire was the story of its peculiar trainer, Tom Smith.
When the rich man played by Jeff Bridges decided to turn to horse racing, he needed a trainer for his horse. He stumbled upon an eccentric and old, but a talented and tender trainer whose chances of training a racehorse had all but slipped by.
When the owner Charles Howard first met his future trainer, he spotted the horse lover caring for an injured horse that was past its time and no longer in racing favor. Unlike other trainers, Smith did not have a barn or stable or home, and he lived outside in the bushes with the one horse that he had rescued from owners that wanted to shoot the poor animal.
The shrewd businessman then visited the trainer in the middle of the night to ask him why he was wasting his time on an out-of-favor and down-on-luck horse.
Howard asked, “Will he get better?"
Smith replied, "Already is…a little."
The owner then got to his point: "Will he race?"
Smith acknowledged, "No. Not that one."
The curious owner exclaimed, "So why are you fixing him?"
Smith spoke with candor and won the owner over with his answer: "Cause I can. Every horse is good for something. He could be a cart horse or a lead pony. And
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