Seabiscuit

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Seabiscuit Trivia

Some of the music in the trailer is from the Medal of Honor videogames.
Most of the audience at the Pimlico Race with War Admiral were blow-up mannequins with masks as faces, long sleeve T-Shirts with painted on suits, and plastic hats (which were provided to all of the unpaid extras).
Although the film leaves unexplained Riddle's demand that the War Admiral-Seabiscuit match race not use a starting gate, he did have an actual reason: War Admiral loathed starting gates.
War Admiral was played by one of his descendants, a gelding named Verboom.
Gary Stevens (III), who plays jockey George Woolf, was awarded the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1996.
The Seabiscuit/War Admiral race originally held at Pimlico race track was actually filmed on location at Keeneland race track in Lexington, Kentucky. The track, as well as some of the surrounding area, had to take on some minor cosmetic changes in order to accurately reflect the time period.
The 35mm prints of this film come from a digitally grain reduced digital intermediate. As a result they are littered with grain reduction artifacts from start to finish.
Sold over 5.5 million copies on DVD, which is the highest for a dramatic movie.
Although the film doesn't mention it Seabiscuit and War Admiral were supposed to race in June of 1938 in the Massachusetts Handicap. Seabiscuit was scratched due to "fevered legs". War Admiral finished 4th marking the first time he finished out of the money.
Gary Stevens (III) and Chris McCarron are both successful professional jockeys, both having won the Kentucky Derby and Breeder's Cup races. McCarron retired a couple months before accepting the role of Charles Kurtsinger.
Ex-racing driver Allen Padelford specially designed the MTV insert cars - a Mobile Technocrane Vehicle to allow filmmakers to shoot insert shots for horse race sequences. It run up to 45 mph and weighs at 28 thousand pounds. The car can fit a 30ft Technocrane dolly at the back and Wescam XR head at front. Another one was designed specifically two fit in two animatronic horses.
Robert Duvall turned down the lead role because he was making Secondhand Lions.
Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand's boyfriend, Borden Flanagan, appears as the Farm Manager.
While the movie describes War Admiral as being a huge horse close to eighteen hands tall, the real-life War Admiral was well known for being one of the smallest sons of 'Man o War. War Admiral was actually the same size as Seabiscuit, which was approximately fifteen hands tall.
A contraption called Equicizer was used to film the close-up action. It resembled a hobby horse. It was a mechanical horse that had springs, a wooden head and a carpet body. It was affectionately called SS Seabiscuit. In reality, it was a 12 ft by 20 ft rolling platform with a steering wheel in the rear and front. It simulated the rolling action of a running horse and yet it ran on rails around the track. It was powered by a 454 Chevy engine and could go at a speed of 40-50 mph.
In the scenes filmed at Santa Anita racetrack you can see a statue of a horse by the paddock. This statue is a memorial to Seabiscuit that exists at Santa Anita. Another statue stands approximately 100 yards away; this is a tribute to George Woolf, Gary Stevens (III)' character in the film.
Over 40 horses are featured in the film, with 10 sharing the role of Seabiscuit. The horses' running distances never exceeded three furlongs, or three eighths of a mile, per take.
The movie never mentions that Seabiscuit and War Admiral were related. Seabiscuit's sire Hard Tack was sired by the great 'Man o War as well as War Admiral.