Bit of Seabiscuit history gets a toehold at Iolani

By Sara Lin
Advertiser Staff Writer

A shoe worn by champion racehorse Seabiscuit is a talisman at Iolani School. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

It sits on a shelf outside an administrator's office at Iolani School. There is no trophy case and no display. It's wrapped in a plastic freezer bag and tucked into a manila envelope, identified only by the word "HORSESHOE" written on it.

And when you think about it, the underplay may be only fitting, given the horse's history as an underdog.

Seabiscuit is thoroughbred racing's equivalent of "Rocky." He won 33 of 89 races and broke the world money-making record with his final victory at the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap.

"Seabiscuit: An American Legend" has been on the best-seller lists for more than a year, but interest in the Depression-era equine hero is on the rise with the opening of the movie "Seabiscuit" on Friday.

Iolani school officials know Seabiscuit's story well.

The horse became a people's favorite in 1938 as a mud-colored underdog. Short-legged and knobby-kneed, Seabiscuit lost 17 consecutive races in 1935 before San Francisco automobile magnate Charles Howard and trainer Tom Smith turned him around.

Once Seabiscuit began winning, the rags-to-riches horse became so popular in a Depression-era nation that railroads advertised "Seabiscuit Limited" trains to take fans to his races. There were Seabiscuit wallets, fancy Seabiscuit hats, nine board games, toys and waste baskets. His picture appeared in advertisements for dry-cleaning services, hotels and a pinball game. Seabiscuit even had his own brand of oranges.

The horseshoe in Iolani's possession is attached to a plaque noting that the shoe was worn by the horse during his upset win in a match race against War Admiral,

a horse many thought unbeatable. With 30,000 people crammed into the grandstand and one of every three Americans tuned in to the radio broadcast, Seabiscuit beat War Admiral off the starting line and finished in front by four lengths, securing his hero status.

In the late '30s, newspapers dedicated more ink to the horse than to Franklin D. Roosevelt or Adolf Hitler.

After Seabiscuit's victory against War Admiral, the Rev. Kenneth Bray, Iolani's football coach, wrote to Howard, the horse's owner, asking for one of Seabiscuit's shoes as an inspirational tool for his team. Surprisingly, Seabiscuit's owner sent Bray one of Seabiscuit's shoes, plated in sterling silver.

The shoe has been a lucky charm for the school's athletic teams ever since.

Bray would have his players kiss the horseshoe before games as a symbol of good luck and would carry it during games. During one game, the shoe fell out of his pocket and Bray took three consecutive delay-of-game penalties while his team scoured the field to find it.

Did it work for Iolani? Well, in 1939 and 1940, Bray's team won ILH football championships.

"The horseshoe was really a symbol of one-team spirit. It's about the underdog and everyone being treated fairly. After a game, either everyone or no one got a drink of juice," said Cathy Chong, director of communications at Iolani School.

At an auction of horseracing memorabilia on Sunday in Beverly Hills, Calif., one of Seabiscuit's match-race shoes went to "Seabiscuit" author Laura Hillenbrand for $13,000, while jockey George Woolf's kangaroo-leather saddle, the one Seabiscuit carried in his victory against War Admiral, was sold for $125,000. A signed black and white photograph of Woolf riding Seabiscuit, signed by Howard, drew a winning bid of $7,750. Woolf's boots went for $6,500 and his whip for $5,250, both bought by Internet bidders.

The auction was attended by more than 400 live bidders, and another 300 were online.

When the plaque was attached to the horseshoe, Iolani officials can't say for sure.

"It's (the plaque) has been on there ever since we've had it.

We honestly don't know," said Chong.

Howard's great-granddaughter, Marita Biven, 49, lives in Nu'uanu and had heard about Seabiscuit's shoe at Iolani from her great-aunt, but she hasn't seen it yet.

"I knew about it," Biven said. "I'd love to see it. My great-aunt had a lot of the horseshoes, and she turned them into ashtrays. It was a way of thanking people."

Biven also remembered as a girl seeing the stacks of letters written to her great-grandfather's horse from fans.

"There were lots and lots of letters that were written to my aunt as if Seabiscuit was a person," she said. "It was like hero worship, it really was. There were all sorts of letters from all sorts people in all walks of life."

While Iolani's old-timers all knew the story of the horseshoe, for years it sat forgotten in a desk drawer before it found its way back to the archives. In recent years, the horseshoe has been displayed once a year at the annual Father Bray Football Classic.

This June, the school headmaster brought it out at commencement, telling the Class of 2003 the story of Seabiscuit and letting graduates touch the horseshoe as they walked the aisle.

School administrators are hoping to find a permanent place to display it. Until then, students might hope the shoe and their report cards bear the same luck.