Seabiscuit- An American Legend- Study Guide- Part I
Preface
_____ 1. In what decade did Seabiscuit dominate the news?
A. the 1920s
B. the 1930s
C. the 1940s
D. the 1950s
_____ 2. What triple crown winner was Seabiscuit’s greatest rival?
A. Secretariat
B. War Admiral
C. Man’ O’ War
D. Upset
Chapter 1- “The Day of the Horse is Past”
_____ 1. What job did Charles Howard first have after moving to San Francisco?
A. Automobile mechanic
B. Automobile salesman
C. Bicycle repairman
D. Insurance salesman
_____ 2. In 1903, the year of Howard’s arrival in San Francisco, what was the price of
the cheapest automobiles being manufactured?
A. $500.00, the average annual salary of the average citizen in 1903.
B. $1000.00
C. $2000.00
D. $5000.00
Bonus- What is the average annual salary for the average citizen in 2005? Comparing the
1903 price to today, what would the cost of an automobile be in today’s dollars?
3. What other problems and costs faced automobile owners in 1903?
_____ 4. What brand of car did Charles Howard gain franchises for in 1905?
A. Ford
B. Mercedes
C. Buick
D. Chevrolet
_____ 5. What catastrophe hit San Francisco in 1906?
A. Earthquake
B. Hurricane
C. Tidal Wave
D. Flash floods
6. How did this catastrophe benefit Charles Howard?
_____ 7. What “sin city” became a destination spot for Californians in the early 20th
century?
A. San Francisco
B. Los Angeles
C. San Diego
D. Tijuana
_____ 8. What racetrack did Charles “Doc” Strub build in California?
Chapter 2- “ The Lone Plainsman”
_____ 1. How did “Cowboy” Charlie Irwin die?
A. An automobile crash
B. He was murdered
C. A plane crash
D. A heart attack due to his excessive weight
_____ 2. What ten year old horse did Tom Smith train to victory?
A. Knighthood
B. Seabiscuit
C. Ak-Sar-Ben
D. Unaweep
3. What was so remarkable about this victory?
Chapter 3- “Mean, Restive, and Ragged”
_____ 1. Where did Tom Smith first come into contact with Seabiscuit?
A. Tijuana Racetrack
B. Rockingham Park
C. Suffolk Downs
D. Saratoga Racetrack
_____ 2. Who was Seabiscuit’s sire?
A. Hard Tack
B. Knighthood
C. War Admiral
D. Secretariat
_____ 3. What famous horse did Seabiscuit descend from?
A. Man’ O’ War
B. Knighthood
C. Secretariat
D. Upset
_____ 4. What famous trainer was the original trainer for Seabiscuit?
A. Red Pollard
B. George Woolf
C. James Fitzsimmons
D. Tom Smith
5. What three horse races make up the triple crown?
_____ 6. What was the only horse to ever defeat Man’ O’ War in a race?
A. Seabiscuit
B. Knighthood
C. Upset
D. Hard Tack
7. Who was Swing On?
_____ 8. What was the purchase price of Seabiscuit?
A. $1,000.00
B. $5,000.00
C. $8,000.00
D. $50,000.00
Bonus- What was the average annual salary of an American worker in 1936?
Chapter 4- “The Cougar and the Iceman”
1. What is an impost?
2. What jockey was known to be a rung above Red Pollard?
3. What type of living was made by jockeys?
Chapter 5- “A Boot on One Foot, A Toe Tag on the Other”
_____ 1. To make weight in anything other than high stakes races, what weight did
jockeys need to stay under?
A. 50 pounds
B. 100 pounds
C. 114 pounds
D. 138 pounds
2. What were some of the ways jockeys tried to keep off their weight?
Chapter 6-“ Light and Shadow”
_____ 1. What disease made riding difficult for George Woolf?
A. Cancer
B. Diabetes
C. Depression
D. Polio
_____ 2. What city was the center for winter horse racing in the 1920s?
A. Miami
B. Havanna, Cuba
C. Tijuana
D. Los Angeles
_____ 3. What injury made riding difficult for Red Pollard?
A. A leg injury that made sitting in the saddle difficult.
B. Blindness in one eye.
C. A head injury that affected his short term memory.
D. None of the above.