The Aura Of The Sport Of Kings Lies In Its Compelling Stories
By: William F. Reed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Apr. 23, 2003) - In the spring of 1936, the immortal trainer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons was in a position much like today's Bobby Frankel. The previous year, "Sunny Jim" had won the Triple Crown with Omaha. His barn was brimming with the well-bred horses from Belair Stud and Wheatley Stable.

He had so many precocious horses, in fact, that he didn't have time to give each one his full attention. So he decided that Granville was his best Kentucky Derby prospect, and devoted most of his effort to preparing him.

He had another colt, one who obviously needed far more time to develop, that he ignored because Granville required so much attention.

In the Derby, the temperamental Granville unseated rider Jimmy Stout soon after the start and proceeded to take a useless lap around the Churchill Downs track. The other colt, the second-stringer, was named Seabiscuit.

We know this because of the remarkable work of Laura Hillenbrand, who took what seemed to be just another good horse-racing story and turned it into a cultural phenomenon.

Her book, "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," is simply the best thing that's happened to Thoroughbred racing in years. It was, and is, a best-seller. It inspired a movie, filmed mostly at Keeneland, that will be out soon, and a documentary that is currently being shown on public television.

While working on her epic, Ms. Hillenbrand developed an illness that's somewhat akin to vertigo. The mere thought of traveling can sometimes make her physically ill. She has addressed this in a piece that will soon appear in The New Yorker magazine.

The response to her work has been interesting, to say the least.

Obviously, the public loves it. Her writing and story-telling are so skillful that "Seabiscuit" is a smooth and absorbing read, even for individuals who don't know or care much about Thoroughbred racing.

This should send a powerful message to everyone who's involved in the sport: You have marvelous, compelling stories to tell, but you're not telling them in the right way. You're not doing a good job of tapping into the love of animals, and human-interest stories, that many Americans have, almost as a birthright.

However, instead of acknowledging this most important of all facts, some members of the media have chosen to damn Ms. Hillenbrand's work with faint praise. They choose to nit-pick and attempt to find mistakes instead of being excited about what the book has meant to the sport they profess to love.

Other than a few selected events, such as the Kentucky Derby and Oaks, Thoroughbred racing has slipped alarmlngly from the exalted position it held in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. It long ago lost its monoply on legalized gambling. To this day, industry leaders are trying to figure out what to do about that.

So they attend conventions, focus groups, summit meetings and round tables. They study graphs and charts and statistics. They fume and fuss and grumble. But, really, nothing ever changes. The sport continues its slide into oblivion.

But Laura Hillenbrand has given them an answer. Maybe not THE answer, but an answer.

Tell the stories about horses and the people who surround them, because they move people in ways that no slot machine or craps table ever will. Tell about the triumph and tragedy, the laugher and terars, that are an inherent part of Thoroughbred racing, more than any other sport.

As Ms. Hillenbrand has proved, there's a market for a well-told story about Thoroughbred racing, even if it's about a horse who competed in the late 1930s. More than anything, her triumphant work should be a wake-up call to the industry's leaders.

Tell the stories. Get them out there through books or cable networks or documentaries.

John Eisenberg, a talented columnist for The Baltimore Sun, has a book coming out about the 50th anniversary of Native Dancer's loss to Dark Star in the 1953 Derby. Surely he's hoping it'll be another "Seabiscuit," which is almost certainly an impossibility.

But if it even comes close, if it touches somebody's heart or creates just one new fan for racing, it will be a success. And racing's leaders, instead of concentrating on attending yet another summit conference that will solve nothing, should instead concentrate on what Ms. Hillenbrand's work has done for the industry.

Bobby Frankel now has the top two candidates for the Derby in Empire Maker and Peace Rules. He believes that Empire Maker is easily the most talented of the two, and most of the turf-writing "experts" agree.

But what if Empire Maker turns out to be Granville and Peace Rules turns out to be Seabiscuit? What if Empire Maker ends up as the Horse of the Year, as Granville did in 1936, but Peace Rules turns out to be the more compelling story?

Through her magnificent work, Laura Hillenbrand has provided the industry with a new blueprint for its future marketing and promotional strategies. Tell the stories. Engage a public that, in an increasingly cynical and troubled world, is waiting to be enchanted by sweet and powerful stories.

The 1937 Triple Crown was won by War Admiral. After a unique sequence of events, he eventually met Seabiscuit in a match race at Pimlico. It was the sort of wonderful drama and theater that only Thoroughbred racing can produce.

But, then, you're just going to have to read the book. Or watch the movie. Or thank Laura Hillenbrand for reminding the country of why Thoroughbred racing merits their love, attention, and support.

Native Kentuckian William F. Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 43 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report and covered Kentucky Derby 128 for kentuckyderby.com. He will be filing frequent installments for CDSN's (Churchill Downs Simulcasting Network) websites throughout 2003.

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