Seabiscuit, (sculpture).

Seabiscuit, (sculpture).

Wheeler, Tex Hughlette, 1901-1954, sculptor.

Nelli Art Bronze Works, founder.

Seabiscuit, (sculpture).

Original cast 1940. Cast 2007. Dedicated June 23, 2007.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

(On front of base:) SEABISCUIT / 1933-1947 (On side of base:) Biscuit's courage, honesty and physical prowess definitely place him among the thoroughbred immortals of turf history. He had intelligence and understanding almost spiritual in quality. signed

Racehorse Seabiscuit is depicted standing with his head turned slightly to his proper right. The sculpture is mounted on an inscribed dark granite pedestal.

Animal -- Horse

Animal -- Portrait -- Seabiscuit

Outdoor Sculpture -- California -- Willits

Ridgewood Ranch, Willits, California

The thoroughbred racehorse Seabiscuit was a sensation during the 1930s into 1940. The Kentucky bred Seabiscuit was the grandson of the legendary Man O’ War and was claimed by Charles and Marcella Howard after winning a claiming race at Saratoga. Mr. Howard’s success as the West Coast’s biggest Buick dealer, allowed him the prosperity to enter the “Sport of Kings.” Seabiscuit dominated sporting headlines, especially in winning a match race against War Admiral at Baltimore’s Pimlico in 1938. After proving himself a winning horse, Seabiscuit injured a left front leg ligament, which placed his racing career in jeopardy of termination. The horse was rehabilitated at Mr. Howard’s Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, California. “The Biscuit” overcame impossible odds in his recovery and proved to be a solid racer once again with a magnificent spirit, which lent hope to many during the desperate days of the Great Depression.

The sculptor, Hughlette “Tex” Wheeler, made a cast from life of Seabiscuit in 1940 at Ridgewood Ranch where the horse was retired. The owner Charles Howard commissioned two bronze castings of the work. One sculpture (IAS record CA001475) was dedicated in 1941 at the Santa Anita Racetrack in front of many admiring fans, with the great horse himself being present. This sculpture, to this day in the Paddock Garden, greatly enhanced the reputation of Tex Wheeler as a cowboy sculptor (Mr. Wheeler’s first name is an homage to the practitioner who delivered him into this world, Dr. Hughlett). The second casting (IAS record 71501013) was delivered to Ridgewood Ranch, where Seabiscuit was buried following his death in 1947. The Seabiscuit sculpture remained at the ranch until Mr. Howard’s death in 1950. The ranch was sold, and the sculpture was relocated. At the beginning of the Twenty-first century, the sculpture of Seabiscuit was donated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame by Mr. Howard’s heirs. The Museum and Hall of Fame had been established in 1950 by the legendary New Yorker C.V. “Sonny” Whitney, with Seabiscuit receiving the honor of membership in 1958. In 2007, the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation used the Seabiscuit sculpture in Saratoga Springs to model a rubber and fiberglass form, in order to cast this surmoulage sculpture for display at Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, California.

Orzell, Bill, 2017.

Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation, press release, June 23, 2007.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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