Li and I watched the documentary of Seabiscuit on PBS tonight. I kinda become more interested in documentaries these days. Is favoring such programs for rememberance of the past a signal of growing old? I briefly summarized the story below. I'm collecting examples for my Issue essays in the GMAT exam.

Seabiscuit and Pollard were the symbols of hope to Americans during the Great Depression. Pollard grew up in Alberta, where his family led a hard life as a result of the bankruptcy of their brick factory. Pollard left home at a young age to make a living by himself. He finally ended up as the jockey of a thoroughbred race horse-Seabiscuit in California in the late 1930s. In 1937, Pollard made the four-year-old Seabiscuit won ten out fifteen big horse racing matches. Unfortunately, Pollard was thrown to the ground by Seabiscuit and got severely hurt in a race early the next year. Later, Pollard fell again off another horse and became crippled. His physical health was so deteriorated that Pollard was immediately forced to terminate his horse-racing career by the doctors. Pollard’s old friend George Woolf  took over Seabiscuit and won some more matches. A devastating event happened in 1938. One of Seabiscuit’s leg was struck by a fence which he tried to jump over during a race. Pollard never hunkered down under the fear of a terrible life. Instead, he stretch his life out as far as he could get it go. Pollard insisted moving with Seabiscuit to a quite farm in California where they both struggled to recover from their physical problems. In the end of 1938, Seabiscuit and Pollard managed to return to the race field for a final co-performance. They have only one competitor- a horse named War Admiral-the Triple Crown Winner from eastern racing establishment. Based on a deep understanding of Seabiscuit’s pace and a good control of Seabiscuit’s combative spirit, Pollard created a triumph with his great companion. This race is called “Match of the Century” and one out of three Americans either attended the race or listened to the live broadcasting on air. Seabiscuit retired with an honor of  “the Horse of the Year” in 1938. Pollard and Seabiscuit overcame difficulties that could rarely be defeated and created an American legend.

Up to today, several books, movies and documentaries based on the story of Seabisuit and Pollard has been published and released. For the producers and the audiences of these publications, their story is extraordinary because they achieved a true success through courage and determination. As Pollard remarked his stories by quoting Shakespere’s line, “Sweet are the uses of adversity.”