The Story of Seabiscuit
[2] The film is a fictionalized account of the career of the 1930s racehorse Seabiscuit (1933–1947), with a subplot involving the romance between the niece (Temple) of a horse trainer (Fitzgerald) and a jockey (Lon McCallister).Butler approached Jack Warner, who was a horse owner, and pitched the project, saying Barry Fitzgerald would be ideal for the role of Tom Smith the trainer.In November the studio said Foote had written a script and that Barry Fitzgerald would play the lead alongside Geraldine Brooks, with William Jacobs to produce and filming to begin in December.[13] The bulk of the film was shot at Northridge Farms, a development established by Barbara Stanwyck and her then agent Zeppo Marx, then sold to a syndicate."[1] The New York Times reviewer panned the film, stating, "the odds are that Seabiscuit's screen saga will prove an also-ran" and characterizing the subplot as "one of the season's dullest romances".