On New Year's Eve, 1938, columnist Walter Winchell published his annual list of the year's top ten newsmakers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was among those mentioned. So was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The tenth spot, however, went to a horse.

In the 1930s, when Americans longed to escape the grim realities of Depression era, Seabiscuit became a working man's hero. At the height of his career, Seabiscuit became a national obsession. His name was used to sell everything from oranges to hotels, from ladies' hats to dry-cleaning services. Tens of thousands of fans swarmed to the racetracks just to see him work out. One writer called the phenomenon Seabiscuit-itus.