Seabiscuit and Woolf immortalized

Cardston jockey George Woolf and Seabiscuit — the horse he rode to victory in 1938 — will soon be immortalized in bronze, more than likely on the grounds of the Remington Carriage Museum, in Woolf’s home town. The sculpture, commissioned by Cardston-area rancher Jack Lowe for $130,000, will be completed by Lethbridge artist Don Toney and is to be unveiled in June, a month after what would have been Woolf’s 100th birthday. For Howard Snyder, manager of the Carriage Museum, it’s recognition that’s long overdue. “This monumental bronze will stand in tribute to the ‘Iceman,’ George Woolf, and his rise from small-town beginnings to lasting fame in the world of sporting achievement,” said Snyder...“He wasn’t particularly known to be a very handsome thoroughbred,” said Toney of the race horse. “He was almost what we might think of as a running quarter horse these days. Some people described him as a cow pony, but I think that’s something of an exaggeration. I know horses, and he was not a stretchy-looking thoroughbred type, but he was a handsome horse, maybe a little stockier and maybe not as tall. “He was over in one knee a bit, which really didn’t harm him in any way. The fact that he didn’t really look the part, and he had a rough beginning — he didn’t really want to run — is a real interesting part of the story. Then he got a new trainer that really turned things around.” Snyder said the Seabiscuit story is one of the great inspirational stories in American history, in which an unappreciated horse, a disappointed millionaire, a displaced Colorado cowboy and a young Canadian jockey in decline came together in an astounding combination of circumstance and talent...read more