Personal Life
John Pollard was born in the town of Edmonton, Alberta in 1909 to an Irish immigrant brick manufacturer He grew up enjoying athletics especially boxing. However his greatest joy was his small horse named Forest Dawn whom he trained to pull a cart. This helped him find work, hauling and delivering groceries in his snowy little town. Growing up he decided he wanted to be a jockey. His parents supported him in his quest and sent him to the care of a horse owner who claimed he could help him find a career as a jockey on Canada's tracks. His guardian later abandoned him at a track in Butte, Montana.
He spent time there trying to make ends meat traveling around the country's broke tracks trying to get on even the most broken down horses. Anything would work in his eyes. Still, it was a hard job, Red was tall for a jockey at around five foot seven inches. Most jockeys stood at around five foot four or five at the tallest. With little success, Red went south to Tijuana, Mexico where a popular racetrack stood.
Mexico was a big step in Red's life. While he won a stakes race he met his longtime friend George "The Iceman" Woolf, another, more successful, jockey. It was here where John Pollard got his nickname Red due to his bright red Irish hair. While off the track Pollard went around and made a fool of himself. Picking up prostitutes when he did manage to win races, and boxing after dark for an extra buck, fighting under the name "Cougar". It never stuck. Like most jockeys, Red didn't have much money on him and often found himself sleeping in the barns at the tracks.
It wasn't all bad. Red, even though he had a fourth grade education, was an avid reader. He loved poetry, Shakespeare, Robert Service, and Ralph Emerson were among his favorites. His sister Edie claimed that Red was "Happy as heck." (PBS) |
Pollard's Mexican visa
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1936 rolled along and his career was a near failure. The Depression his the jockeys of America hard, Red included. While he struggled a young horse was bought by Charles Howard, known for car sales in the twenties. The horse's name was Seabiscuit. Trainer Tom Smith, a quiet horseman, treated his colt like a king until he was ready to race. They just needed a jockey. By chance Pollard and his agent -- a man named Yummy -- had broken down outside of Detroit and found themselves face to face to the Biscuit and Tom Smith. It was a match made in heaven. Red became the third wheel in the four man (even though one was a horse) circus.
It seemed like his life was complete. He found his family, able to live with Howard and his family, food always on the table. Even if he didn't always eat most of it. Howard even helped with medical bills. Speaking of medical bills, Pollard fell in love with an injury that changed his life. (See Career). At the hospital the young jockey was treated by his private nurse, a woman named Agnes Conlon. The Boston girl was engaged to be married but found herself falling for Red's charm and rugged good looks. |
Tom Smith, Charles Howard, and Seabiscuit - Red's adopted family
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Agnes was engaged to a successful Boston doctor when she met her broken down Jockey at a Boston hospital after his leg shattered. Her parents didn't approve of the man and his world of horse racing. World full of drugs, booze, sex, fights, and in a way, slavery. Still, she found herself loving him just the same. He proposed and within a year the two were married at Charles Howard's ranch. They were an unlikely pair indeed. A worn down jockey who was stuck on the sidelines and the daughter of two antique sellers.
Their marriage took an unfortunate turn when Red became an alcoholic in order to drink away the fact his leg was hurt and he may never ride again. They stayed strong and soon Agnes announced that she was pregnant. No one is quite sure how Red took this news. He jumped from track to track around the country, was practically homeless, making barely a dime without his usual mount, Seabiscuit. During that year he spent time with the broken down little horse, both of them healing together. Then in 1940 he got on Seabuscuit for the last time, racing to the winner's circle. Months later his daughter Norah was born.
Red kept racing but never made much success after his Santa Anita Handicap win. His body pulled him down and his wife wanted a stable home for their family, now with son John on the way. For over ten years Red slowly returned to the slums of the racing world. Seabiscuit retiring to become a breeding stallion, Tom Smith going to train new horses, and Charles Howard following the racing world until he too fizzled out. In 1955 Red hung up his silks for the last time. He still worked at the tracks, unable to leave the life he'd loved so much. Sometimes he worked as a jockey valet for the next generation of Pollards, Woolfs, and even Seabiscuits.
He avoided telling his children about his career, daughter Norah writing "Why did you ever get up on that horse?" as a part of a list of "Questions I never asked my father." Maybe it was for the best. In 1980 Agnes was hospitalized and Red sent to a nursing home. The couple died within two weeks of each other in 1981.
Their marriage took an unfortunate turn when Red became an alcoholic in order to drink away the fact his leg was hurt and he may never ride again. They stayed strong and soon Agnes announced that she was pregnant. No one is quite sure how Red took this news. He jumped from track to track around the country, was practically homeless, making barely a dime without his usual mount, Seabiscuit. During that year he spent time with the broken down little horse, both of them healing together. Then in 1940 he got on Seabuscuit for the last time, racing to the winner's circle. Months later his daughter Norah was born.
Red kept racing but never made much success after his Santa Anita Handicap win. His body pulled him down and his wife wanted a stable home for their family, now with son John on the way. For over ten years Red slowly returned to the slums of the racing world. Seabiscuit retiring to become a breeding stallion, Tom Smith going to train new horses, and Charles Howard following the racing world until he too fizzled out. In 1955 Red hung up his silks for the last time. He still worked at the tracks, unable to leave the life he'd loved so much. Sometimes he worked as a jockey valet for the next generation of Pollards, Woolfs, and even Seabiscuits.
He avoided telling his children about his career, daughter Norah writing "Why did you ever get up on that horse?" as a part of a list of "Questions I never asked my father." Maybe it was for the best. In 1980 Agnes was hospitalized and Red sent to a nursing home. The couple died within two weeks of each other in 1981.