Just before the race, Woolf and Richardson made a deal. In the jockeys’ room, Woolf suited up to man the helm on Seabiscuit while Richardson slipped on Ligaroti’s polka dots. Crosby perched on the roof with Oscar Otis, who would call the race for a national radio broadcast. Dave Butler led a chorus of Ligaroti cheers, and the crowd grew boisterous. “Is there anyone left in Hollywood?” wondered a spectator. Lin plastered a twenty-foot LIGAROTI sign on the wall behind the “I’m for Ligaroti” section, and scores of Crosby’s movie friends, including Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Spencer Tracy and Ray Milland, took up their cerise and white pennants and filed in. On the sweltering race day, special trains and buses poured in from San Diego and Los Angeles, filling the track with well over twenty thousand people, many more than the track’s official capacity. But the press’s distrust and the absence of gambling did nothing to cool the enthusiasm of racing fans. Del Mar, conscious of the potential conflict of interest for the Howards and Smiths, barred public wagering on the race. Sportswriters argued that the rich event was a farce arranged to pad Seabiscuit’s bankroll. “From the race’s conception, the press viewed it with skepticism.
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