Those stall doors are adorned with the names of great horses owned by the Howard family through the years including Noor, Kayak II, Ajax and of course, The Biscuit. The four stalls inside the barn, one in each corner, were originally accessed by four large paddocks, however, only the stalls remain today. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Howard designed the barn specifically for Seabiscuit. Charles Howard posted a welcome sign at the entrance to the farm and built a small grandstand for visitors just outside the horse’s stall. During the initial seven months of 1941, an incredible 33,072 people signed the guestbook outside his stall. Visible in so many photographs, the barn was a destination for more than 50,000 visitors who came from 1940 until 1947. It was here where he retired the following year after his thrilling comeback race in the Santa Anita Handicap and began a stud career, siring 108 foals. It was here where Seabiscuit rehabilitated for the better part of 1939. This wood frame building clad with red board and batten siding and white, flat-sawn window and door trim holds a special place in the annals of horse racing. One, however, is more iconic than all the others - Seabiscuit’s Stud Barn. This included a 90-acre central area highlighted by several historic structures still present at Ridgewood. One decade later, he had transformed a portion of the ranch into a Thoroughbred breeding and training operation. Howard purchased this land as a cattle ranch and second home in 1919. Located 21/2 hours north of San Francisco on 5,000 acres of Northern California oak and redwood-studded hillsides, Charles S. While it has been more than 70 years since he walked the earth, there is no site where the spirit of Seabiscuit is more alive than at his longtime home of Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, California. And if you told them both horse and jockey each suffered what was thought to be career-ending leg injuries yet would recuperate together and come back and win one of the richest races in history, they might have laughed out loud. They would be skeptical that a beaten-down horse who won less than a quarter of his first 40 races could have inspired millions during the Great Depression. If you told somebody the story before they read the book or saw the movie, they wouldn’t believe you.
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