The puzzled guy seems to think he has a lock on what this story is all about- "The story is, like I said, essentially a father/son male redemption story....a story about fathers and sons, and older men as mentors to younger men". The story is about a real-life example of the "American Spirit", where down-and-outers and born losers rise to become winners through sheer toughness and innate talent. Americans needed this reaffirmation at the time, and Seabiscuit gave it to them. Father/son stuff was just part of that story.