Known as "The Iceman" George Woolf was a Canadian-born thoroughbred race horse jockey. An annual jockey's award given by the United States Jockeys' Guild is named in his honor. He became known for riding the people's champion Seabiscuit to historic victories in 1938. In the acclaimed feature film Seabiscuit (2003) Woolf was portrayed by the jockey Gary Stevens who like Woolf has also been inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Stevens had won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1996. Woolf is best remembered for his tactical performance in that legendary 1938 match race when he rode Seabiscuit to victory over the heavily favored Triple Crown champion War Admiral in the Pimlico Special at Baltimore based on advice from his friend Seabiscuit's injured regular jockey Red Pollard. When asked which was the best racehorse he had ever ridden Woolf answered immediately "Seabiscuit."

By 1938 the year Woolf would ride Seabiscuit against War Admiral he had been wrestling with a disease that he had kept secret for years: Type I diabetes. Woolf gave himself daily shots but the dosages could not be gauged precisely in those early years and doctors of the day recommended he eat regular high-protein low-carbohydrate meals meats were pushed but this was not a jockeys diet especially for a jockey who leaned toward the heavy end of the allowed weight range. He was thus constrained to accept only a few mounts each week riding only 150-200 races each year compared to as many as 1000 rides that some of the other top jockeys might undertake. Despite his limited number of races and a relatively short career Woolf won 97 major stakes races around the United States including the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes the American Derby and the Belmont Futurity Stakes three years running.

With such monumental accolades on the resume comes this remarkable jockey silk from that 1938 season when he road Seabiscuit into worldwide fame and ultimately the lore and legend of literature and cinema. The red satin shirt carries embroidery at the collar of "C.S. Howard the famed owner of Seabiscuit the most famous resident at Ridgewood Ranch but Howard had owned many horses in his secondary career as a thoroughbred owner including Kayak II and Hall of Fame colt Noor the first of only two horses to defeat two U.S. Triple Crown champions. Shirt has ornate triangular white satin symbol sewed in front and back and white satin all of which show considerable use. One of the four original vintage buttons is missing but otherwise the spectacular shirt is intact and largely as-issued and without difficulties even to the intricate bow at the bottom edge of the collar above the button. This is purely an extraordinary piece of thoroughbred racing lore and its color and design components are seen prominently in numerous riding scenes in the 2003 film worn by Tobey Maguire as Pollard and actor/jockey Stevens.

Comes with a Letter of Provenance from the Helms/LA 84 Collection.