On Saturday, September 14, Patrick and Ansley Smithwick will host the Maryland launch and reading of his new book Racing Time: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Liberation at their farm in Monkton, Maryland. The event follows the successful launch of the book at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, which was hosted in July on the occasion of the 22nd running of the running of the Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase at Saratoga Racecourse.
Racing Time is dedicated to Hall of Fame trainer Tom Voss, Patrick Smithwick’s best friend, who died suddenly in January 2014. Wrote Patrick: “(Voss) pushed me beyond what I thought I could do.”
Racing Time is the third memoir in a trilogy by Patrick Smithwick, who wrote about his relationship with his father in his first publication, 2006’s Racing My Father. Six years later, in his award-winning book Flying Change, he wrote about his own return to racing after a 25-year absence.
Smithwick was inspired to partner with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, and to dedicate a percentage of book proceeds to the TRF, following a visit to the foundation’s TRF Second Chances Program in Sykesville Maryland in December 2018. Said Smithwick, “I was profoundly moved by the work of the TRF, and the inspiring impact of the retired racehorses on the men at the Central Maryland Correctional Complex. The TRF is making the world a better place by saving horses and saving lives, and I am proud to link my work to theirs through the Racing Time book launch in Saratoga.”
Speaking for the TRF, Kimberly Weir, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving commented “We are grateful to Patrick for his support for the horses of the TRF through the proceeds he is donating from his sales of Racing Time. All of us at the TRF are deeply appreciative of Patrick’s passion for sharing the message of our work as a TRF Ambassador. He speaks eloquently for the retired racehorses in the TRF herd and the work they do through our Second Chances Program.”
Racing Time is available for purchase through the TRF website at: https://www.trfinc.org/product/racing-time-book/