Racing Time, A Memoir of Love, Loss and Liberation by Patrick Smithwick
Book Launch & Cocktail Party – July 25th, 5:30 – 7:30pm
National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame
191 Union Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Click HERE to RSVP Today
“If his previous books Racing My Father and Flying Change were high-risk affairs, his new book Racing Time – a play on words, like many of the words in its pages – is akin to moving from the perilous post-and-rail fences of the Maryland Hunt Cup to the steep hedges, ditches and brooks of the Aintree Grand National. Making it safely to the end, horse and rider, writer and reader are exhausted and exhilarated.” — Dr. Andrew Lemon
Dr. Lemon is the author of the three-volumeHistory of Australian Thoroughbred Racing. In 2012 he was a John H. Daniels Research Fellow at the National Sporting Library and Museum, Middleburg, Virginia.
About Patrick Smithwick, author:
Patrick Smithwick has won awards for the writing of newspaper features, short stories, and magazine investigative pieces while working at a diverse range of occupations including steeplechase jockey, Chesapeake Bay waterman, newspaper reporter and photographer, magazine writer, and teacher of English and medieval history at schools and colleges. He holds a B.A. and an M.L.A. from Johns Hopkins University,an M.A. from Hollins College, and an EFM (Education in Ministry) from the University of the South. His critically acclaimed Racing My Father (2006) recounts his youth on the racetrack and his love for his father, the legendary Hall of Famer, A. P. “Paddy” Smithwick. Flying Change (2012), recipient of the Dr. Tony Lyons Book Award, relates the challenges of returning to race-riding at the age of fifty. Smithwick lives with his wife Ansley on the farm where he was raised in Monkton, Maryland. ist
About Sam Robinson, artist:
Sam Robinson is a Maryland artist best known for
his equestrian sporting paintings. He describes his artistic pursuit as “New
American Impressionism.” Sam prefers to work directly from life enjoying the
vivid suggestion of appearances through brushwork and color tones.
While Equestrian Sporting Art is a particular passion, it is deeply connected
to the landscape and country life of the Mid Atlantic. Several of Robinson’s
shows have shared the title “Portrait of a Tradition,” summing up his intention
to capture the particular character of the landscape and the subjects: human,
equine and canine.
Sam lived in South Korea for most of his childhood where his parents served as
missionaries. His earliest art training was in Asian brush painting. On his
return to the United States, he studied at the Maryland Institute College of
Art, graduating magna cum laude with a BFA in painting in 1978.
Sam is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association and the
Portrait Society of America, receiving the “Best Portfolio” award twice, a
Certificate of Merit in the International Portrait Competition, and an
Honorable Mention in the members only Self-Portrait Competition.
During the fall and spring, Sam can be seen standing at his easel, paint brush in hand, capturing the spirit of the moment at National Steeplechase hunt meets up and down the East Coast.
About the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation:
For 35 years, the TRF has been dedicated to saving Thoroughbred racehorses no longer able to compete on the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse and slaughter. The oldest and largest charity in the US devoted to racehorses, the TRF makes a promise of lifelong sanctuary to those horses unable to pursue a second athletic career. Unique within the aftercare industry, the horses of the TRF find their second chance in the role of teachers through the TRF Second Chances program which provides vocational training in 7 correctional facilities across the US. This program is “Saving Horses and Saving Lives”. Learn more at www.trfinc.org
Press Release by National Steeplechase Association (June 13, 2019)