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Racing
My Father: Growing Up With a Riding Legend
Patrick
Smithwick
Pub Date: May 2006. Patrick
Smithwick has written an unusually moving memoir about
growing up in the hell-bent-for-leather world of Thoroughbred
racing as the son of Hall of Fame steeplechase jockey
A.P. “Paddy” Smithwick. Racing My Father
is the story of a son working alongside his father throughout
summer mornings, and then hopping in a “hot car,”
windows up, heater blasting -- so his father can sweat
off a few more pounds -- and driving his father to the
track where the races will be held in the afternoon.
Paddy Smithwick was a natural. He was a charismatic figure.
He was the greatest steeplechase rider in America in the
1950s and ’60s, winning all the big races, leading
the country in races won four times, dominating the sport
with his style, ability, heart, and gentlemanly demeanor.
Patrick Smithwick is also a natural. As a jockey, he won
steeplechase races. As a writer, he’s won awards.
There are hints of the innocence of Huck Finn as Smithwick
starts off his account of serving his apprenticeship with
his father. The innocence ends when his father is paralyzed
in a bad fall. Yet, the youthful Smithwick helps his father
work his way back into racing, and the father-son, trainer-rider
team ends up in the winner’s circle at Saratoga Springs.
Smithwick has recreated his own Yoknapatawpha County --
with its gritty backsides and polished clubhouses, its
knotty characters and sleek racehorses. Racing My
Father is not just another “horse” book.
It is a fast-paced memoir ranking in the stakes race category
with Russell Baker’s Growing Up, Frank McCourt’s
Angela’s Ashes, Annie Dillard’s An
American Childhood, and Beryl Markham’s West
With the Night.
Racing My Father is a breathtaking ride
over hurdles, with a whipping and driving finish, that
catapults the father-son team of Paddy and Patrick Smithwick
back into the winner’s circle.
About
the Author:
Patrick Smithwick has been working with horses
all his life. At a very young age he began working with
his father, the legendary steeplechase jockey, A.P. Smithwick,
who became a trainer after retiring from riding. Smithwick
then worked his way through school and college by exercising
Thoroughbred race horses at major East Coast racetracks
and in Canada and riding steeplechase races at such venues
as Belmont Park, Saratoga Springs and hunt meets such
as The Maryland Hunt Club and The Grand National.
He
received a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University
in 1973 followed by a Master of Arts in Creative Writing
from Hollins College in 1975. After working in the newspaper
business for several years, Smithwick began teaching English,
philosophy, photography, and journalism at both the high
school and college level. In 1988 he received a Master
of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University and in 2000
he received his degree in Education for Ministry from
University of the South.
In
addition to Racing My Father, Smithwick has written
The Art of Healing, Union Memorial Hospital,
and Gilman Voices, 1897–1997. He has also
written for many publications including Mid-Atlantic
Country, The Maryland Horse, Horsemen’s
Journal, and Chronicle of the Horse. Smithwick
currently resides on the horse farm where he was raised
in Monkton, Maryland, with his wife and three children.
Praise
for Patrick Smithwick and Racing My Father:
"Patrick Smithwick's bittersweet memoir wonderfully captures a racetrack culture that he was born to and loved. But he also shows, with such wrenching emotion, how he struggled, in the parlance of his sport, to change leads in his own life. The portrait he draws of his father, Paddy -- a man both lovely and tough -- is absolutely endearing. We can see: it wasn’t easy for the author to be Little Paddy. But it was glorious, too."
-- Frank Deford, author, commentator, and sportswriter
****
“Patrick
Smithwick, a horseman and journalist, writes with real
feeling about memories of growing up with his late father,
Hall of Fame steeplechase jockey A. Patrick “Paddy”
Smithwick. Believe me, this is great reading, whether
or not you’re into steeplechase racing.”
-- Peter Winants, author of Steeplechasing:
The Complete History of the Sport in North America
****
“Racing
My Father jumped right onto my list of best-loved
books. It’s a fascinating story by a truly gifted
writer.”
-- Lucy Acton, editor, Mid-Atlantic
Thoroughbred
****
“Patrick Smithwick brings steeplechasing to life
with this poignant memoir. His journey delivers every
bump, bruise, and cheer that goes along with a racing
family. You’ll never see your father the same way.
Or your son.”
-- Sean Clancy, publisher, Steeplechase Times
****
"You don't have to be a horse person to enjoy this book for it is basically a very human story about ... growing up in the shadow of a famous father and what happens when that father is no longer around …"
--David Yeats-Thomas, Mid-Atlantic Horse |
Hardcover
5 1/2 x 8 1/2
376 pages
22 b/w photos
10 color photos
Product #B11-1109
List Price: $24.95
ISBN-10: 1-58150-140-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-58150-140-7
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