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It Gets In Your Blood
Brief Description
Come for a ride with me, and see what I see, down in the dirt and sweat and horseshit, right in the belly of the work of a racing stable. These are my real people, and this is the life I would lead if I hadnโt...
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August 2026
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It Gets In Your Blood
$3799
$4000
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It Gets In Your Blood is a work of memoir and portraiture that takes the reader deep into the life of a racecourse community. In 2015, having always loved horses and riding, Marty Smith set out to immerse herself in the world of thoroughbred horse racing, in the stables and training grounds of the Hawke's Bay racecourse.
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Description
Come for a ride with me, and see what I see, down in the dirt and sweat and horseshit, right in the belly of the work of a racing stable. These are my real people, and this is the life I would lead if I hadnโt been looking out for my father, a child of the Depression. Be a teacher, he said, or a nurse, people always want those people. I only just started riding work when he was lying in a coma. Could I tell him how much I would love to be a jockey? I could not.
In 2015, Marty Smith set out to immerse herself in the world of thoroughbred horse racingโto spend time in the stables and training grounds of the Hawkeโs Bay racecourse, and talk to people in every role. The project turned out to be harderโand more surprising, funny and drawn outโthan sheโd ever expected. Over ten years, the lives of the racecourse opened up, and the book became a portrait of a changing industry and the people within it. This is a life of hard work and constant risk, as well as community and love. And horses.
It Gets In Your Blood captures the essence of this vibrant world and offers a unique glimpse into the lives of those who devote themselves to the life of the racecourse.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781776923212
Publisher: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 13 August 2026
Country: New Zealand
Imprint: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Illustration: 16 colour illustrations
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 24.0mm
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 235.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 336
About the Author
Marty Smith (Taranaki Tลซturu, Te ฤti Awa) has been in racing for years; if not as a rider or an owner/breeder, then putting on a fiver here and there. She thanks the TAB for some nice dresses. She spent her teaching life at Taradale High School, loving the school family. Her poetry collection Horse with Hat won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry in 2014. In 2015 she won an arts grant to take half a yearโs grace to write this book. Ten years later, she thanks those generous people more than they can know.
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