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Go beyond the betting window and winner's circle to
see the real, behind-the-scenes life in the Thoroughbred horse industry.
Visit the backside, populated with an unseen world of hot walkers
and grooms, trainers and stewards. Get up at dawn and take a refreshing
rehabilitative swim in a lake with these magnificent creatures.
See the love lavished on these animals by handlers who would rather
sleep in the next stall than leave their charges. You'll never see
a racetrack in the same fashion again.
"In this beautiful book,
Jon Kral does it once again...this collection of photographs is
no thin, seen-before chronicle of the grand sportin' life.
Some photographers work beautifully in portraiture, seeming to search
in faces for a map of the human heart. But Jon Kral leans
toward people touching things, people caught mid-step in a deeply
earthy world."
-- Kevin Hall, Editor-in-Residence, Florida International
University School of Journalism
There is an inherent nature
in horses that draws people to them. Perhaps it is their beauty
or their spirit. Or maybe that even in domestication, in their souls,
they remain wild and free. All of these attributes are most certainly
true of the Thoroughbred racehorse. And here, in Hotbloods, award-winning
photographer Jon Kral has captured the essence of the Thoroughbred
racehorse and the bond with their caretakers in stunning black and
white photography. Enjoy.
--Jo Ann Guidry, Florida
Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association
"It was 4:30 in the
morning, and things were so dark and still, it seemed the whole
world must be asleep, when I eased up to the gate at one of Florida's
largest horse racing tracks. A sleepy guard asked for identification,
shined his flashlight onto my face, then to the card I was holding
in my hand. Satisfied, he nodded for me to proceed past him into
the inky darkness of the backside.
"As I turned the corner,
I entered another world, filled with row after row of long narrow
barns, lights streaming through at least 20 open doors on each side
of the buildings. I could see silhouettes of people and horses moving
about in the predawn murkiness.
"This was my first real
trip into the backside, completely alive and at its' peak when most
of us are in dreamland. Here was a world geared totally for horses,
where every horse is a king, attended to around the clock.
-- Jon Kral, author
ISBN: 0-9658128-8-X
Published: 1999
List price: $55
128p with 100 duotone photographs
Format: 11.25" x 11.25", hardcover with French folded
dust cover, 128 pages.
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Hotbloods:
"Best Cover Design" 2000 PMA Benjamin Franklin Awards