“IRRESISTIBLE … [A] BEAUTIFULLY BRAIDED TALE … [SMILEY’S] SKILL AT PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBING IS SPLENDID; HER IMAGES ARE EVEN BETTER.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Smiley has written wonderful books before, but in this one she’s stretched her legs, charged forward, and won the race.… Horse Heaven is slyly hilarious—epic in length but never heavy in tone.… Featuring people (and animals) from every walk of racing life … Smiley actually seems to like her characters, and it’s her affection for them that gives the book its extraordinary heart.”
—Newsday
“Sprawling, blithely satirical … Smiley’s wonderful, well, horse sense about human nature keeps this earthy comic epic on track.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Exhilarating … There’s no story she can’t tell.… A 600-page work of genius that creates the effect you might have gotten if Anthony Trollope and Honoré de Balzac had collaborated on all the Black Stallion books at once.… Smiley has given us suspense, insight, sex, magic, shopping, love, breakdown, comeback, surprise and gripping, large-hearted delight. It may be Horse Heaven, but it’s also book heaven.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“We’re off to the races with Jane Smiley in Horse Heaven, and it’s one heck of a ride.… If this novel were a racehorse, it would be keeping company with Secretariat.… Give Horse Heaven a try, and odds are you’ll be tuning in to the Triple Crown this year. And if you’re already a horse person, Smiley’s book will find you in clover. You can bet on it.”
—The Orlando Sentinel
“Thrilling … You don’t have to be a rider or a gambler to be charmed by this sly racetrack comedy.… Having lined her characters up in the starting gate of her opening chapters, Smiley skillfully propels each story forward as the upcoming Breeder’s Cut accelerates the drama.”
—New York Daily News
“AN ABSORBING READ.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“[A] stunningly perceptive and passionate take on the world of horse racing … You’d no sooner get me to read a book on horse racing than get me on a racehorse. Yet I was cheering as the sixteen-year-old jockey rode to his victory; gasping as a front-runner stumbled; praying as a vet helped a mare through a harsh labor. Fine writer, perfect form.”
—Mademoiselle
“Smiley unceremoniously plunges us into a torrent of character and event, trusting that we will emerge transformed by her exhilarating baptism, and we do. By the novel’s finish, the world of horses has become at once radiant in its particularities and as familiar as our own.”
—The New Yorker
“Delicious … It’s fast-paced, intricately plotted, witty and sad. It offers adventure, love, more characters than a Russian novel, and some edge-of-your-seat race scenes. It has the ability to wrench the heart of even a non-horse person like myself.”
—Austin American-Statesman
“Horse Heaven combines the taut excitement of Dick Francis with the charming anthropomorphism of Anna Sewell for a result that’s pure Smiley—astutely researched and utterly captivating.… A breezy fascinating ride through the minds, hearts, and hands of horses and horse fanciers.”
—The Baltimore Sun
“Engaging and exuberant, this one is a winner.… A meaty, lusty exploration of the complex world of horse breeding and racing.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Another winner … Written with high spirits and enthusiasm, distinguished by Smiley’s wry humor, the novel gallops into the home stretch without losing momentum.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“ONE OF THE MOST PURELY PLEASURABLE
LONG READS TO COME ALONG IN YEARS.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Astonishing … Smiley’s new novel is enormous and overflowing—a cheerful, generous monster of a book. But like a thoroughbred, all that power and size come in a splendid shape, kept under perfect control.… The novel is Dickensian in its multiplicity, its minor and mischievously named comic characters, its length, and its wit.”
—The Austin Chronicle
“A profound act of love … Each character is rendered with Smiley’s characteristic and exceptional humanity.”
—Elle
“Compelling … a good ripping yard … Like a good race, Smiley’s prose gallops ahead at breakneck speed.”
—New York Post
“A remarkable literary achievement … With Horse Heaven, [Smiley] makes us care about horses the way E. B. White made us care about pigs in Charlotte’s Web, and makes us understand them the way Walter Tevis made us understand chess in The Queen’s Gambit. And as with everything Smiley writes, she rides this uneven turf with the calm of a jockey who knows she won’t be thrown.”
—salon.com
“Funny, passionate, and brilliant … The strange, compelling, sparkling, and mysterious universe of horse racing that has fascinated generations of punters and robber barons, horse-lovers and wits, has never before been depicted with such verve and originality, such tenderness, such clarity, and, above all, such sheer exuberance.”
—Exclusively Equine.com
“Fastpaced … compelling fiction … Several horses here are given such names as Nureyev, Lorenzo de Medici, and Ivan Boesky. If one named Jane Smiley ever shows up in the racing form, you might just want to bet the farm on her.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
BY JANE SMILEY
FICTION
Barn Blind
At Paradise Gate
Duplicate Keys
The Greenlanders
Ordinary Love & Good Will
A Thousand Acres
Moo
The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
Horse Heaven
Good Faith
Ten Days in the Hills
NONFICTION
Charles Dickens
A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
The gentle reader of this “comic epic poem in prose” is hereby reminded that all locations, characters, and events mentioned herein, including those whose names seem familiar, are figments of the author’s imaginings, and their characteristics as represented bear no relationship to real life.
Copyright © 2000 by Jane Smiley
Photographs copyright © 2000 by Norman Mauskopf
Reading group guide copyright © 2001 by Jane Smiley and The Ballantine
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
READER’S CIRCLE and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2000.
This edition published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-375-41266-0
www.randomhousereaderscircle.com
v3.1_r1
To the memory of TERSON (Ger.), by Luciano out of Templeogue, by Prodomo (fifty-two starts, seven wins, eight seconds, and three thirds in France and the United States), this novel is dedicated with love and gratitude.
And to Jack Canning, likewise.
Thank you, especially, to Dr. Gregory L. Ferraro, D.V.M., of Davis, California, and to Jim Squires, of Lexington, Kentucky, for their endless patience, help, and kindness; and to Dave Hofmans, Eddie Gregson, Dr. Mike Fling, Dr. Gary Deter, Roy and Andre Forzani, Benjam
in Bycel, Bea and Derek DiGrazia, John Grassi, Nana Faridany, Rick Moss, Ray Berta, Tara Baker, Stefano Cacace, Bob Armstead, and countless others who gave of their time, their expertise, and, best of all, their wit.
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Epigraph
Cast of Characters
Book One - 1997
Prologue
November
1 - JACK RUSSELL
2 - ROUGH STRIFE
3 - IF WISHES WERE HORSES
4 - A USEFUL ANIMAL
December
5 - ROSALIND
6 - ALL IRISH
7 - JUST A ROBERTO
8 - THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THOROUGHBRED TRAINING
9 - A MIRE
Book Two - 1998
January
10 - WINNERS CURSE
11 - THE BARON
12 - WAL-MART
13 - JUSTA GOOD-BYE, JUSTA HELLO
14 - SAVED
February
15 - PASSION
16 - EPIC STEAM
17 - SCHOOL’S IN
March
18 - TWO-YEAR-OLDS IN TRAINING
19 - THE KENTUCKY DERBY (I)
20 - WRECK
21 - A DAY AT THE RACES
22 - JUSTA NECK
23 - ALL-NIGHTER
April
24 - OUT OF ADJUSTMENT
25 - PITTER PAT
26 - ANIMAL FARM
May
27 - TROISIÈME COURS
28 - HUNTER-JUMPER
29 - HIDDEN AGENDAS
30 - JUSTA QUARTER CRACK
June
31 - A BAD FILLY
32 - BELMONT
33 - MATCH RACE
July
34 - ONTOLOGY
35 - TWO PUNCH
August
37 - YEARLINGS FOR SALE
38 - A DUD
39 - NO HORSES, FOR ONCE
40 - EASTWARD HO
41 - FAIRY GODGELDING
September
42 - A DREAM
43 - EXCUSED ABSENCES
October
44 - AN UNEXPECTED TWIST
45 - JUST THE MIDWEST
46 - A MAIDEN
November
47 - BREEDERS’ CUP
48 - EILEEN TAKES NOTE
December
49 - LOVE
Book Three - 1999
January
50 - WHO THEY ARE
51 - ANONYMOUS
52 - LIQUIDITY
53 - MARVELOUS
February
54 - EPISTEMOLOGY AND HERMENEUTICS
55 - PARK MIN JONG
56 - CHICKENS
57 - THE RETURN OF THE DEMON
58 - JUSTA CLAIMER
March
59 - WESTWARD HO
April
60 - KENTUCKY DERBY (II)
61 - A NIGHTMARE
62 - JUSTA FAVOR
May
63 - IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING
64 - PEACE AND QUIET
June
65 - NOT IRELAND
July
66 - ALL FEMALE
67 - SWAPS
August
68 - SELF-IMPROVEMENT
September
69 - BIG TIME
September – October
70 - PRÉ CATALAN
71 - HAPPILY EVER AFTER
72 - OR NOT
Epilogue
About the Author
A Reader’s Guide
In no other department of human knowledge has there been such a universal and persistent habit of misrepresenting the truth of history as in matters relating to the horse.
—JOHN H. WALLACE, The Horse in America
I recognized with despair that I was about to be compelled to buy a horse.
—Some Experiences of an Irish R.M., SOMERVILLE AND ROSS
I never heard of a great thing done yet but it was done by a thoroughbred horse.
—English steeplechase jockey DICK CHRISTIAN, 1820s
Runs all distances from 1,400 to 2,000 meters. Possible aversion to heavy going. Big galloper. Lots of drive, easy to manage, very much a racehorse. On the rise, and limits still unknown.
—Encyclopedia des Courses, 1984
CAST OF CHARACTERS
New York and Florida (Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga, Calder, Gulfstream)
Rosalind Maybrick: socialite, connoisseur
Eileen: Rosalind’s Jack Russell terrier
Dick Winterson: Al and Rosalind’s horse-trainer
Luciano: Dick’s horse masseur
Tiffany Morse: checker at Wal-Mart
Ho Ho Ice Chill: Tiffany’s boyfriend, rap singer
Dagoberto Gomez: Tiffany’s horse-trainer
Herman Newman: toy magnate, racehorse owner
Maryland (Pimlico, Laurel, Delaware Park, the New Jersey and Philadelphia tracks)
Krista Magnelli: breeder, owner of a small studfarm
Pete and Maia Magnelli: Krista’s husband and baby daughter
Sam the vet: Krista’s equine practitioner
Skippy Hollister: owner, lawyer, Washington powerbroker
Mary Lynn Hollister: Skippy’s wife, dragon of good works
Deirdre Donohue: The Hollisters’ horse-trainer
George Donohue: Deirdre’s cousin, assistant trainer
Ellen: Deirdre’s old friend, owner of hunter-jumper stable and riding school
Chicago and New Orleans (Hawthorne, Arlington Park, Sportsman’s Park, Louisiana Downs)
William Vance: horse-trainer
California (Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Golden Gate Fields, Bay Meadows)
Kyle Tompkins: owner of a vast Thoroughbred breeding farm and much else Jason Clark Kingston: software magnate
Andrea Melanie Kingston: Jason’s wife
Azalea Warren: virgin, racehorse owner, old California money
Joy Gorham: mare manager at Tompkins Ranch
Elizabeth Zada: Joy’s friend, author, animal communicator
Plato Theodorakis: Elizabeth’s boyfriend, futurologist
Farley Jones: Kyle Tompkins’ horse-trainer
Oliver: Farley’s assistant trainer
Buddy Crawford: Jason Clark Kingston’s horse-trainer
Leon: Buddy’s assistant trainer
Deedee: exercise rider for Buddy
Curtis Doheny: Buddy’s equine practitioner
Roberto Acevedo: apprentice jockey
Marvelous Martha: exercise rider and legend
Lin Jay “the Pisser” Hwang: small-time owner, former Red Guard
The Round Pebble: the Pisser’s mother
Leo: racetrack afficionado, theorist of track life
Jesse: Leo’s son, aged nine
Texas
R. T. Favor: horse-trainer and suspicious character
Angel Smith: owner of a small horse-boarding establishment
Horacio Delagarza: Angel’s friend
France
Audrey Schmidt: youthful horse enthusiast
Florence Schmidt: Audrey’s mother
Everywhere
Sir Michael Ordway: horse agent, peer of the realm
Horses
Mr. T.: gray gelding, stakes winner in France, bred in Germany
Justa Bob: brown gelding, bred in California
Residual: chestnut filly, bred in Kentucky
Limitless: bay colt, bred in Maryland
Froney’s Sis: gray or roan filly, bred in California
Epic Steam: dark-bay or brown colt, bred in Kentucky
BOOK ONE
1997
PROLOGUE
WHO THEY ARE
ALL THE JOCKEY CLUB knows about them is parentage, color, markings:
Residual, by Storm
Trumpet, out of Baba Yaya, by Key to the Mint, chestnut, born January 23, 1996. White star, three white stockings that end below the knee. Kentucky-bred.
Epic Steam, by Land of Magic, out of Pure Money, by Mr. Prospector, dark-bay or brown colt, February 18, 1996, would be called black if there were any true black Thoroughbreds. He has no white at all anywhere on his body. Kentucky-bred.
Froney’s Sis, by Mr. Miracles, out of My Deelite, by Cee’s Tizzy, gray or roan filly, March 21, 1996. Now almost black, but flecked with white hairs, she has a star and a snip between her nostrils, as well as one white sock, but these markings will disappear over the years, enveloped like tide pools by the encroaching sea of white that will spread over her body from her face and her shoulders and her haunches. She has a clockwise whorl on her chest around which the rest of her seems to orbit like a galaxy. Cal-bred.