Horse Heaven Read online

  “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

  36 - LONG SHOT

  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)

  Alexander P. Maybrick: owner, industrialist

  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.