Conversation with Jane Smiley, author of Horse Heaven

Q: What gave you the idea to write a novel about horse racing and what kind of research did you do before sitting down to write Horse Heaven?

A: I was driving down the road listening to NPR, and I heard a commentator use the phrase "spit the bit" and I realized that there was a whole wonderful language to horseracing that was a novelist's treasure. I was already involved with horses and interested in breeding, so the next step was to get out to the track. Once I did that, I realized that the track is a storyteller's paradise.

Q: Do you remember the first time you went to the track?

A: Yes. I was about fourteen or fifteen. I went to one of the Illinois tracks outside St. Louis. They raced at night. I think I bet a winner. But also, a horse broke down leaving the gate, and I remember that very clearly.

Q: One of your characters tells his son, "There's no place like the racetrack, son. Everyone of every sort is there." What is your favorite thing about a day at the races?

A: Sunshine, a leisurely pace, lots of horses to look at.

Q: You explore the shadier side of horseracing -- the gambling, the cruelty inflicted on the animals, the injuries, the steroids etc. How widespread do you think the abuse is and is there any way to safeguard against it better?

A: This is the perennial question of horseracing. Abuse is widespread, but not universal. It's also grown less cruel in the modern era. Stories from the old days of racing stand your hair on end. There was one English owner in the 19th century who was famous for taking horses who lost out and shooting them in the head. In all horse sports, individual conscience is the main safeguard for the horses, but in modern racing, there is a reasonable amount of policing, especially at the larger tracks and with the bigger races. Racing people are well aware that the bettors stay away if they think the race is fixed, and the bettors finance the whole thing.

Q: You write a lot about claiming races. How exactly does a claiming race work?

A: Claiming races are for what you might call working class horses who haven't made it into the big time or the bigger time. When the trainer enters his horse in a claiming race, he is saying that the horse is for sale. If another owner or trainer wants the horse, he puts down the required amount of money (set by the value of the race and some other factors) any time up to fifteen minutes before the start of the race. As soon as the horses leave the gate, the horse belongs to the one who claimed it, whether it wins or loses, lives or dies. After the horses head back to the receiving barn, a track official comes out and hangs a red tag on the horse's bridle, and the horse goes to the barn of its new owner. Needless to say, you can run a horse over and over in claiming races, hoping that it will get claimed, and it won't, or you can risk it once, hoping that it won't get claimed, and it will. One reason to put it in a claiming race even though you don't want it to get claimed is that you think it has a good chance of winning the pot and a small chance of getting taken because it has obscure breeding or something like that. There's also an element of daring and gambling in claiming races that track people like.

Q: One of your characters says, "horse racing is the perfect sport of capitalism." Do you agree?

A: Yes, because racing is very individualistic. It's never one side against another, but always individuals winning or losing. And there are so many chances to try, and the winner is almost always different every time, and there is also the perennial question of whether the horse won because of class (expensive breeding, example Secretariat) or hard work and gumption (Stymie). Horseracing is a real kaleidoscope of winning and losing. And some betting systems, especially the bookmakers system, in England, work very much like the stock market.

Q: The horses in this novel have the most wonderful names -- Epic Steam, Limitless, Justa Bob, Mr. T -- how did you think them up and what are the names of the sixteen horses you own?

A: Fabulous Fanny, Persephone, Scout (pony), Rapid Response, Chipper, Frozen Sails, Iona Prospector, Our Wild Rose, Mapleton, Sylvanshine, Hornblower, Cheerful, The Great Ray, Ethereal, Kiss Me

Nicknames -- Fanny, Persey, Scoutie, Emma, Chipper, Frozen Sails, Iona, Rose, Mamacita, Jackie, Wow, Cheerful, Ray, Essie, Little Kiss Me (she's very big)

Q: One of the characters in your book, Deirdre, a trainer, says, "Horses are tragic beasts. Especially good horses. Especially good Thoroughbreds." Tragic how?

A: Well, Deirdre has her own opinion. Her cousin says, "What's wrong with giving a poor beast a job?" Horses are expensive, and most of them have to work for a living, not only to support themselves in some way by being useful, but also because they need something to do to engage their bodies and minds. Anyone who works for a living can encounter problems, especially if their job is an athletic one, even if they are naturally athletic, which most horses are. Good Thoroughbreds, though, always try hard, and sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Horses are tragic in the sense that most of them give all they've got and sometimes they suffer for it.

Q: In Horse Heaven you explore how people learn to communicate with horses. Have you learned that from your own horses?

A: Yes. I now go to movies and if there are horses in the movie, I get a very strong sense of what the horses are thinking. It's weird.

Q: Has your Jack Russell terrier read Horse Heaven? What does she think of Eileen?

A: She thinks Eileen should get top billing, and she can't figure out why the book isn't titled The Jack Russell Terrier, Eileen, and Some Horses.

Q: The horses in this book are as developed and important as the human characters. Was it hard to do that? Also, I have to ask -- do you have a favorite?

A: Easy. Those were wonderful parts for me to write. I watch horses and speculate about them everyday. My favorites are Mr. T., because he is based on a horse I had who died last year, but who taught me everything I know, and Justa Bob, because there are so many hard-knocking, hard-trying, good horses around who aren't stars, but do the best they can every time.

Q: Are the horses you are raising on your ranch bound for the racetrack?

A: Some are. The mares have already been to the racetrack. Emma won $36,000, Iona won $89,000, Mapleton won $58,000, Chipper was a stakes winner, and Rose won about $23,000. Jackie and Wow are in training, and should go to the track this spring. Ray should follow them next year. Others are intended to be riding horses, and aren't Thoroughbreds.