Q: How did you become interested in horse racing?

A: I first got interested in horse racing through an aunt and a great uncle, who were horseplayers. I was six or seven years old when I first became aware of horse racing. I ran track as a teenager and found that horse racing was just like track, except with horses, and I became as passionate about Thoroughbred racing as I was about track.

Q: Why did you want to write a biography on Swaps?

A: Swaps has always been my favorite racehorse, first because of his feat of beating East Coast kingpin Nashua in the Kentucky Derby, then because of his ability to run world-record times, and ultimately because of his machine-like stride that allowed him to show incredible grace under pressure.

Q: What did you learn from the experience of writing this book?

A: From writing the Swaps book I learned that the names “Rex Ellsworth” and “Mish Tenney” served as firebrands when mentioned to those involved in horse racing. They were either loved or hated, depending on who you talked to. There was no in between. So it was difficult to learn the truth about a lot of what they did and why they did it.

Q: Is there a facet of Swaps’ life that you found particularly fascinating or unique?

A: The single most amazing facet of Swaps' life was the phenomenal amount of work poured into him in a short span of time by his trainer. There was a stretch of time when Swaps trained at age three in Chicago where Tenney just socked it to the colt in a manner that today would be unheard of. It was brutal. Hand in hand with this is the way Tenney treated the colt under regular circumstances. He looked upon the colt as a cash cow that was brought into the world to use as a tool for making money. Time after time, when a situation called for the colt to get a break or be treated more kindly, Tenney just went for a quick fix and brought the colt over to run.

Q: Of the personalities connected to Swaps, whom did you find most interesting?

A: Rex Ellsworth and Mish Tenney were the most interesting characters connected with the story of Swaps. They are two of the most unique characters in the history of the sport, because they shook up the game to its very foundations. They were iconoclastic and cock-sure of themselves, but they were not brash and offensive. They drove their contemporaries crazy because of their success while using methods that were so extreme as to be thought of as inhumane in many instances. But Ellsworth was as close to being a genius as anybody I've run into in racing and Tenney was a brilliant trainer who had the rare knack of getting the most out of a horse.

Q: Who provided the most insight into the horse?

A: Dr. Jock Jocoy was very helpful in giving me insights into the character of Swaps, as well as Ellsworth and Tenney. Doc Jocoy worked as the ranch vet for Ellsworth when Swaps was a young horse. When Swaps was a three-year-old, Doc Jocoy left the ranch to work at the track, where one of his clients was Tenney. Doc Jocoy has a very good memory and he really loved Ellsworth, Tenney, and Swaps.