Victor Bahna publishes debut novel 'Heliacal Star'

Victor Bahna is a tech executive, a family man and a lover of horse racing — and the Malverne native surprised even himself when he recently added “published author” to that list.

“It only took me 59 years to get there,” Bahna said with a laugh.

Bahna’s debut novel, “Heliacal Star,” was released by Bahna’s publishing company, Bahna Publishing, on July 29. The suspense novel already has glowing reviews from the likes of the Seattle Book Review, which gave it five stars. The story follows a former bookie named Matt, and a horse trainer, Kristine, as they confront Matt’s past in organized crime.

The story will hit particularly close to home — literally — for residents of Malverne and Elmont, because it grew out of Bahna’s love for the races at Belmont. When he was a teenager, Bahna and his friends made their way to the racetrack one day, and Bahna was immediately hooked.

“Just the excitement of the race itself,” Bahna, who now lives in Washington, said. “I had not experienced anything like that before.”

He would sometimes bet on the races — typically in the $2 to $4 range, he said — but it wasn’t just the betting that made the races so engaging. The cheering of the crowd electrified the air.

“There’s nothing that’s predetermined,” Bahna said. “That’s also just part of the excitement. There’s the possibility you can win, but you have a stake in the game even if you’re a $2 bettor.”

And then there were the horses themselves.

“I started appreciating just the elegance, the grace, the beauty of horses,” Bahna said. “I often go just to watch them run. It’s just so amazing to hear and watch them in action.”

But there’s a dark side to horse racing as well — one that Bahna hopes his book will shed a little more light on.

After horses’ racing careers are over, some end up in the breeding industry; others become show horses. And others find themselves locked in dark trailers headed to Canada or Mexico, where they will be slaughtered and their meat sold in other countries.

When Bahna decided in 2017 to write a book, he discovered that more than 100,000 horses were being slaughtered every year in Canada and Mexico combined — though that total was down from 300,000 two decades earlier. Many were former racehorses.

“I want to bring a little more awareness to that part of the industry, because no one really talks about this much,” Bahna said. “So I thought this was an opportunity for me to perhaps shed light on this a little bit. But I wanted to do it in a way where I wasn’t preaching, and I wasn’t sermonizing. I just wanted to lay out a story-like framework, and that really was the starting point.”

A frightening trip to a slaughterhouse could have been the fate of a spunky, lovable, 18-year-old former racehorse named Rooster City. Instead, he is living his best life on a farm in Washington thanks to Bahna.

After Rooster City, then age 7, pulled a leg muscle during his racing career, he could have been cast aside like so many other thoroughbreds. Instead, Bahna, who owned him, wanted to do the right thing. Now Rooster City enjoys his days on the farm, ridden frequently by Bahna.

“He’s Mr. Personality,” Bahna said fondly. “He’s sassy, he’s playful. He’s a very determined horse.”

Rooster City’s light could have been prematurely extinguished had he been in the hands of a less caring owner. And unfortunately, that continues to be the fate of thousands of horses each year.

But the good news is that those numbers continue to decline. Last year, only 20,000 or so horses met their end in slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico, thanks to a drop in overseas demand for horsemeat, racetracks providing improved aftercare for horses, and more social media awareness. More horses than every before are enjoying second careers after their racing days, whether as show and dressage horses, therapy horses for people with special needs, or just lifelong companions on a farm.

“Hopefully,” Bahna said of slaughterhouse deaths, “we get that number down to zero soon.”

“Heliacal Star” is available on Amazon, at tinyurl.com/HeliacalStar.