In Noor: A Champion Thoroughbred’s Unlikely Journey from California to Kentucky, award-winning turf writer Milton C. Toby recounts the story of Noor, an Irish-bred import which became a worthy successor to Seabiscuit for owner Charles S. Howard. Noor defeated Triple Crown winner Citation four times in 1950, setting three world records in the process, and he probably should have been voted Horse of the Year.
Noor by Milton C. Toby
California racing fan Charlotte Farmer raised money, recruited archaeologists and engineered a daunting cross-country move of Noor's remains from his burial site in California to Old Friends in Kentucky.
© 2012 by Milton C. Toby
Often dismissed as Howard’s other champion, Noor never managed to outrun the enormous shadow of Seabiscuit. He lost his most vocal supporter when Howard died midway through the season, about the time that the Korean War was capturing most of the headlines. It didn’t help that Noor raced mainly in California, a state which the Eastern racing establishment still considered a backwater.
Noor died in 1974 after a mediocre career as a stallion. Buried in an unmarked grave at a Northern California training track, he quickly vanished from racing’s collective consciousness. Hardly anyone gave Noor a thought for more than a quarter-century, not until a proposed development project threatened the horse’s grave. Noor needed an advocate—and a better press agent than he had in 1950—and he found both in California racing fan Charlotte Farmer.
She raised money, recruited archaeologists and other volunteers, and during summer of 2011 engineered a daunting cross-country move of Noor’s remains from his burial site in California to Old Friends, a popular Thoroughbred retirement farm near Georgetown, Kentucky. Noor: A Champion Thoroughbred’s Unlikely Journey from California to Kentucky artfully mixes the story of a magical year from racing’s golden era with one woman’s inspiring journey to preserve the memory of a long-forgotten champion.
Milt’s previous book, Dancer’s Image: The Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby, won the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for the best book about Thoroughbred racing published in 2011 and an American Horse Publications Editorial award as the best equine book of the year.
Both books were published by The History Press in Charleston, South Carolina. Copies can be purchased from the publisher, at bookstores, and at Amazon.com. Signed copies of Noor also are available at the author’s website www.miltonctoby.com and at Old Friends, which will receive a portion of the proceeds.