Noor reinterment scheduled at Old Friends

Having traveled cross-country from the Loma Rica Ranch in Grass Valley,

California, the body of deceased Hall of Fame champion *NOOR (*Nasrullah) will

be re-interred in Kentucky at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility

in Georgetown, on Wednesday.

Members of the press and fans are invited to attend the ceremony, which will

be held at 10 a.m. (EDT) at Old Friends' Dream Chase Farm, 1841 Paynes Depot

Road in Georgetown.

In attendance will be Michael Blowen, president and founder of Old Friends,

and Charlotte Farmer, the woman who led the effort to exhume Noor and bring his

remains to Kentucky.

Noor died in Grass Valley in 1974 at age 29 and was buried in the infield of

the old Loma Rica Ranch Racetrack, but the property is now in development for

residential and commercial use. He will be re-interred in a new cemetery for

Hall of Fame inductees near the entrance of Old Friends.

Noor was campaigned by owner-breeder Charles S. Howard (also the owner of

Seabiscuit) after the colt's three-year-old season in 1948. Prior to his

importation, Noor was a multiple stakes winner in England and ran third in both

the Epsom Derby and Eclipse S. in 1948.

Trained by Burley Parke and ridden by Johnny Longden, Noor was voted 1950

champion older male after winning four out of five head-to-head meetings with

Citation and defeating the then seven-year-old Assault in the Hollywood Gold

Cup. The victories made Noor the first horse to beat two Triple Crown winners.

In addition to the Gold Cup, Noor's other stakes wins in 1950 were the Santa

Anita H. and San Juan Capistrano H. at Santa Anita, the American H. at Hollywood

Park, and the Golden Gate H. and Forty-Niners H. at Golden Gate Fields. He

placed in four other stakes that season, including the Jockey Club Gold Cup and

Manhattan H. at Belmont Park.

Farmer raised nearly $8,000 to exhume Noor's remains and bring them to this

final resting place at Old Friends. Included with his remains will be soils from

the Santa Anita, Golden Gate, and Hollywood Park racetracks, all sites of Noor's

victories.

For more information, contact Old Friends at (502) 863-1775.