Good Morning Dear Friends,
What a special time this is for our industry! This week the ‘bones’ of NOOR, a very famous racehorse, were moved to OLD FRIENDS in Kentucky for truly their final resting place.
NOOR resided at Loma Rica Ranch in Grass Valley, California…after retiring from his very successful racing career. He was a strong and magnificent thoroughbred who was famous for his racing achievements which included beating Citation. For years, he stood as the ‘Senior Senator’ in the stallion barn at Loma Rica. Upon his death, he was buried there.
Henry Freitas was the manager at Loma Rica during this time. MY JOHN later spent a great deal of time at this Ranch during the early part of his career….and adored Mr. Freitas. MY JOHN, to this day, considers HENRY to be his greatest MENTOR in the thoroughbred industry. He was an excellent and very practical horseman…and shared his knowledge, skills, and love for the horse with all who were blessed to be under his guidance and work with him closely.
NOOR was one of those horses.
As happens in today’s economic environment, this property has recently been sold. It is going to be redeveloped for commercial purposes. Enter…CHARLOTTE FARMER. She has worked endlessly during the last several months to have ‘NOOR’S REMAINS’ properly moved to a new resting place…one where his memory will live in dignity. She contacted our friend, Michael Blowen from OLD FRIENDS in Kentucky, and a plan was created.
Ms Farmer did all of her homework to be sure everything was done perfectly to protect NOOR. She contacted people who worked at the Ranch during the time NOOR was there and even called MY JOHN to see if he could help her with details. John was not there at that time…but knew Henry and how he might do certain things. The information proved to be helpful. They were able to find the exact place, size, and depth of Noor’s grave…and were able to move HIM proudly to OLD FRIENDS.
What is truly special about all of this…is that PEOPLE REALLY DO ÇARE. Without being asked, so often people step up and work with great passion to encourage and assist ‘the right thing to happen’.
For NOOR….the RIGHT THING HAPPENED!
With Love,
Hugs to All~(With great appreciation and love to Ms Farmer and all who helped her with this endeavor!)
Z
Trina Nagele
@Jodi—Welcome to Z’s site. As a fellow resident of California and one also interested in rescue, I hope you’ll e-mail me at trinambn@yahoo.com to discuss your thoughts on horse rescue in California.
@Jan Doyle—Hope to meet you at BCC 2012!
Trina Nagele
RIP, retired racehorse Mickey C, serving in his second career as a mount for the Chicago police. “He was like family…”
@Kimberly Potter—-Thanks for that link.
Shirley Nolan Al-mlaiti
WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY , ONE THAT TUGGED AT MY HEART…MAY ”NOOR” LIVE PEACEFULLY IN HIS RESTING PLACE…GOD BE WITH YOU ”NOOR” AND MS FARMER FOR MAKING SURE YOU HAVE FOREVER AFTER PEACE…THANK YOU ”ZENYATTA” FOR SHARING THIS STORY WITH US…LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU
Diana S
@Zenyatta and Dottie and Team Z: I wish there was a way to download and save this Hoofprint, links, comments and all to save forever. You are amazingly gracious and generous to have devoted today’s post to the final journey of such an incredible champion.
@Kip: The full-color video of Noor frolicking in his paddock was beyond words beautiful. What a magnificent horse! How I wish I was mature enough and prescient enough to be paying attention all the times my parents took me to HP and SA as a small girl. I may have seen him in person but I’ll never know.
@Noor: I will visit one day soon. RIP
diastu in tempe
Trina Nagele
@CollieMom—Welcome to posting! Did you see on #331 where I posted about my beautiful tri-color collie whom I nickname Zenny?
@Sunny Boyd and Terry Crow—Good ones!
Trina Nagele
@Susan in TN—Unless I’m very mistaken, we ALL enjoy your posts!
Trina Nagele
@Marty R—That’s a good question—maybe Kathy Kimber will post the inscription on Noor’s marker. And it’s nice to see you continuing to post!
@Kathy Kimber—How about it? Could you post that inscription for us?
Trina Nagele
TO ALL—I was just looking on Noor’s fb page to see if the inscription were posted there, and I saw a lovely comment from OUR DEAR CATHERINE UHER! I told her there that we are all waiting to hear from her here and hoping she is doing well.
@Catherine Uher—So glad to see you posting on fb!
Connie O.
What a beautiful thing to do-it brought tears to my eyes!Rest In Peace, Noor. And thank you “Z” and Dottie,for sharing the pictures with us.
Karen Gogue
Inscription on Noor’s headstone: Noor, a horse of royal breeding, now sleeps. His name echoes with sweet whispers down the long corridors of racing past. His winning spirit now shines in the sunlight once again as he holds court “Well Done”. Charlotte Farmer wrote that for Noor’s headstone at Old Friends.
Karen Gogue
Thank you Trina for the Peppermint Pal link..what a wonderful idea, so great that Tim Ice is doing this. Kudos to him and his wife!
Alexandra Bowdoin
@Everyone, Thank you for all of the wonderful responses regarding the great mare Beautiful Pleasure. It made me cry here at work this morning!! I love the people on this site!!
LauraJ
@Diana S, you can save the page one of two ways: You can go to File –> Save As, then save to a location on your computer. Alternatively, you can select the text (Edit –> Select All or Ctrl+A), copy it (Edit –> Copy or Ctrl+C). Then open a blank Word document and paste, then save. I would paste just the text because otherwise it takes forever, but that’s my personal reference.
Brenda S..
Good Morning Zenny, I hope you have a lovely restful day chatting with Tasty T and getting all your vitamins from that excellent Blue Grass. Enjoy the more pleasant weather and don’t forget to give each other a little beauty treatment.
Sunny Boyd
Good morning Zetty,
TGIF, :) :) ,
chuckle for the am:
Tranquilizers work only if you follow the advice on the bottle — keep away from children. Phyllis Diller
Have a great day :) :) :)
Sunny Boyd
PS
The inscription on Noor’s grave is very nice. Beautiful. :)
Marty R
@Karen Gogue and Judy Berube: Thank you for directions to the Facebok page for Noor and for posting the inscription on his headstone. Such beautiful words from the heart. Ms Farmer, well done!!
evy
Good Job, Charlotte Farmer, for a job well done!!!
Kimberly Potter
@Kari Bussell & Trina Nagele~ You’re welcome. I loved it that Mikey C was a retired racehorse. My heart broke as well for Officer Casasanto. His quote says it all, doesn’t it? We must always be thankful for the time we are allowed to spend with our special companions, no matter what kind of animal they are. Mikey C was very much loved right up to his very last breath. I wish it could be like that for ALL of them! Rest in Peace Mikey C…big beautiful boy.
@Kip Hannan~ What an emotionally moving and complete pleasure it was to watch *Noor kicking up his heels in his paddock. Thank you so much for uncovering that priceless piece of history and sharing it with the world.
@ALL~ Have a great Friday, a safe holiday weekend….and praying all the horses come home safe and sound…..
GO, Go, Go Havre De Grace~ Rock that track!!! (I have my DVR set so I can watch when I get home on Monday)
HUGZ to ALL
Zenyatta’s #1 fan in Montana!
Cynthia H.
“Well-done, good and faithful servant.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you so much, Dottie, for this beautiful and inspiring Diary entry. What Charlotte Farmer has accomplished rates a very special chapter amongst those who honor the history of the sport. She and Kathy Kimber are “road warriors” in the truest sense of the term! Noor’s journey to his final destination was fraught with drama right to the end, but his loyal companion did not waver in her commitment. He now rests in eternal peace in the most tranquil and bucolic of settings. His final race is over, and both he and Charlotte Farmer have been declared winners! Thunderous cheers and applause! I can just hear some heavenly Trevor Denman, shouting joyfully into a celestial microphone, “And here comes Noor, trailing clouds of dust!”
Cynthia H.
@Karen Gogue: Kudos to our “off-the-spot” reporter for her lyrically beautiful narrative of Noor’s epic journey!
@Kari: the world is more joyful, because you are in it. Thank you always for your wonderful links. 12th.
Sharon in Seattle
@Dawn, Kari and Susan in TN – blessings to you for your thoughts and prayers
Safe trip wishes to all competitors this weekend! GO Havre de Grace!
Delrene
Thank you Karen for the quotation on Noor’s headstone. The words are beautiful Ms. Farmer. You are Noor’s guardian angel right here on earth. What a video watching him romp and tussle in his paddock. I wish I had seen him in person. My Dad did I’m sure as he was a regular at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita. The police horse video and article opened the floodgates, sad but so inspirational at the same time. He had his partner with him when he passed and I’m sure that was such a comfort. and this morning after reading about Beautiful Pleasure’s passing from the dreaded laminitis, they opened up again. She lived up to her name for sure. A beautiful mare. I’m sure she is racing and chasing with the others over in the meadows passed Rainbow Bridge. No more pain and her feet have wings now.
HDG have a safe trip and no matter what we know you will give everything you got. I pray all horses and riders come back safely in all the races on both coasts.
KIMBERLY
Charlotte Farmer, you are a great woman!!!Noor will rest in peace…. Have a good weekend Zenny Girl!!!
Karen Gogue
Dottie
YOU’RE THE GREATEST!!
Sally (B)
Sweet Z; How grand a day is this that NOOR has a beautiful new resting place at Old Friends. Thanks to Charlotte Farmer and others to make this happen.
Take care Z and have a fun yet relaxing week-end. love with 2 kisses on your soft nose, one for baby z.
Maria K.
Great news! Thank you Charlotte Farmer for your hard work and dedication for Noor. Thanks Queen Z for sharing it and I love you.
Cara Ezzell
Thank you so much for posting this Z & Dottie!! Charlotte, the world needs more people like you!! What a wonderful thind to do!! I’m so glad that Noor is in a good place now. On Aug. 4th my best friend lost her favorite Arabian mare. It was so strang because this mare was as her owner said “ON top of her game!” I had grown to love her also; in fact I’ve known her longer than my own horse. I had ridden her about a month before this happened & she was on fire!! The only thing we can figure is that it might have been colic & they think she went pretty quick. All my friends horses are buried on her property. The day after, I went to pay my respects to DJB Mercy Merci & was quite upset when I 1st arrived. One of the idiot teenagers that works @ the stables upset me horribly. I asked her if Mercy was buried in the north pasture & she callously said “no, she’s in the big pasture, just follow the smell”. I’m sure her parents have something to do with her non-caring attitude. I placed one last apple on Mercy’s grave & then I noticed there was quite a bit of hair from her tail/mane strewn about. I gathered quite a bit of it up, took it home & washed it & then just made little keepsakes out of it. That is the only thing I have left of this amazing Arabian mare. Thank you for letting me share my story. R.I.P. Noor & Mercy Merci “princess”.
Karen Gogue
Geez, I am so sorry! The inscription above for Noor should read: spotlight once again. As he holds court for all who came to say “Well Done”.
Snoprinz
Noor can now rest in peace with dignity. THANK YOU Ms. Farmer and Mr. Blowen and all those who helped move the remains of Noor to OLD FRIENDS. Thanks once again Zen and Dottie for sharing this information.