RACING’S NOBLE PRIZE : Respected but Not Renowned, Threewitt a Trainer for the Ages

In the age of million-dollar purses for thoroughbred races, stables of 80 or 90 horses, satellite wagering and trainers who seek to threaten Ronald Reagan’s status as the great communicator, there is 79-year-old trainer Noble Threewitt.

In a sport where trainers have made names for themselves within years after acquiring their licenses, Threewitt has somehow escaped the spotlight for more than six decades. It’s not that Threewitt hasn’t deserved the attention, he just hasn’t sought it.

You won’t hear Threewitt talking about his record nine consecutive victories at Tanforan in San Francisco in 1956 or his run of three trainer titles in a row at Hollywood Park from 1959 to 1961 or his current stable. And unless he’s asked, you’ll rarely hear Threewitt talk about himself.

“He’s quiet and doesn’t speak out a lot, and there wasn’t much press back in his days either,” said trainer Gene Cleveland, who has known Threewitt for 35 years. “There’s a lot of trainers out there like Noble who came from the bottom up. He’s done what he’s done, and he’s done it very quietly.”

You’ll find Threewitt, who doesn’t look a day over 60, on the Del Mar backstretch every morning at 4 with his old friend Charlie Whittingham. If he’s not on Del Mar’s grounds, he’s at Santa Anita or Hollywood Park.

In the 59 years since Threewitt acquired his license, he says the days he has spent away from the track could be counted on one hand. But as he nears his 80th birthday, Threewitt said the last thing on his mind is retiring.

“I wouldn’t know what to do,” he said. “I’m like Charlie Whittingham, I’ll stay here until they kick me out.”

And that’s not likely. Threewitt is still as well respected as anyone in the sport.

Though his winnings do not compare with the likes of the Whittingham, D. Wayne Lukas and Ron McAnally, Threewitt’s peers will tell you no one knows horses better.

“He’s a damn good horseman--the kind you don’t see around much anymore,” Cleveland said.

Said Whittingham: “You won’t find a better man around than Noble. He’s one of the few first-class horseman around. And he wins a lot more races than you think.”

Especially lately. Just last Week at Del Mar, Threewitt made a half-run at one of his records when he won four consecutive races before finishing third in a three-way photo with Days Gone By. In 13 starts, Threewitt has won five times (42%).

“I guess I’m enjoying a bit of a rebirth,” Threewitt said. “I just happen to have some horses. I don’t run that many horses these days unless they have a chance.”

Until this year, Threewitt’s chances of winning always seemed to diminish when he reached Del Mar. Ranked in the top 10 all time at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita, he is not among the top 20 at Del Mar.

“My horses always seem to be raced out by the time we get here,” said Threewitt, who has won just seven stakes at Del Mar compared to 14 at Hollywood Park.

But somehow you get the feeling Threewitt’s bad fortunes at Del Mar have never really bothered him much. Even during his streak of nine victories in a row, Threewitt refused to take any of the credit.

“It wasn’t anything I did,” he said. “So much of this business is luck and timing.”

The timing was never better for Threewitt than the spring of 1954, when he came up with a 3-year-old named Correlation. The California-bred colt also was the first horse Threewitt flew out of California, giving him his first $100,000 victory in the Florida Derby.

“I remember it rained all night in Florida the night before the race,” he said. “I was worried because the horse had never run in the rain. But it turned out he liked the mud a lot.”

After a subsequent victory in the Wood Memorial, Correlation was favored to win the Kentucky Derby but suffered a minor injury and finished fifth. Favored again in both the Preakness and the Belmont, he lost the former a photo and was fifth in the latter.

Injuries forced Correlation to retire within a year of the Belmont. It was the last time Threewitt would have another Derby-caliber horse.

The rider in all of Correlation’s races was Bill Shoemaker.

“When Shoemaker was riding, you knew if you didn’t have him, you had four or five lengths the worst of it,” he said. “He was really a credit to racing. There’s some good ones now, but no one will ever dominate like he did.”

Threewitt became a trainer after a brief and unsuccessful time as jockey in Kansas City. At the age of 18, he drove across country from his hometown of Benton, Ill., to Caliente race track in Tijuana in 1931. Almost by accident, he saddled his first winner--Crackerjack--at Caliente in 1931. The purse was a whopping $400.

“I wasn’t even really a trainer,” he said. “I was more of a track foreman. I really didn’t even have my license yet.”

After a couple years at Caliente, Threewitt went to Tanforan. Then in 1937, he was at Del Mar for its opening. He was also there for the openings of Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Golden Gate and Bay Meadows.

Threewitt said conditioning horses wasn’t any different in “the old days,” but winning races “was a lot easier.”

“Nobody had nearly as many horses as they do now,” he said. “It was a lot easier to be competitive. These days, there doesn’t seem to a limit on the number of horses they allow in a barn.”

This is one of the few things about the current state of horse racing that irks Threewitt.

“I don’t think there should be such large stalls,” he said. “It would be better for the tracks if there were limits on the number of horses. But then again, if I was on the other end of it, I might think differently.”

On the other end of it are people like Lukas, who sometimes has close to 100 horses running at any given time. But even though his philosophy and personality are completely opposite of Lukas, Threewitt does not begrudge him for anything he has done.

“He’s smart, a good talker and he’s the greatest promoter we’ve ever had,” Threewitt said. “Lukas goes on numbers of horses. I can’t afford to train that way. But nobody has ever advanced in this business the way he has. He really knows how to operate.”

Does Threewitt regret he was never more like Lukas?

“I’ve lived more of a low-key life,” he said. “There isn’t anything that I’d do differently. I’ve been treated well and any mistakes I’ve made, I’ve made myself.”

Though he’s soft-spoken, Threewitt has never been one to stay totally in the background. He is serving a ninth term as elected president of the California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn. (CHBPA), the organization that represents trainers and owners.

Joe Harper, president of Del Mar, has known Threewitt for more than 30 years and deals with him often on business involving the CHBPA.

“There’s not a whole lot of gratitude in it,” said Harper, whose mother once employed Threewitt as her personal horse trainer. “The trouble is, you are representing 500 people, and they all have different opinions. Noble does as good a job as I have ever seen in representing the trainers and owners.

“You’ll never find a more honest person and rugged individual. He isn’t an outspoken guy, but when he talks, he gets the job done. He says very few words, but they’re usually good words.”