At 82, He Again Can Reach for Brass Ring

He is 82 and he has this 3-year-old.

A man can wait and wait and wait for the right little bundle of joy to come along, but very few men have been waiting as long and as patiently as Noble Threewitt. One might go so far as to say that Threewitt has been pacing the futurity ward, expectantly awaiting the arrival of a million-dollar baby so that he can finally pass out some cigars.

And now, who should show up on the gentleman’s doorstep but Devoted Brass, a goofy but irresistible gelding, the laziest beast in the barn, an animal whose previous lodging in Calgary led to his trainer’s identification of him as: “The Little Horse From the Prairie.” Once this thoroughly unpredictable thoroughbred breaks from the gate in today’s $200,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, where he will stop, nobody knows.

“He won’t train right,” Threewitt said. “He won’t do anything. He’s the worst work horse I’ve ever seen. I jokingly tell the owner that the way this horse trains, he should be running in the last race of the day for $10,000.”

Maybe he should be.

Or maybe this pony will keep playing possum all the way to Louisville.

Nearly 40 calendars have been pulled from the shed door since the indomitable Mr. Threewitt has trained a horse that has run in the Kentucky Derby. Back in 1954, he saddled a colt named Correlation that won so impressively in the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial that eventually it went to Churchill Downs as the favorite, only to pop a splint and finish fifth.

Although Correlation did get his second wind in time to finish second in the Preakness, and although Threewitt did endure to become one of California’s winningest trainers, he never did get to throw a saddle over another Kentucky Derby budding stud. He thought he might have one many years later, but Threewitt parked it back in the stable once he knew that no matter how fast the horse ran, he might never catch Seattle Slew.

How long has he been longing for a Derby winner? How long is long, anyway? It so happens that Threewitt’s first victory at Santa Anita occurred on the track’s fifth day of operation, Dec. 29, 1934. This is a man who took out a trainer’s license in 1931 and took part in the inaugural meetings at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar.

We speak here of a man who could call Charlie Whittingham “Sonny.” Threewitt happens to be two years older than Whittingham, and is every bit as much a thread of the fabric of California racing.

“Why did I end up out here?” he asks rhetorically. “Because I was racing for $400 purses, and I found out the minimum here was $800.”

As a kid in rural Benton, Ill., the local fairgrounds beckoned. Practically every town had one. Threewitt fondly remembers the time he spent at DuQuoin, former home of the Hambletonian, following the harness rigs. He also attended Benton High, more than 40 years before athletic excitement peaked in that little town with the presence of Doug Collins, a basketball hero known for Pete Maravich-like ballhandling wizardry.

Threewitt laughs and says: “I still tell people today that there’s a sign at the Benton city limits that reads: ‘Home of Doug Collins and Noble Threewitt.’ ”

There might be if this Kentucky Derby turns out to be a real-life fairy tale. Everything is taking shape. Eddie Delahoussaye, who recently rode his 5,000th winner, has taken over as Devoted Brass’ jockey. Lazy or not, the horse is in the hands of “the greatest come-from-behind rider in racing,” in Threewitt’s opinion, “and, believe me, this is a come-from-behind horse.”

During a six-furlong race at Stampede Park in Calgary, lazy old Devoted Brass came from seventh place to win by eighth lengths. Then, running 10th and last in a 1 1/16-mile juvenile race, he hit the accelerator and won by 3 1/4 lengths.

Martin Pedroza rode the little horse from the prairie Feb. 7 in his first Santa Anita race. At odds of 32-1, he closed strongly in the San Vicente Breeders’ Cup Stakes and ran third.

And, with Kent Desormeaux straddling him Feb. 27 in the $150,000 San Rafael Stakes, there he was again, tortoise among the hares, running last among six horses, eating the dust of a horse called Union City that was 12 lengths in front.

Devoted Brass won by half a length.

The owner, Canadian businessman Don Jordens, must wonder whether his horse needs a whip or a nap. Threewitt has worked Devoted Brass with swift company and slow company and says nothing matters--donkeys move faster. But once the race gets going, the horse gets going.

All the way to Louisville, maybe.

“Or maybe I’m getting carried away,” Threewitt says.

For the ride of his life?