Roxann Freitas remembers the fields, full of 3-foot-tall golden grasses, swaying in the sun with a warm summer breeze.

She remembers all the cars idling along the roadside, as folks stopped to steal a look at the incredible creatures — the mother mares and their curious colts — grazing on grasses grown green at Loma Rica Ranch.

And there's absolutely no doubt she'll never forget Noor.

“He was huge!” said Freitas, who grew up on the grounds of Loma Rica from the age of four.

“A very large animal. I'm barely 5 feet tall. Standing next to him was like standing next to a mountain.”

At 17 hands high — or 5 feet, 6 inches from hoof to shoulder — the retired-to-stud Noor was certainly the big man on campus at Loma Rica Ranch in Grass Valley.

A world-record breaking, Hall-of-Fame stallion, Noor was the only horse to twice beat the great Citation, a Triple Crown winner, in 1950.

In fact, out of five head-to-head sprints with Citation, Noor took four — in a row. Owned by Charles Howard, also the owner of the famed Seabiscuit, led one horse-racing writer to dub Noor as Howard's “forgotten champion.”

As of now, though not for long, Noor's final resting place is the infield of the racetrack at Loma Rica Ranch.

He died there in 1974 at age 29.

Charlotte Farmer of Redding, whose passion for the horse appears to be unparalleled, says she plans to soon have Noor's remains exhumed, in advance of housing-development construction at Loma Rica, and moved to the bluegrass state of Kentucky.

“I think it's a good idea, because he'll be honored with other horses,” said Freitas, whose father, Henry, ran Loma Rica Ranch. “Horse racing in California isn't what it used to be.

“I'm OK with it, because I know it's still a big deal back there (in Kentucky).”

Noor's No. 1 fan

Charlotte Farmer has appeared before both the Grass Valley City Council and Planning Commission, talking about the treatment of Noor's remains in the face of the pending development project at the Loma Rica Ranch property.

As an advocate, she's studied up on the horse to a level few others have likely delved. Over the course of three years, she said she's squinted her way through more than 700 articles, mostly on microfilm. And she's likely created “one of the largest repositories on Noor” during the process.

“My purpose was to learn about Noor and it just grew and took on its own direction,” she said. “Ask me anything about the boy.”

Farmer had hoped for a prominent monument standing proudly over the Loma Rica project, honoring the horse in a worthy manner. But as project plans shifted, the economy tightened and the project changed, Farmer worked to find a place where horse-racing fans would celebrate the champion. And she found him a new home at Old Friends Equine, a retirement facility for thoroughbreds in Georgetown, Ky.

Farmer said Noor, who also became the first to beat two Triple Crown champions, Citation and Assault, belongs in the Bluegrass State where fans of the thoroughbred racing world will be able to pay their respects.

“He's going to a place where people can go visit him, where people who live and breathe horse racing can go and see him,” Farmer told The Union Wednesday, adding she has received approval from Loma Rica Ranch project developer Steve Garrett of Castle Companies in San Ramon, as well as with the great-great-grandson of Howard, Noor's owner.

“In Grass Valley, I'm sorry, but even when they hear of Noor, there's not that great of interest,” Farmer said. “This is nothing against Grass Valley. The people there are very gracious.

“He just belongs in the world of thoroughbred races and that's Kentucky.”

‘A tearful moment'

Dr. Jon Peek, a Grass Valley veterinarian, had his first brush with Noor, the local legend, before Peek had even become a “local” in western Nevada County, let alone when he tended to thoroughbreds at Loma Rica.

“I was at the L.A. County Fair as a kid and there was game where you did something to make the horses race,” Peek said. “And the horses were Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Assault and Noor.

“And it seemed like with that particular game, Seabiscuit would usually win.”

Starting as a local vet in '67, Peek became quick friends with folks around town. That was especially true at Loma Rica Ranch, where he enjoyed not only the company of his good friend Henry Freitas, but also the cooking of his wife, Edith.

“I used to plan my visits near dinner time because she's such a good cook,” Peek said. “Henry was an exceptional horseman. At one time, as far as I'm concerned, he was the most complete horseman in the state of California.

“He was a cowboy, a jockey, a polo player, a trainer ... he rode the Tevis Cup. Anything you could do with horses, Henry had done it and was good at it.”

It was with Freitas and his friend John Cohee that Peek joined the county sheriff's mounted posse, which involved riding in parades more often than search-and-rescue missions. And it was with the same two men standing at his side that Peek put champion Noor down.

Suffice to say, it's a moment he won't soon forget.

“I have vivid memories,” Peek said. “You're interviewing the executioner, you know.”

“He was in incredible condition, just in wonderful shape. He had to be put to sleep because he was starting to have seizures. But he just glowed. He was a beautiful horse.”

All these years later, 37 of them, Peek had no problem identifying the very spot where he euthanized Noor by injection and remains buried today.

“It was indeed a tearful moment for all of us,” Peek said. “And now Henry and John are gone, too.”

Peek said Farmer's project to move Noor's remains across the country, in the end, makes sense.

“He didn't have that popularity. He hadn't been a Triple Crown winner and all those things,” he said. “He was ignored or forgotten early.”

The project

Noor is now neither ignored nor forgotten. Farmer's project, for which she is attempting to raise $5,000, is not unprecedented, but almost.

She said the only time she's aware of a champion horse being moved to a new burial site was when the Commonwealth of Kentucky moved the remains of Man o' War, from Faraway Farms to beneath a larger-than-life statute at Kentucky Horse Park in 1976.

“This is historic,” Farmer said. “That's especially true with the level of horse you're talking about. He's a Hall-of-Fame horse. He's 69th in the top 100 thoroughbreds in the 20th century.

Farmer is not sure what will be found when they attempt to unearth Noor's remains. But consider Peek's interest to also be piqued.

“I want to see what they find after all these years,” he said.

Farmer said Jeff Hansen of Hansen Bros. will excavate the burial site for the cost of the diesel gas alone. The bulk of the project's cost will be incurred in shipping the remains back east.

She hopes to have the money raised by the end of July and the work to begin within the last two weeks of August.

And, she added, it will all be well worth it when horse-racing fans are one day paying their respects.

“There will be a headstone,” she said. “People will come to see Noor, as well as several other horses there at Old Equine. He will rest peacefully there and he'll be well taken care of.”

Looking back, forward

Roxann Freitas would rather Noor be remembered right where he's at, with the kind of tribute Farmer first envisioned as part of a project that respects the history of Loma Rica Ranch, which she'll always consider home.

"It would have been nice if they preserved the ranch and put a big monument up there, but I don't know what they're going to do,” Freitas said.

The pending project currently calls for 700 residences; at one point as many as 2,000 were planned in the Loma Rica development. A projected 54,000 square feet will also be devoted to retail, business and commercial uses.

The 10-acre organic farm, developed under Carville Sierra management will remain intact and the historic horse barns will be preserved.

About 70 percent of the property -- 314 acres -- will be reserved for open space, including 5 miles of trails and paths and a total of 12.5 acres of parks.

Freitas said she would have liked to see the history of the ranch celebrated, perhaps with a winery established there to help draw tourists who could learn about Noor and the history of Loma Rica Ranch.

At one time, developers had planned to build a horse park centered around the existing half-mile track off Idaho-Maryland Road. The project called for a solar-powered 60-stall boarding facility, with large indoor and outdoor areas. But those plans are gone.

“It's good (Noor) will be moved, because I just don't think a lot of people will go up and look at him (at Loma Rica Ranch),” Freitas said. “The whole thing is a sad scenario. I wish it was still a ranch and it isn't anymore.

“It was absolutely gorgeous. It's my home. I moved there when I was four and didn't leave till I was 40. It's hard for me to even drive by it now. They could have done so much more with it.”

To contact City Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail bhamilton@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4249.