Beryl and Noble Threewitt were popular at California racetracks.
Racing Loses Noble Threewitt
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OBLE THREEWITT, WHO CARED passionately for horses and the people who worked with them, died in September 2010 at age 99, two months after the death of his wife of 77 years, Beryl. A Thoroughbred trainer from 1932 until his retirement in 2007, Threewitt won the Wood Memorial and Florida Derby with Correlation, the Swaps and San Rafael Stakes with Devoted Brass, the California Derby with Cuzwuzwrong, and the San Carlos Handicap with Debonaire Junior. His other stakes winners include Old Topper, Theresa’s Tizzy, Cerise Reine, Hairless Heiress, and Hula Blaze. King of Cricket, a sprinter, set track records at four California tracks during the 1970s for Threewitt. The venerable conditioner was witness to plenty of racing history. He was at Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana when Australian champion Phar Lap won the Agua Caliente Handicap in 1932. He attended the inaugurals of Santa Anita Park in 1934, Bay Meadows the same year, Del Mar in 1938, Hollywood Park in 1938, and Golden Gate Fields in 1941.
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Although he was known to be one of the earliest arrivals in the stable area each day, Threewitt did not spend his whole time with the horses. Vitally concerned with the welfare of backstretch workers, he served many years as president of the California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and as a national vice president of the HBPA. He also was president of the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation, of which he was the leading organizer. Its purpose was—and is—to provide broad health and welfare services for anyone who works on the backstretch. Its facility at Santa Anita, which is also its headquarters, is named in his honor. (See the article about the CTHF on page 23.) Noble and Beryl Threewitt were popular figures at the tracks and knew everyone. “I used to tell people that one of the wonderful things about this business is that you meet people from all walks of life,” Threewitt said in an interview. Certainly one of those was actress Mae West, whom Threewitt met during the filming of the 1935 movie “Goin’ to Town,” in which Noble played a jockey. n OAK TREE RACING ASSOCIATION