When big, rangy, almost coal-black Noor arrived in the U.S. two years ago, most of the cards were stacked against him. The Irish-bred three-year-old had to get used to running on dirt tracks, instead of the springy turf he raced over in England when he finished third in the Epsom Derby. Besides that, the colt had a bad ankle, which kept him on the shelf for months.
This December, veteran Jockey Johnny Longden began riding Noor, and talking him up as the horse to beat in the $100,000-added Santa Anita Handicap. Longden said...
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