| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1983
 |
| George with Stanley Rio's Inter-Dom spoils |
G B Noble's effort to top the trainers' list for the Dominion this season was a fitting reward for an association with trotting in this country which began in 1941 when he was appointed private trainer of the Roydon Lodge team. Of the record total this season of £28,361 15s won by Mr R A McKenzie, horses trained by Noble won around £23,000 of that amount.
Before coming to NZ, Noble had trained at Harold Park from 1918 to 1941. Besides being a horse trainer and reinsman, Noble is a qualified architect and a farrier of no mean ability. He had made a study of the horses foot and its footwear and it was this fact that weighed heavily in Noble's favour when in 1941 Mr J R McKenzie was seeking a private trainer.
Noble's early interest in trotting was through his father, a trainer, and it is more than 40 years since he drove his first winner, Elmo Chief, at Harold Park. In his early years of training at Roydon Lodge, Noble prepared the outstanding trotter Fantom, who won the Dominion Handicap at Addington and the Rowe Cup at Auckland twice.
One of Noble's best records is in the Oamaru Juvenile Stakes, a 2-year-old semi-classic, first run in 1941. He trained and drove Scottish Emperor to win the event in 1943 for Sir John and for the same owner won with Royal Minstrel in 1954. In 1956 he produced Golden Hero to win for Mr R A McKenzie and was successful for him again with Jar Ar in 1960. Two years later he drove Thunderboy to win the race at odds of more than 70 to 1.
With La Mignon (1954) and Golden Hero (1956), Noble won the NZ Sapling Stakes, driving both himself.
After the death of Sir John, Noble continued to train the Roydon Lodge team for Mr R A McKenzie. The establishment has produced some good winners, including two of the best mares to have raced in NZ, Arania and Samantha. Arania won nine races and £8960 in NZ. Her successes included the NZ Oaks, Dunedin Festival Cup and two heats of the 1961 Inter-Dominion series at Addington. She then went to America, where she ran a 1.57 mile against time - the third fastest of all time for a mare and just outside the world record time for a mare of 1.56¾, held jointly by Rosalind(T) and Her Ladyship(P). Arania did not race a great deal in the United States, but won six races and was 11 times placed for $45,400. Samantha, who, like Arania, was by U Scott, took a mile record of 2.01 4/5. She won 15 races, including the Wellington Cup twice, and £14,910.
As a driver, Noble has been associated with many of the winners he has trained, and has also met with success in the odd outside drive. He has more than 250 winning drives to his credit. This season he has driven 25 winners, his best total ever, placing him eighth on the drivers list. Asked who was the best horse he ever drove, Noble unhesitatingly plumped for Light Brigade, and one of his greatest earlier thrills in the Dominion was when he drove Bronze Eagle (trained by R B Berry), to win the NZ Cup in 1944.
NZ Trotting Calendar 14Jul65
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George Noble, one of NZ's most capable and respected trainers over the past 40 years, died in Christchurch last Thursday at the age of 85 after a brief illness.
During a career which commenced in New Zealand in 1941, the former Australian trained and drove some of NZ's greatest pacers and trotters to win here, in Australia and in the United States. He was leading trainer in New Zealand on two occasions.
George, or "G B" as he was known to his great number of friends, was born in New South Wales, the son of a farmer who also raced standardbreds. George received his early education with the family horses and drove his first winner at the age of 18. However, he decided to follow a career as an architect and did so until the depression in 1930. He then decided to return to the world of harness racing, and in one of the toughest periods of Australian trotting, made a success of his new career.
He was among the top trainers in New South Wales when the late Sir John McKenzie chose him to take over the training and stud management at Roydon Lodge in Yaldhurst. It was a partnership which was to prove highly successful, as a string of champion racehorses went forth in the McKenzie colours to win many of the country's top races. Horses such as Red Emperor, Flight Command, Commander Scott, Royal Minstrel, La Mignon, Highland Air, Slipstream and Highland Kilt saw J R McKenzie head the owners' list on three occasions and following his death in August 1955, the success continued as his son Roy headed the owners' list on seven successive occasions. Scotch Paree, Golden Hero, Garcon Dór, General Frost, Valencia, Bonheur, Adioway, Jay Ar, Heatherloch, Samantha, Bewitched, Arania, Garcon Roux, Roydon Roux and Hurrania continued to keep George Noble and Roy McKenzie to the forefront.
When Roy decided to expand Roydon Lodge's stud activities and transferred the stud and training operation to Templeton in 1970, George Noble remained at the Yaldhurst property he had operated from so successfully. It was from here that George performed one of the training feats which will probably go unequalled in NZ harness racing history. In November 1976, he turned out the Australian-bred 4-year-old Stanley Rio to win the NZ Cup, took him to Auckland to win the NZ Messenger Championship in March 1977, the across the Tasman to win the Inter-Dominion Grand Final at Albion Park. Stanley Rio is the only 4-year-old ever to win such a demanding treble, and only a trainer of George's expertise could have programmed it. He raced the Tasmanian-bred pacer in partnership with his son John and Wayne Francis. The same year, he trained Rustic Zephyr to win the NZ Derby at Addington and was justly named 'Racing Personality of the Year' by the NZ Racing Writers' Association.
Few major NZ races escaped George Noble in his long and successful career, but he also made his mark in international competition. He won the Inter-Dominion Grand Final twice, deadheating in the 1965 event at Forbury Park (with Robin Dundee) with Roy McKenzie's Jay Ar whom he drove himself, then winning the 1977 event with Stanley Rio. He won the NZ Cup with Stanley Rio (1976), the Auckland Cup twice with Highland Air (1957) and Garcon Roux (1971), the Sapling Stakes twice with La Mignon (1954) and Golden Hero (1956), the Rowe Cup with Fantom (1943 & 1944), the NZ Juvenile Championship with General Frost (1968), the NZ Messenger with Stanley Rio (1977), the Great Northern Derby with Garcon Roux (1968) and Roydon Roux (1971), the Dominion Handicap with Fantom (1945), the NZ Derby with Royal Minstrel (1954) and Rustic Zephyr (1976), the NZ Trotting Stakes with Highland Kilt (1950), the NZ Oaks with Arania (1959), Bonnie Frost (1969)and Hurrania (1974), the NZ Futurity Stakes with General Frost (1968), Bonnie Frost (1970), Roydon Roux (1971) and Fabriani (1975), the NZ Sires' Produce with Garcon Roux (1968), the Timaru Nursery Stakes with Meadowmac (1963) and Garcon Roux (1968), the North Island Oaks with Bonnie Frost (1970), the NZ Golden Slipper Stakes with General Frost (1967) and Roydon Roux (1970), the Wellington Cup with Samantha (1962 & 1963).
George also campaigned successfully in Australia. He won the NSW Southern Cross Stakes at Harold Park in 1970 with Bonnie Frost and again in 1976 with Stanley Rio when the race was renamed the Prince Stakes, won the NSW Oaks - Victoria Oaks double with Bonnie Frost in 1970, the same year she took out the J L Raith Memorial at Harold Park, and won the NSW Derby and the R C Simpson Sprint at Harold Park in 1969.
Under his guidance, Garcon Roux became the first 3-year-old ever to better 2:00 in New Zealand when he time-trialled at Hutt Park in 1:59.6 while, when campaigned in the United States, his champion mare Arania narrowly missed becoming the then fastest mare in the world when she time-trialled in 1:57 at Lexington when driven by Bill Houghton. Only Her Ladyship (1:56 3/4), Dotties Pick (1:56.8) and the trotter Rosalind (1:56 3/4) had gone faster at the time.
Arania, one of NZ's best mares, was narrowly beaten in the sensational finish to the 1961 Inter-Dominion Grand Final, which saw Massacre, False Step and Arania locked together at the post. Arania and False Step then went to the United States for the 1961 International Series at Yonkers, and, though she performed dissappointingly during the series, she was to win at Roosevelt, and George also drove his Inter-Dominion winner Jay Ar to win at Santa Anita, California, in 2:01 and Garcon Dór to win on the same track in 1:59.
As a trainer, George Noble may have been equalled by few, but never bettered, and he earned the respect of everyone in the industry for his willingness to help others. He was, in every respect, a 'Gentleman' and harness racing is the poorer for his passing.
Credit: Tony Williams writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 28Jun83