Phar Lap Biography

Decades after his death, Phar Lap remains Australia’s most famous racehorse: an ungainly chestnut gelding whose great stamina helped him win 37 of his 51 races between 1929 and 1932. Phar Lap was born in New Zealand and purchased for the bargain price of 160 pounds by trainer Harry Telford and American owner David Davis in 1927. The horse repaid them by winning over 66,000 pounds in purse money during his career. Phar Lap was the favorite in the prestigious Melbourne Cup race three times, winning in 1930 and becoming a national hero in the process. After the 1931 Cup he was shipped to America to face new competition for bigger stakes. He won his first race, at Agua Calienti in Mexico, but never raced again: in April of 1932 he died suddenly at a ranch in California. An autopsy indicated gastric trouble, but the precise cause has never been perfectly clear; many Australians believed the rumor that Phar Lap had been poisoned by enemies in the American racing industry. A scientific study in 2008 indicated that Phar Lap had indeed died of arsenic poison, though it was unclear whether the overdose had been malicious or accidental. After Phar Lap’s death, his heart was found to weigh 6.2 kilograms (about 14 pounds) — roughly 50% larger than a typical racehorse’s heart. The champion’s hide was stuffed and returned to the National Museum in Melbourne, where he has remained a popular exhibit for decades.