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In the 1930s, a New Zealand-born horse called Phar Lap won the hearts of Australians and became one of our most loved and enduring icons.
Curator’s notes
Phar Lap was one of the greatest ever racehorses. Bred in New Zealand, he did all his racing in Australia, except for one race in the United States.
The name Phar Lap comes from a Zhuang (southern Chinese) and Thai word meaning ‘lightning’.
Phar Lap was initially a failure as a racehorse, losing his first four races. However, in his four-year career, Phar Lap won 37 of the 51 races in which he was entered, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup. He won 32 of his last 35 races. In the three races which he did not win, he ran second on two occasions, beaten by a short head and a neck, and in the 1931 Melbourne Cup he finished 8th when carrying 10 stone 10 pounds (68 kilograms).
In 1932 Phar Lap was taken to the United States, where prize money was far greater than in Australia. He won his only start, in the Agua Caliente handicap in California, and then became ill. The horse’s trainer found him in severe pain, carrying a high temperature. Within a few hours, Phar Lap haemorrhaged to death. Much speculation ensued, and when an autopsy revealed that the horse’s stomach and intestines were inflamed, many believed the horse had been deliberately poisoned.
There have been several theories offered over the years to explain his death, including accidental poisoning from lead insecticide and a stomach condition. In the most recent theory in 2000, equine specialists studying the two autopsies concluded that Phar Lap probably died of duodenitis-proximal jejunitis, an acute bacterial gastroenteritis. It was not until the 1980s that the infection had been formally identified.
When news of Phar Lap’s death reached Australia thousands grieved.
Phar Lap’s remains are today found in three significant cultural institutions. A New York City taxidermist prepared his hide, which was sent to the Melbourne Museum for display. Phar Lap’s heart was remarkable for its size, weighing some 6.2 kilograms, compared with a normal horse’s heart at 3.2 kilograms. His heart was donated to the Institute of Anatomy in Canberra and is on display at the National Museum of Canberra. His skeleton can be found at the Te Papa New Zealand National Museum in Wellington.
Phar Lap has been included as one of the five inaugural horse inductees into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, alongside the other turf immortals Carbine, Tulloch, Bernborough and Kingston Town.
