You see him at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. A residential street is named after him in Bossley Park, Sydney, Australia, and even in Cupertino, California. There is also a grove named after him in Trentham, Wellington, New Zealand, near the Trentham Racecourse.
Oh, and there's that $500,000 life-sized bronze memorial near his birthplace at Timaru.
That's a lot of reference for a horse. But Phar Lap is more than just a horse - he is the Australian Wonder Horse.
Phar Lap's story is similar to a lot of battler stories starting from the bottom and winning it all.
He was sired by Night Raid who did not win any of his six starts in England, though he finished third in a Nursery Selling Plate. In Australia Night Raid had 29 starts – winning only once and a dead heat. Phar Lap's dam, Entreaty, was unplaced in her only race start.
Phar Lap was described as gangly, his face was covered in warts and he had an awkward gait. His first few races were unimpressive. In his maiden race, he was dead last. He didn't even placed in his next three races.
He was shelved for a couple of months. On April 27, 1929, Phar Lap won the Maiden Juvenile Handicap at Rosehill. He was ridden by Jack Baker of Armidale, a 17-year-old apprentice then.
On September 14, 1929, Phar Lap took second in the Chelmsford Stakes at Randwick. Seven days later, he won the Rosehill Guineas by three lengths!
Phar Lap was moving up in class and racing fans are starting to notice.
As a three year old, Phar Lap won 13 times, placed second once, and ran third twice. As a four year old, he won 14 times, placed second twice. As a five year old, he won 9 times. He may have placed 8th at the Melbourne Cup then, but he was carrying 10st 10 lb.
Phar Lap's success took him from the land down under to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico where he won the 1 1⁄4 M Agua Caliente Handicap in 2:02.80. At that time, the Agua Caliente Handicap had the biggest prize money in North America.
Phar Lap's rise to fame was truly a rags to riches story. It didn't have a fairy tale ending, but he sure gave a lot of racing fans a lot to cheer on.
Phar Lap won a total of 37 races, finished second 3 times and finished third twice. He also had 9 unplaced finishes in a monumental 4-year career that featured 51 starts.
Some of his notable wins include:
Here are some of Phar Lap's records:
Here are some interesting facts on Phar Lap:
As immensely popular as Phar Lap was during his racing days, his tragic death was shrouded in even bigger controversy.
After winning the Agua Caliente Handicap in Mexico, Phar Lap was moved to a private ranch near Menlo Park in Atherton, California, United States. On the morning of April 5, 1932, Tommy Woodcock (Phar Lap's strapper for his North American visit) found him in his stall in severe pain and with a high temperature.
In a just a few hours, Phar Lap hemorrhaged to death. A necropsy revealed that he has inflammation in his stomach and intestines. This led many to believe that he had been deliberately poisoned. Many pointed their fingers to North American gangsters / mobs who were afraid that Phar Lap would disrupt their illicit racing operations.
Others theorized that Phar Lap may have died due accidental poisoning from lead insecticide or may have had an undiagnosed stomach condition.
In 2000, equine specialists studying Phar Lap's necropsies concluded that he most likely died of duodenitis-proximal jejunitis, an acute bacterial gastroenteritis.
However, in 2006, Australian Synchrotron Research scientists concluded Phar Lap was indeed poisoned with a large, single dose of arsenic, 30-40 hours before his death.
But Australian veterinarian Percy Sykes countered that deliberate poisoning couldn't be the cause of Phar Lap's death as "in those days, arsenic was quite a common tonic, usually given in the form of a solution. It was so common that I'd reckon 90% of the horses had arsenic in their system."
Debates, conspiracy theories and even a dash of mystery continue to surround Phar Lap's death to this day. We may never really get to the bottom of it, just like in Amelia Earhart's or Elvis Presley's death.
Bet on New Zealand sports now.