Phar Lap - Farewell To You

This song is a tribute to Phar Lap.

http://malcolm.screensound.gov.au/olcmedia/audio/00015975.mp3

History of Phar Lap

Sydney trainer Harry Telford saw potential in an ungainly colt from New Zealand and, despite criticism for his choice from his peers, he took the horse on. Telford gave the horse the mane Phar Lap, a Thai phrase for 'lightening' and a testimony to his faith in the horse. Phar Lap's first win came in at Rosehill in 1929 in the Maiden Handicap Juvenile. A string of victories followed in late 1929 and early 1930.
The horse became known as the 'Red Terror', affectionately by the thousands of unemployed given a morale boost during the heartbreaking depression, and apprehensively by the bookmakers. Phar Lap's impressive record continued to grow, the illegal bookmakers suffering with each win. On an early spring morning in 1930, shots were fired at the magnificent horse. He was uninjured and went on, that day, to win the Melbourne Stakes.
Phar Laps rise to the top was complete with his win in the 1930 Melbourne Cup, capturing the hearts of both racing fans and the Australian public alike. Telford's critics were finally silenced. The following year, the large framed horse - 17 hands - attempted to repeat the win. Despite a herculean effort, the massive 70 kilograms the handicapper forced him to carry proved too much on the day.
In 1932, Phar Lap was set to conquer the world when strapper and stand-in trainer, Tommy Woodcock, accompanied the horse to Mexico. Despite an injury carried into the race, Phar Lap defied the odds to win the $50,000 Agua Caliente Handicap in a record time.
Sixteen days later, on 5 April, 1932 tragedy struck. After returning to California with his trainer, Phar Lap's condition suddenly deteriorated. Phar Lap died and although many theories have surfaced, the exact cause was never established, leaving a controversy over the passing of Australia's most famous racing icon.
Phar Lap's greatness can be seen in his record - 37 wins from 51 starts and stakes winning which were the third highest in the world at the time.

The Death of Phar Lap

After returning to a ranch near San Francisco to recover from an injured hoof, on 5 April 1932 the five-year-old died in the arms of his strapper, Tommy Woodcock.

Even after two autopsies have been performed on the horse, to this day nobody knows for sure what caused Phar Lap's death. Some believe his death was an innocent tragedy, that the pasture which he was in caused intestinal problems, or that the trees at the ranch had been foolishly sprayed with an insecticide which was poisonous to horses. There is also the possibility that his travelling between different climates and his training may have allowed for a bacterial disease to have been contracted. A number of people believe that malicious conspirators are responsible for intentionally poisoning him with arsenic.

When the news reached Australia, the response of Australians was a unanimous one of great loss. It made the headline of every newspaper and radio broadcast in the country.
Phar Lap was more than just a horse. He was a symbol of inspiration to the people who had almost lost all hope during the hard years of the Depression. He was personified as having the characteristics which Australians looked favourably upon and could identify with. He too was an 'underdog,' coming from placing dead last in the very first race that he competed in, to winning 37 of 51 starts. He also was seen to be playful and have the 'larrikin' attitude that Australians were known for. Most of all, he was brave and determined, able to overcome the challenges which were placed in front of him.
Phar Lap moved so many people that after his death, a number of them even sent letters of condolence to Telford. Several films, a book and also a song were written about Phar Lap to ensure that his memory lived on. He was also inducted into the Australia Racing Hall of Fame as one of its five inaugural members. His skeleton was returned to his birth-land of New Zealand, while his hide was stuffed and is currently displayed in Melbourne Museum. His heart which was said to weigh a heavy 6.2 kilograms, compared to the average size of around 3.2 kilograms, is allegedly displayed in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. There is, however, controversy surrounding whether it is indeed his actual heart or simply that of a completely different horse, owing to historical and anatomical discrepancies.

Phar Lap's Race Record

	Age	Starts	1st	2nds	3rds	Unplaced	Stakemoney
	2	5	1	-	-	4	£182
	3	20	13	1	2	4	£26,794
	4	16	14	2	-	-	£24,671
	5	10	9	-	-	1	£18,478*
	Total	51	37	3	2	9	£70,125

The Story of Phar Lap

Phar Lap, a New Zealand-bred horse, remains an enduring institution of the Australasian turf.

He also achieved world fame after winning the Agua Caliente Handicap near Tijuana in Mexico to take his race record to an amazing 37 wins, two seconds and three thirds in 51 starts.

Bought for only 160 guineas (approx US $130) Phar Lap was unbeaten at 1¼ miles (seven wins); 1½¸ miles (eight wins); 1¾ miles (three wins) and 2¼ miles (one win). He also won four races from six starts at two miles, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup with 15 lb. (6.8 kg.) more than weight-for-age.

Phar Lap started favorite in three successive Melbourne Cups, the only horse in the long history of Australia's most famous race accorded that distinction.

Now, amazing photographs of each of his wins have been published for the first time in The Phar Lap Collection. This magnificent publication, printed on art-quality paper, comes with its own presentation case.

Phar Lap became the most public horse of all time, not entirely because he was so sublime. Drama, controversy, wickedness and savage cruelty rode with the big, gentle chestnut from barrier to box.
Criminals in Melbourne tried to shoot him on the Saturday morning before his 1930 Melbourne Cup win and finally, tragically, he suffered an agonising death in mysterious circumstances in California, USA, on April 5, 1932, when he was only a five-year-old.
Although all manner of theories abound about it, the cause of Phar Lap's death has never been clearly defined.
Known variously as "Big Red" or the "Red Terror", Phar Lap was a big, plain looking, cheap-priced underdog, trained by Harry Telford, an impecunious victim of the Depression. Telford leased the horse from American owner Mr David Davis, or more appropriately, considering it was an era when few people owned much and the term "rent" was the operative word, Telford "rented" Phar Lap.
Telford and his horse were seen as battlers, like the majority, at a time when tens of thousands regularly stood in dole queues, no doubt discussing the triumphs of Phar Lap as a relief from their despair.
The clearest illustration of Phar Lap's greatness was his victory at Agua Caliente on March 20, 1932. It wasn't so much the win, but the way he achieved it. Phar Lap travelled by ship across the Pacific arriving in cold conditions in San Francisco; he then had an 800 km. road trip to Tijuana where conditions were boiling hot, none of which was conducive to having a horse at his peak.
Even though he had not raced since carrying 10st 10lb. (68 kg.) when unplaced in the Melbourne Cup the previous November, Phar Lap had to carry 9 st. 3 lb. (58.5 kg.) against some of the best horses in America and he was racing on dirt for the first time. On arrival he was starting to grow his winter coat; his body clock preparing for an Australian Winter - not a Mexican Summer.

A further complication occurred when he suffered a painful injury to his heel, which usually spells the end of any training program. Yet another negative factor was his rider, Billy Elliot. Capable Melbourne lightweight that he was, Elliot had no experience in the "big time" of America or on dirt tracks. Because of the hoof injury, Phar Lap's task looked even tougher when he was forced to wear heavy bar shoes for the first time.

History was also foreboding. Eight years earlier, the 1923 English Derby winner, Papyrus, who defeated Pharos (who sired turf immortals Nearco and Pharis) went to New York for a special match race against America's best horse, Zev, at Belmont Park. Papyrus, unable to cope with the dirt track and climatic changes, was annihilated by five lengths. Many American racing aficionados, remembering Papyrus, expected Phar Lap to suffer the same fate in 1932.

How wrong they were! Papyrus was a topliner, but Phar Lap was something different again. He circled the field from last place to win easily by two lengths in track record time of 2:2.8, clipping .2 seconds from the previous best time.
His trainer, Tommy Woodcock, said after Agua Caliente "Americans called him the "Wonder Horse", the "Red Terror" and other names that lifted him high above the level of other champions, but those closely connected with Phar Lap did not employ anything but names of endearment. To Jim Pike (regular jockey) he was "Old Boy"; to part-owner Mr D. J. Davis, he was the "Big Fellow", but to Harry Telford and me he was just plain 'Bobby'."
The racing fraternity at large knew him simply as Phar Lap, champion of the world.