Phar Lap was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse whose achievements captured the Australian public’s imagination during the Great Depression. Foaled in New Zealand, he was trained and raced in Australia by Harry Telford. Phar Lap dominated Australian racing during a distinguished career, winning a Melbourne Cup, two Cox Plates, an AJC Derby, and 19 other weight for age races. After a sudden and mysterious illness, Phar Lap died in 1932 in Atherton, California.
About Phar Lap in brief
Phar Lap was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse whose achievements captured the Australian public’s imagination during the Great Depression. Foaled in New Zealand, he was trained and raced in Australia by Harry Telford. Phar Lap dominated Australian racing during a distinguished career, winning a Melbourne Cup, two Cox Plates, an AJC Derby, and 19 other weight for age races. He then won the Agua Caliente Handicap in Tijuana, Mexico, in track-record time in his final race. After a sudden and mysterious illness, Phar Lap died in 1932 in Atherton, California. His mounted hide is displayed at the Melbourne Museum, his skeleton at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and his heart is currently on display at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra. The name Phar Lap derives from the common Zhuang and Thai word for lightning: ฟ้าแลบ, literally’sky flash’. Phar Lap was called the \”Wonder Horse\”, \”Red Terror\”, \”Bobby\” and \”Big Red\”. He was sometimes referred to as ‘Australia’s wonder horse’ The horse was sired by Night Raid from Entreaty by Winkie.
He was by the same sire as the Melbourne Cup winner Nightmarch. His brother to seven other horses, Fortune’s Wheel, Nea Lap, Nightguard, All Clear, Friday Night, Te Uira and Raphis, none of which won a principal race. He had a half-brother to another four horses, only two of which were able to win any races at all. In the four years of his racing, Pharlap won 37 of the 51 races he entered. From his three-year-old race in the VRC Leger Stakes until his final win in Mexico, he did not win 32 of his 35 races. In that year and 1931, he won 14 races in a row, including the 9 st 12lb Melbourne Cup and the 12 lb Leger Leger. At the time he was the third highest stakes-winner in the world. As of 1930, there were some who tried to shoot Phar Lap on the morning of 1 November after he had finished track work. They missed, and later that day he won the Melbourne Stakes as odds-on at 8 to 11 to 11 at 8:30am on Saturday 1 November. The horse died on 1 November 1930 in California, after a mysterious illness. His skeleton is at the Museum of NEW Zealand.
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This page is based on the article Phar Lap published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
