Within a few hours, Phar Lap haemorrhaged to death. An autopsy revealed that the horse's stomach and intestines were inflamed, leading many to believe the horse had been deliberately poisoned. There have been alternative theories, including accidental poisoning from lead insecticide and a stomach condition.
Woodcock trained Phar Lap and he won the rich Agua Caliente Handicap. Shortly afterwards, on 5 April 1932, Phar Lap suddenly died in Menlo Park, California. Always devoted to the horse, Woodcock was with Phar Lap in his final moments. In 1946, Woodcock was initiated into Freemasonry, within the Smithfield Lodge.
Sadly, Phar Lap died on April 5, 1932 at only five years old. Woodcock found the horse in severe pain and running a high temperature. Within a few hours, Phar Lap died in Woodcock's arms. An autopsy was performed and it was revealed that the gelding's stomach and intestines were inflamed.
Phar Lap's remains were dispersed across the globe. His mounted hide went to the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne, the skeleton to the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington and the heart to the Australian Institute of Anatomy.
In 2006, Australian Synchrotron Research scientists determined that Phar Lap was poisoned by a large dose of arsenic administered just hours before his death. This lent credence to the theory that U.S. gangsters, fearful that the colt was a sure bet at the track, killed him to protect their illegal bookmakers.
In 2000, equine specialists studying the two necropsies concluded that Phar Lap probably died of duodenitis-proximal jejunitis, an acute bacterial gastroenteritis.
ON THE MORNING of Tuesday, 5 April 1932, Phar Lap, the racehorse legend, mysteriously collapsed at a farm outside San Francisco 16 days after he won the Agua Caliente handicap in Tijuana, Mexico.
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 weighed in at just over 600kg. Therefore to win the 1931 Melbourne Cup, Phar Lap had to carry his massive frame plus another 11.5% of his body weight.
The gangly and awkward two-year-old from New Zealand became Australia's greatest racehorse. Between September 1929 and November 1931, Phar Lap ran 41 races and won 36 of them. His death in California in 1932 sent the nation into mourning.
** Phar Lap had won career prize money of A70,123 pounds by 1932.
Davis to pay the £30 entry fee into 1929 Australian Derby to be run at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. The film shows the Australian Derby as Phar Lap's first win, although his first win was actually six months earlier in the RRC Maiden Juvenile Handicap at Sydney's other main racecourse Rosehill Racecourse.
This area is known as St Albans Park. It was here in November 1930 that Phar Lap spent the night before he won his historic Melbourne Cup. Why he was secretly housed at St Albans Stud is as follows.
Phar Lap was a champion racehorse who was foaled in New Zealand in 1926 and mostly raced in Australia. He dominated Australian racing, winning major races such as The Melbourne Cup, two Cox Plates, The Futurity Stakes and an AJC Derby.
He won 14 races in 1931 alone, and won the 1930 Melbourne Cup while carrying an astonishing 62.6 kilogram handicap. His strength and endurance was so impressive people would talk about having 'a heart as big as Phar Lap'.
Likewise, when Phar Lap is named “Lightning” by an Asian gentleman, it also occurred. In the DVD release, Burlinson says Woodcock believed the film was 90 percent true to tale. The film is richer for Woodcock's input, because he died less than two years after its release.
Phar Lap Wins the 1930 Melbourne Cup | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
Phar Lap became so successful that other horse trainers pulled out of the race when they heard he was competing. Phar Lap's greatest win was by 20 lengths in March 1930 at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. During his short life Phar Lap won 37 races out of the 51 he was entered in.
Australian's hearts swelled with pride when Phar Lap won what would sadly be his last race at the Agua Caliente resort in Mexico. This was his first race in North America and were it not for his untimely death, he would have taken the US by storm.
He followed up his 1930 victory by running eighth in the Cup in 1931 under a crushing 68 kg, the heaviest weight ever carried in the race.
5 April 1932
Phar Lap arrived in Australia as a two-year-old. His name meant 'lightning' in the Thai language, and he lived up to it with his ability to finish races with a surge of speed. He was no looker, with warts all over his head.
Discover many of the incredible moments in the life of Australia's greatest racehorse, Phar Lap. The Red Terror, also called Bobby by his strapper-cum-trainer Tommy Woodcock, was a red chestnut gelding born in New Zealand in 1926 and trained in Sydney by Harry Telford.
Prophetic words. The towering records of both champions underscore their superiority, both overall and at The Valley. Phar Lap had 51 starts for 37 wins, three seconds and two thirds. Winx had 43 starts for 37 wins and three seconds.
Phar Lap ran in the Melbourne Cup three times between 1929 and 1931. However, his only win in the race came during his incredible 1930 season, when he also won the Cox Plate and 14 other weight-for-age races.
Phar Lap is a legend of Australian sporting history. His sensational rise from humble beginnings captured the public's imagination during the difficult years of the 1930s Great Depression. Phar Lap won 37 races from 51 starts, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup.