Killing Phar Lap

When noted American racing official, Francis Dunne, was asked the question, “Who was the greatest race horse of them all? Man o’ War? Secretariat? ” Dunne smiled and said, “Neither one. I saw Phar Lap!” Other American experts, such as jockeys Eddie Arcaro and George Woolf, were just as lavish in their praise of the great horse after seeing him in just one race – the 1932 $50,000 Agua Caliente Handicap in Tijuana, Mexico, which he won easily in track record time, while carrying top weight, giving away as much as 39 pounds to the horse who finished fourth. He did all this while racing extremely wide almost the entire mile and one-quarter journey to avoid trouble. And — oh yes — he was nursing an injured foot at the time, which almost prevented him from making it to the race. Marshall Cassidy, later to become the dean of American racing officials, was the official starter of that memorable race at Agua Caliente. Later in life he said simply, “Phar Lap is the greatest horse I ever saw.” And he saw a lot of great horses throughout a long and distinguished career. When Phar Lap arrived at Caliente in 1932, famed Charlie Whittingham was a jockey’s agent. He later became one of North America’s premier trainers and conditioned innumerable great horses. Whittingham said, “I never got to see Man o’ War, but it would take one helluva horse to beat Phar Lap.” An incredible amount of information – and misinformation – has been written and spoken on the almost unbelievable career of Phar Lap, known by various nick names as ‘Big Red,’ ‘The Red Terror,’ ‘The Wonder from Down Under,’ ‘The Anzac Antelope,’ among others. Around the barn he was simply called, ‘Bobby,’ by those who handled him. His career in Australia has been well chronicled in numerous other works. This book will concentrate primarily on his all-too-short stay in North America. It sheds new light on his death while advancing an intriguing, never-before discussed theory on how and why it may have happened. It unveils some heretofore unpublished facts surrounding the Phar Lap controversy and the horse farm at which he died. It also rekindles the fire that money, greed, pride and jealousy were behind the killing of a magnificent horse. So, yes, Australia, the Yanks killed Phar Lap. At least that’s the opinion of one American career race-tracker, whose involvement in the sport spans eight decades.