Volume 8 Number 033 Phar Lap Lead: Despite a heroic past, Australia is a nation with few real national heroes. Few would deny, however, that one of them was a big, red horse named Phar Lap. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: In his youth, Phar Lap, whose name in Thai is the word for “lightning,” did not seem a likely prospect for heroic status. The gelding was born in Timaru, New Zealand in 1926, bought for about $336 and arrived in Australia, painfully thin, with warts all over his face, and lacking very much elemental grace. His trainer, Harry Telford, however, believed he had the makings of champion. Phar Lap was of large sturdy construction and later was found to have an enormous heart of near freakish size. He could sprint and also hang in there for the distance. Around the stable the horse was known as Bobby, and there he met his soon-to-be inseparable companion, stableboy Tommy Woodcock. After a slow start in 1929 Phar Lap began to place, and by September was judged to be the favorite in most of the races in which he was entered. He won so often that he began to skew the betting odds, costing the book makers a massive hemorrhage each time he won. Prior to one race in November 1930, someone pulled alongside Woodcock and Phar Lap as they were returning from warm-up and tried to shoot the horse. The bullets missed but only after Woodcock threw himself in the path to protect the horse. After winning most of Australia’s great races, the wildly popular Phar Lap was taken to the United States where after winning the Agua Caliente Handicap near Tijuana, Mexico in 1932 he died under mysterious circumstances. Later it was determined he had died of a rare bacterial infection found in horses who travel long distances. At the death of Phar Lap Australia went into mourning and the legend began to grow. His huge heart was embalmed and is kept in Canberra. Thousands each year visit the preserved remains of this authentic Australian hero in the Melbourne Museum. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts. Resources Bernard, Jill and Elizabeth Willis. “The Legend You Could Come and See,” Journal of Australian Studies 54/55 (1997): 194-199. Gordon, Donald C. “Australian History and Its Heroes,” The South Atlantic Quarterly 58 (1, Winter 1959): 1- 12. Thompson, Peter and Geoff Armstrong. Phar Lap. London, UK: Allen and Unwin, 2000. http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/pharlap Copyright by Dan Roberts Enterprises, Inc. .