Phar Lap’s death doubts linger

Press, 27 April 1989, Page 39

Phar Lap’s death doubts linger

By DAVID MCCARTHY All good legends need to be revived from time to time but there seemed a touch of desperation about the latest claim concerning the death of Phar Lap which surfaced in the Melbourne “Age” recently. The widely circulated story, from the usual “unnamed source,” claimed that Phar Lap’s strapper, Tommy Woodcock, secretly feared he may have been responsible for the horse’s sudden and mysterious demise in California in April, 1932.

Woodcock had treated the champion with Fowlers Solution, a common tonic for a horse’s appetite, which contained arsenic.

Woodcock, the story claims, mixed the solution with water to make it last and did not realise that in certain circumstances the arsenic would precipitate and result in a fatal dose.

Woodcock, one of the most popular horsemen of his time in Australia, is not alive to confirm the story, which may be as well since he spent the best part of fifty years asserting that Phar Lap was deliberately poisoned by agents of American gamblers. The annual “how did Phar Lap die?” Australian news media game concentrates entirely on the arsenic poisoning (accidental or otherwise)

theory probably because it deflects interest from what or who may have precipitated the horse’s death otherwise. That interest would almost certainly centre on some of the decisions, omissions and qualifications of the Australian handlers of the New Zealand-bred horse. The fact is that it has never been established that Phar Lap died of arsenic poisoning at all.

Traces of the substance, in those days widely used in the treatment of horses, were found as were traces of lead chromate crystals of arsenic which led to the theory that trees sprayed with arsenic may have caused the death after the horse nibbled at leaves of the trees near his barn. But arsenic was not found in the quantities which suggested Phar Lap had suffered a toxic dose. Fifteen to twentyfive milligrams per pound of bodyweight was considered such a dose and the amounts supposedly found in Phar Lap’s system during post mortems suggested it contained less than a tenth of that amount.

The problem was that not all of Phar Lap’s stomach was available for official post mortem. The Australians, with what some thought undue haste, attempted to bury the remains immediately after the horse died and

not all was able to be recovered. The notion that Phar Lap’s stomach contained a lethal dose of arsenic was reinforced by incorrect news media interpretation of the post mortem results since poison tends to congregate in certain parts of the stomach.

The Australian news media, capitalising perhaps on the “little guy/ big guy” sporting syndrome between America and Australia, has often promoted Woodcock’s belief that the horse was deliberately poisoned. None, however, have been able to explain why such a course would be taken two weeks after Phar Lap had landed a huge betting plunge for his part-owner, David Davis, in the Caliente Handicap and when the horse had rapped a tendon and could not have raced again for a considerable period if at all.

Betting syndicates would surely have wanted to take any action before Davis and his friends won their money and should American bookmakers have been in the habit of exacting revenge on good horses winning large bets, the same way Phar Lap was alleged to have been dealt with, the ranks of top horses would surely have become exceedingly thin in a short time. Irene Carter, the author of the first full

book on Phar Lap’s life and death, published in 1960, advanced the theory that Phar Lap in fact died of what is commonly known as “bloat,” a result of eating highly fermentable green feed. Professor Karl Meyer, who conducted the official autopsy on what was available of the horse’s remains, noted an “enormous” accumulation of gas in the stomach. It is surmised that the Australians gave Phar Lap handfuls of green feed daily not realising that the San Francisco Bay area was notorious for its fogs and mists, which deposited a dew on the lucerne which could ultimately prove fatal to any horse. Mrs Carter, who had a close association with Bert Wolfe, the Australian journalist who accompanied Phar Lap to America, revealed some aspects of the case the Australian racing public have rarely been reminded of since.

While an outstanding horseman, Tommy Woodcock was a youngster of little real experience when he went to California. He was accompanied by a veterinarian who had spent a lifetime with horses, but who had never graduated and so was not qualified, and two stable riders. The Australians attempted to create a “mini Australia” environment, using only Austra-

Ilan feed, refusing any help or suggestions from local horsemen and keeping almost entirely to themselves, partly to help the odds owner Davis was getting about the horse in the Caliente race.

The circumstances produced a series of errors.

Phar Lap was never given a chance to truly acclimatise and for several hours after the onset of his fatal illness it was incorrectly diagnosed as colic. The Australians refused help from a Californian veterinarian who might have identified the problem and treated it by tapping a hole in the stomach wall and releasing the huge build-up of gas. That the Australians realised later that inexperience of local conditions had cost them dearly is indicated by the hastily organised burial, and their promotion of the deliberate poisoning theory with no corroborative evidence whatsoever.

In spite of the colourful stories which emanate from Australia each April to recall the memory of the great galloper it seems possible the real solution to his death may be rather lacking in glamour and altogether too close to home for comfort.

Legends, of course, have never been helped by the intrusion of too many facts.