ATTEMPT ON PHAR LAP
INCIDENT RECALLED
The attempt to interfere with Beau Vite recalls a similar happening in 1930, when an attempt was made to disable Phar Lap, who was favourite for the Melbourne Cup, at Caulfield on the Saturday morning before the race. Phar Lap had sprinted two furlongs in preparation for his engagement in the Melbourne Stakes in the afternoon and was leaving the course when shots were fired from a closed car. Some of the pellets were said to have lodged in the cover worn by Phar Lap, who was frightened but not hurt. Later m the day he won the Melbourne Stakes.
As a result of the attempt to disable Phar Lap, extraordinary precautions were taken to protect him. He was conveyed to Flemington in an enclosed motor-float escorted by armed policemen on motor-cycles. On the course a cordon of police and detectives surrounded his box and he was escorted by detectives right up to. the start of the Melbourne Stakes. Phar Lap was given a tremendous reception and he left, the course again under escort. He was carefully guarded night and day until the running of the Melbourne Cup, which'he won by two lengths from Second Wind.
El Golea is a six-year-old brown horse by Eastern Monarch from Versatile, and is owned by the Hon. A. Crofts. He is one of the best performers over short courses in Victoria, his wins including the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington in 1939 with 8.12. Beau Vite is a four-year-old brown horse by Beau Pero from Dominant, and is owned by Mr. R. Stewart, of Wellington. In Australia he is under the care of the Randwick trainer F. McGrath, and has registered five successive victories, running three track records at the ■ recent spring carnival at Randwick. Last Saturday he defeated the Australian champion Ajax in the W. S. Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.
Beau Vite has' been extensively coupled in doubles with another New Zealander, Beaulivre, who won the first leg in the Caulfield Cup, and he is quoted at very short odds for the Melbourne Cup.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 107, 1 November 1940, Page 8
Word Count
348ATTEMPT ON PHAR LAP Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 107, 1 November 1940, Page 8
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