CAREER OF PHAR LAP

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1931, Page 9

CAREER OF PHAR LAP

POINTS ABOUT A GREAT HORSE. SIR THOMAS WILFORD’S VIEW, . (Christchurch Press. Correspondent.) London,- Nov... 5. “Hotspur,” of the Daily Telegraph, published on November 4 some interesting facts concerning Phar Lap. In re- ■ ward to their compilation he acknowledges the helpfulness of Sir Thomas Wilford, “himself a great admirer of the thoroughbred, and possessed of an unusually deep knowledge of the breeding of the racehorse.” -"Hotspur” continues: — " , For instance, in noting Phar Lap s breeding Sir Thomas Wilford reminds us that Night Raid,, the sire, is English bred and was sent* to Australia, where he broke down and was bought for his stud at South Canterbury, by Mr. Roberts. Night Raid is by that beautifully -bred horse, Radium, from Sentiment, by Carbine. Wilfordil.tells me that he saw Phar Lap sold as »- yearling at. Wellington. • He was rather interested in, him/ because he had a yearling by Night Raid, from Russian Maid named Teheka that won the Queen’s Plate, among other races, he continued. “I remember Phar Lap well after'he was sold. He was running in Telford’s field next to our etables,. and° on the Sunday after the sale I went with my trainer to look him over. He was a lean built, roomy gelding, somewhat on the leg, with a fine, broad forehead, big eye, and great quarters, loosely ribbed up, and’with those legs you find on a horse bred on limestone country—l mean legs of steel. Phar Lap was a yearling of perfect tempera-, merit, but with nothing particular to mark him out for the great honours he has won; in fact, there were certainly four yearlings at the sale I remember that made him look of little class, with the result that he was secured, I think, for a hundred guineas. , This is surely one of the most wonderful bargains of the sale ring. “My friends in Australia tell me lie 18 a horse of great brain and understanding, and those who have ridden aim claim that he knows better how to run a race than any jockey who has ever ridden him. Pike, one of the leading jockeys in Australia, has generally been Iris pilot. As a weight-for-age horse he is certainly ‘supreme, a situ.’ Dr. McKay, the celebrated veterinary surgeon and writer on racehorses, says he has a wonderful heart, and the faculty of running at top speed almost from the start. I cannot, think of any weight-for-age race of importance in Australia he has not won. <rr , Relative to the Melbourne Cup, Hotspur” comments:— “Australia’s great racehorse, Phar Lap, failed in his attempt to win the Melbourne Cup, under the huge weight of lOst 101 b. The winner, Mr. H. B. McLachlan’s White Nose, was receiving from him as much as 541 b. It was almost like one horse being handicapped by having two jockeys against the other’s one. . ~ “Many will doubtless criticise the policy of Phar Lap’s owner in submittincr the horse to an impossible task. It was surely not a fair one, even though Carbine carried lOst 51b in 1890. One may be certain, that the standard was not as high in those days as now, and,:moreover, Phar Lap had surely done everything to entitle him to a high place, if not the highest, among the equine immortals of Australia and New Zealand.