THE TURF

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 123, 19 May 1932, Page 2

THE TURF

PHAR LAP’S DEATH

FINAL HOUR AT ATHERTON

The leading sporting writer of California, Pat Frayne, editor of a San Francisco evening newspaper witnessed the passing of the great New Zealand racehorse Phar Lap and in the course of his generous tribute to the renowned gelding, said, “On the eve of his greatest triumphs, with several Continents awaiting news of his ventures on the many fast tracks of the United States, Phar Lap, of New Zealand, six years of age, fell forward on his foreknees and rolled over to die at the Ed Perry stables just on the outskirts of Atherton. “Those many thousands he had thrilled in Australia, those many •millions who had listened to his spectacular flash in the Agua Caliente Handicap, were replaced by a sobbing trainer, a bewildered veterinarian, and a weeping jockey. It was not an animal who had died. It was their idol their champion; their greatest figure in world sports. The strong limbs that had stretched out to victory in some of the most sensational races were stiffened in death. Suffering from the effects of dew-covered grass and possibly wild barley, he sickened quickly after they walked him. He was apparently in bad condition when they gave him his early morning work-out, but toward noon he began to show signs of bloating. They say they had walked him about in an attempt to counteract the intestinal infection, but that he faded fast. Phar Lap braced himself on his four legs and stood waiting for death to ride him. His trainer, Tommy Woodcock, who had brought him up from a yearling, pulled at the halter to get him to move out of the straw-filled stall.

Greatest Thoroughbred

Of Phar Lap’s end an American writer places the following on record: —

“We sat on a truck with Bill Elliott, the jockey who had ridden Phar Lap through many races in Australia and who had been on Phar Lap’s back at Caliente. The little jockey had rushed to the stables and entered just before Phar Lap passed. ‘He knew he was going,’ said Elliott. ‘He knew he was finished. He fought it off until the last minute, but I could see that he knew the race, was over.’ ” “Thus passed the great Phar Lap. Thus ended the potentialities of a horse that had not yet proved the real worth he had. They said before he ran at Agua Caliente that he could not hope to compete with the horses of this continent, especially on a new’ track, and after that 11,000-

mile sea voyage. But Phar Lap headed the field in the back stretch for that mile and a quarter run and W’as never headed as he romped home pulled up. No one can really say that Phar Lap might not have been the greatest thoroughbred in history. It was only a few’ days ago that Dr. William Nielsen, his veterinarian, declared that the tracks of this country were two seconds faster than the turf tracks of Australia. He looked for greater performances from Phar Lap than the chestnut gelding had shown in the Antipodes.”

Although Mr Davis the part owner of Phar Lap, could not understand the rapid death of his notable horse, he was diffident to believe that persistent rumours circulated that Phar Lap had died an unnatural death, he told a correspondent, who interviewed him at the Perry stables. “I cannot understand this terrible blow. It is indeed a great calamity to me,” he said. “Phar Lap was very closely guarded, and was constantly under the care of some of the attendants. He was regularly fed his specially prepared Australian food, but evidently casually grazing he must have, unnoticed, munched some noxious weed that caused his death. It could not have resulted from foul play. I have not an enemy in the world, and furthermore, it could not have been caused by hostile forces, as it was not on the eve of a great race.

The death of Phar Lap, experts asserted, alone could have prevented his topping the record of Sun Beau as the greatest winner in racing history. Mi’ Davis, it was said, recently refused 300,000 dollars for the great racer. And it was reported that 50,000 dollars’ worth of insurance previously carried on the horse had been cancelled when he left Australia.