Known at "the race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup is held on the first Tuesday of November at 3pm (5pm NZ time) at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria. The first race was held in 1861 over two miles (3.219 km) but was shortened to its present-day distance of 3200 metres in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system. By 2022, forty-three races have been won by NZ-bred horses - our first winner was Martini Henry in 1883 and the last was Penzance in 2015. One horse has won twice - Think Big in 1974 and 1975. One of the extolled wins took place on 4 November 1930, when Phar Lap won in 3:27.75 minutes, beating the second-placed horse by three lengths, to become the sixth NZ-bred winner. Phar Lap was the shortest-priced favourite with odds of 8-11 in the Melbourne Cup's history. Three days prior to the race, an unsuccessful attempt was made to shoot Phar Lap when returning to his stable after training work.

Born in Timaru on 4 October 1926, Phar Lap had run his first race in Sydney in February 1929 after being purchased by Australian-based businessman David Davis. Over the next three years, Phar Lap won 37 of the 51 races entered. As his popularity grew, Phar Lap became nicknamed 'The Red Terror’, ‘Big Red’, and 'The Wonder Horse', and was heralded with a number of souvenirs and statues in NZ and Australia. After a sudden illness, Phar Lap died of unknown causes in California on 5 April 1932, sixteen days after winning the Ague Caliente race in Mexico. At the time, he was the third-highest stakes-winner in the world. Phar Lap's skeleton is displayed at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, his mounted hide at the Melbourne Museum, and his heart at the National Museum of Australia. 

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Phar Lap born in Timaru, 4 Oct 1926

Phar Lap was foaled on 4 October 1926 at Alexander Roberts’ Seadown Stud at Timaru. His dam (mother) was the NZ-bred mare Entreaty (1920-1943). His sire (father) was the English-bred stallion Night Raid (b. 1918) who raced in England and Australia and was retired to stud in NZ in 1924. Night Raid was the great-grandson of Carbine who'd won the 1890 Melbourne Cup. After Phar Lap was born, he was not officially named as was the typical practice for yearlings that were to be sold, so that the new owner can choose the name. In the interim, common practice was to identify a young horse by a nickname or “barn” name and to identify them by their parentage -"sired by" and "out of", followed by their year of birth. 

Find out more: Wikipedia: Phar Lap

Phar Lap became Australian-owned, Jan 1928

Phar Lap was sold as a yearling at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Yearling Sales held at the Trentham racecourse on 24 January 1928. As Phar Lap had not yet been named, his pedigree and age was listed under Lot 41 in the sales catalogue. Based on his pedigree, Phar Lap was purchased on the recommendation of Sydney trainer Harry Telford for businessman David J. Davis. Telford had been training horses for Davis and arranged for his brother, Hugh, who had a horse stable near Trentham, to attend the sales auction, where he was successful with a bid of 160 guineas. 

Source: Thoroughbred Heritage Portraits: Phar Lap 

Phar Lap shipped to Sydney & begins race-training

After Phar Lap was shipped to Sydney, David Davis and Harry Telford were unimpressed with their first sighting: "When he disembarked from the ship, the gangly chestnut was thin and his head was covered with pimples." (Source:  Thoroughbred Heritage Portraits: Phar Lap) As Davis was not keen to pursue being involved with Phar Lap, Telford arranged to lease Phar Lap for three years. It was agreed that in exchange for covering the costs of training, feeding and stabling, Telford would keep two-thirds of any winnings. Telford then hired Aaron Treve ‘Tommy’ Woodcock as a strapper to assist with Phar Lap's training programme. After the three years lease arrangement concluded, Telford became a joint owner of Phar Lap with Davis. 

Initially, the prospects of winning a race "didn’t look good for the first few months that Harry was training Phar Lap. Harry backed off the training for a while, gave Phar Lap a spell to get on with his growing (his full adult height was seventeen hands), had him gelded, then renewed the training."  (Source: Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa: Phar Lap (1926-1932).  

How Phar Lap got his name

Wikipedia - Phar Lap:

The name Phar Lap derives from the common Zhuang and Thai word for lightning : ฟ้าแลบ  [fáː lɛ̂p], literally 'sky flash'... According to the Museum of Victoria, Aubrey Ping, a medical student at the University of Sydney, suggested "farlap" as the horse's name. Ping knew the word from his father, a Zhuang-speaking Chinese immigrant. Phar Lap's trainer Harry Telford liked the name, but changed the F to PH to create a seven letter word, which was split in two in keeping with the dominant naming pattern of Melbourne Cup winners. 

Phar Lap began racing in Australia in 1929

Harry Telford entered Phar Lap in his first race on 23 February 1929 at Rosehill where he came last. After being unplaced in his next three races, Phar Lap won his first race on 27 April 1929 - the Maiden Juvenile Handicap at Rosehill, ridden by 17 year old apprentice jockey Jack Baker of Armidale. After being spelled for two months, Phar Lap raced again in August 1929. 

For a summary of Phar Lap's races from 1929 to 1932, see: Horse Directory Australia: Racing History: Phar Lap

His racing career:  51 Starts,  37 Wins,  3 Seconds,  2 Thirds, and 9 Unplaced. 

Phar Lap wins 1930 Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup Carnival is held over four days: Day 1: Victoria Derby Day; Day 2: Melbourne Cup Day; Day 3: Oaks Day; and Day 4: Stakes Day. Leading up to the 1930 Melbourne Cup Carnival, Phar Lap had won 15 of his last 16 starts (which included 3rd place in the 1929 Melbourne Cup). 

News media reported that as Phar Lap's successful run continued, an attempt was made to shoot him on the eve of the Melbourne Cup Carnival on 1 November 1930:

"Early on Saturday morning an attempt was made at Caulfield to kill or maim the Melbourne Cup favourite Phar Lap. The horse was returning to the stable after his training work, when a shot was fired from a motor car, which was immediately driven away. Phar Lap was not injured, and later in the day he brilliantly won the Melbourne Stakes at Flemington."

Source: Trove: The Argus, "Shot fired at Phar Lap", (Monday, 3 Nov 1930, p. 8)

Phar Lap continued his successful form by achieving victories on each of the four days of races, including becoming the sixth NZ-bred horse to win the Melbourne Cup on 4 November 1930. After their three-year lease agreement finished at the end of 1930, David J. Davis and Harry Telford became joint owners of Phar Lap with Telford paying  £4000.  

Phar Lap continues to race in Australia during 1931 

During Feb-March 1931, Phar Lap entered five races, winning  four in a row, followed by a third placing. After a spell from racing, he resumed racing on 25 August 1931, winning 8 races in a row. His last race held in Australia was the Melbourne Cup on 1 November 1931 when he ran eighth, carrying a record weight of 10st 10lbs (68 kgs). 

Phar Lap shipped to Wellington en route to Mexico, Nov 1931

After Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup, Davis was keen to have him race in North America. However, Telford did not wish to accompany Davis as he had training commitments with horses in Sydney. Instead, Telford nominated that Davis engaged Phar Lap's strapper Tommy Woodcock as his new trainer.

Phar Lap travels to Mexico to race on 20 March 1932

Phar Lap was shipped from Wellington to San Francisco to race in the ‘Agua Caliente’ in Tijuana, Mexico which was being held on 20 March 1932. 

Arrival at Agua Caliente, March 1932

Phar Lap died in California on 5 April 1932

Sixteen days after winning the Ague Caliente, Phar Lap died in San Francisco under mysterious circumstances on 5 April 1932. Whereas some thought he had been poisoned with arsenic, others believed that he had died of an infection.  

Memorabilia

Phar Lap's picture began to appear on drawings, framed photographs, postcards, cigarette cards, cake tins, tobacco tins, advertising posters for beer and wine, and on trinkets. Movies and books were also published.

Phar Lap displayed at NZ & Australian museums

Phar Lap's mounted hide is displayed at the Melbourne Museum, his skeleton at the Museum of New Zealand  Te Papa Tongarewa,  and his heart at the National Museum of Australia.    

Statues and Raceway

 Honours

• Australian Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 2001)
• New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 2006)
• Australian Horse of the Year (1930/31 and 1931/32)
• Australian champion 3-year-old male (1929/30)
• Australian champion older male (1930/31 and 1931/32)
• Ranked #22 among the top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century by an expert panel assembled by The Blood-Horse (Thoroughbred Champions, Eclipse Press, 7th printing, 2005)
• Several residential streets are named 'Phar Lap' or 'Pharlap' in NZ, Australia, and the United States.  

Find out more:

•  Horse Directory Australia: Racing History: Phar Lap 
•  Thoroughbred Heritage Portraits: Phar Lap  
•  Wikipedia: Phar Lap 

This DigitalNZ story was compiled in October 2023