PHAR LAP

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1932, Page 3

PHAR LAP

ANOTHER GENEROUS TRIBUTE

IN SAN FRANCISCO PRESS. SAN FRANCISCO, April 7. The leading sporting writer of California, Pat Frayne, editor of the spoiling section 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 hi;, ventures on the many fast tracks of the United States, Phar Lap, of New Zealand, six years of age ; fell forward, on his forekiiees and rolled over to die a't 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. Is was not an animal who had died. Jt was their idol, their champion; their greatest figure in world sports. The strong limbs that had stretched out to victory in some of i/lio most sensational races were stiffened in death. Suffering from the effect, ol Jew-cover-d’ grass, and possibly wild harJey ; 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 boating. 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.

FEW SAW HIS PASSING. “Pliar Lap pulled him back with a jerk of his head. The race had not . started yet. There were few of us there within an hour and a half after his death, and very few saw the final passing of the famous gelding who had thrilled several continents. America was enthused in him. Australia was proud of him. Canada had adopted him. His Majesty King George has spoken for his people recently in ti ,c cablegram of congratulations. But his head outside the stall, the great running machine lay still, and those fey who were present spoke in hushed voices. They put a halter about his head and fastened a rope to it to help lift ihim gently from the straw to the sled. We helped puil on them to carry _him from the stall. _ Several stablemen, traffic officers and ;a" few newspapermen escorted. JPhar..hap ..behind, the- sled, which was pulled by a slow-moving tractor—a caterpillar—slowest of rmoving machines to be the catafalque of possibly the fastest horse. ,

GREATEST THOROUGHBRED. “Thus passed the great Phar Lap. Thus ended the .potentialities of a horse that had not ydt, proved the real worth he had. They, said before he ran at Agua Uaiiente 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 P.har Lap headed the Held in the hackstretch for that (Tiife and a quarter run and was never headed as lie romped home pulled up. No one can really say that Phar Lap might nos have been the greatest thoroughbred in history. It was only a few days ago that Dr William Nielson, his veterinarian, declared that the 'tracks of thi J country were two seconds faster than the turf tracks of Australia. He looked for greater performances from Phar Lap in the United States Rian the chestnut gelding had shown in the .Antipodes. “We sat on a truck with Bid Elliott, the jockey who had ridden Phar Lap through many races in Australia, who had been on Phar Lap’s back at 1 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 thal: he knew the race was over.’”

“A GREAT CALAMITY.” Although. Mr Davis, the part owner of Phar Lap, could not understand the rapid death of his notable horse, he was diffident to believe the persistent rumours circulated that Phar Lap had died an unnatural death, he to’d a correspondent, who interviewed him at the Perry stables. “1 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, bu't evidently while casually grazing he must have, unnoticed, munched some noxio"s week that caused his death. It eould not have resulted from foul play. I have not an enemy in the world, and furthermore, it could no’t have been ./aused 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 Bonn as the eriWtest winner in racing his tory. Mr Davis, it. is said, recently ■•■lV'cd ,300 000 dollars for the great racer. And it was reported that 50,000 dollars’ worth of insurance previously carried oil tile horse had been cancelled when he left Australia.