What did Phar Lap do?

Answer 1

Phar Lap is considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time. In the "top 100 racehorses of the 20th century" book by Blood-Horse magazine Phar Lap is ranked at #22, respecting that he only raced in the US once, and the list is primarily based on United States bred and raced horses. (Phar Lap was originally bred in Australia and raced most of his career in New Zealand) He won 37 of his 51 races and 36 of them were stakes. He also placed in 3 (all stakes) and showed in 2 (also all stakes) and was only off the board nine times, a pretty nice record. One of his off the board finishes was when he carried a staggering impost of 150 pounds in the Melbourne Cup which he finished eighth, while the winner only carried a feathery 100. 130 is a lot for a horse to carry in a race and is rarely assigned today. Phar Lap was going to keep racing in the US but was shockingly found dead while recuperating from a pulled tendon at a ranch near San Francisco on April 5th, 1932. At first people thought it was from colic but it was later found that he had arsenic found in his system. Apparently a farm employee had sprayed some plants with insecticide which spread by wind to the area where Phar Lap grazed. Many Australians believed he had been killed in a organized killing but those speculations were never confirmed. Many of books have been written on Phar Lap and a movie was also made about his life and mysterious death (which i have yet to see! (: ) I respect Phar Lap and consider him an outstanding racehorse and i would rank him among other greats similar in his greatness like Swaps, Equipoise, John Henry, and Nashua.