What was the controversy surrounding the death of the great race horse Phar Lap?

Answer 1

Phar Lap, the great Australian race horse, had been taken to America to compete and died suddenly. He had been apparently healthy until less than 48 hours before he died in agony. His death showed typical symptoms of arsenic poisoning. Most people at the time thought that he had been poisoned deliberately as an act of sabotage (a racehorse owner who did not appreciate the competition) or vandalism (gangsters who poisoned the horse for the same reasons they destroy art or ruin public gardens).

After his death, Phar Lap was stuffed and is now on display at the Melbourne Museum. Analysis of his hairs has since showed that he did indeed die of arsenic poisoning, and the theory that the arsenic was not ingested but used to preserve the hide has been disproven. However, new evidence has recently come to light that he was accidentally poisoned by his handlers. The diary of his trainer was donated to the museum and shows recipes for tonics. These were popular in the day and age. Phar Lap's 'General Tonic' which was routinely fed to him contained arsenic. An unintentional overdose of this tonic by one of his grooms could easily have delivered enough arsenic to kill him.

A necropsy revealed that Phar Lap's stomach and intestines were inflamed, and many believed he had been deliberately poisoned. A variety of theories have been propounded through the years. In 2006 Australian Synchrotron Research scientists said it was almost certain Phar Lap was poisoned with a large single dose of arsenic 35 hours before he died, supporting the belief that Phar Lap was killed on the orders of US gangsters, who feared the Melbourne-Cup-winning champion would inflict big losses on their illegal bookmakers.