Immortal champion
Trained by Harry Telford
Phar Lap — 'The Red Terror' — won the 1930 Melbourne Cup carrying 62.5kg in the depths of the Great Depression, a result that lifted the spirits of an entire nation.
From his base at Williamstown, the giant chestnut won 37 of his 51 starts, including the 1930 Cox Plate. His mysterious death in California in 1932 remains Australian sport's most enduring mystery, and his hide is mounted in the Melbourne Museum — still drawing crowds nearly a century on.
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Phar Lap, carrying 9 stone 7 pounds (62.5kg), started at 8/11 and won as a symbol of hope during the Great Depression.
He died suddenly in Menlo Park, California, in April 1932, days before a big race. Poisoning was long suspected — arsenic was found — though whether by accident or design has never been proven.