Phar Lap is Australia's most famous racehorse.

Regardless of their opinion on racing, every Australian grows up knowing Phar Lap's story. He came from good lineage but humble beginnings in New Zealand, and was brought to Australia in 1928. He looked terrible and didn't have a lot going for him on paper, but ended up winning 37 races from 51 starts including Australia's most prestigious horse race, the Melbourne Cup. During the Great Depression, Phar Lap brought joy and hope to the Australian public. His name derived from the Zhuang and Thai word for lightning, literally "sky flash".

In 1932, Phar Lap travelled to Tijuana, Mexico, to race in the Agua Caliente handicap, which was the richest race in the world at the time. He won the race by several lengths, but died unexpectedly in mysterious circumstances 16 days later in San Francisco, on April 5 1932. In Australia, his death was (and still is) seen as a tragedy, especially in such turbulent times.

Phar Lap's remains were sent to three different institutions. His skeleton is part of the collection at the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, his mounted hide went to the Melbourne Museum in Victoria, Australia, and his heart, which turned out to be around twice the size of an average racehorse's heart, was sent to the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

Something else that gave people hope during difficult years was the Space Race, and I decided to combine these two events. This type of space travel, where a horse travels to Saturn for an inter-solar-system race is unlikely to be viable for quite some time (or ever), so the time period probably classifies as "indeterminate future", but the Phar Lap loving Australian in me wanted to give him a home forever in the stars.

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Phar Lap links:

National Museum of Australia: www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/phar-lap-collection

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia:
www.nfsa.gov.au/tags/phar-lap

Farewell Phar Lap, 1932 film obituary: www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/farewell-phar-lap

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