Phar Lap death mystery solved
Tuesday October 24, 2006
By Greg Ansley
Australian scientists have proved that legendary Timaru-bred racehorse Phar Lap was poisoned - but the big gelding's death remains one of racing's great whodunnits.
Tests on hair samples using a huge American particle accelerator have established Phar Lap was given a fatal dose of arsenic about 35 hours before his death in California in 1932.
But although arsenic has been identified, there is still no evidence of how it was administered or by whom, let alone whether the Mafia was involved, as conspiracy theories have long postulated.
"All the material we have can only indicate he has ingested arsenic," Dr Ivan Kempson, of the Australian Synchrotron Research Programme, told ABC radio. "We can't actually identify where it has come from."
Even so, their conclusion that the great chestnut racehorse took the poison in one big dose adds to speculation that his death was deliberate.
The earliest autopsies speculated that Phar Lap - considered by many to be the greatest racehorse New Zealand and Australia have produced - died of acute gastric enteritis caused by a toxic substance.
