Category: Horses

Phar Lap was definitely the most famous horse in the world in his day and probably the most famous racehorse in the history of Australian horse racing. Bred by Alick Roberts in New Zealand, Phar Lap was bought as a yearling by Sydney trainer Harry Telford on behalf of American businessman David Davis. His name is derived from the Zhuang word ฟ้าแลบ (F̂ālæb) meaning ‘lightning’.

 

However, Davis emphatically rejected the big, ungainly chestnut and, instead, leased him to Telford, who duly had Phar Lap gelded. Immature and unfurnished as a two-year-old, Phar Lap made his racecourse debut in the autumn of 1928 and finished unplaced in his first four starts. He finally broke his maiden in the Rosehill Maiden Juvenile Handicap, over 6 furlongs, before being put away for the winter.

 

Phar Lap started his three-year-old campaign in similarly inauspicious style, again finishing unplaced in his first four starts before chasing home Mollison – the winner of 13 of his first 17 starts – in the Chelmsford Stakes. The Chelmsford Stakes proved something of a turning point for Phar Lap because, thereafter, he recorded a series of impressive victories, including in the AJC Derby and the VRC Derby, before taking on the older horses in the Melbourne Cup.

 

Despite the absence of regular jockey Jim Pike – who couldn’t make the allotted weight of 104lb, or 7st 6lb, and was replaced by Bobby Lewis – Phar Lap started even money favourite for “the race that stops a nation”. Having attempted to make all the running, though, Phar Lap faded in the closing stages.

 

The following season, the “Red Terror”, as Phar Lap became affectionately known to Australian racegoers, returned bigger, stronger and better than ever. He won 14 of his 16 races, including the Melbourne Cup, for which he started the shortest priced favourite in the history of the race, at 8/11, and won easily, despite carrying 9st 12lb.

 

In 1932, Phar Lap sent to the United States to contest what was then the richest race in the world, Agua Caliente Handicap at Tijuana, Mexico. He again won easily, breaking the track record in the process, but the race proved to be his last; he mysteriously collapsed and died at a farm in Atherton, California just 16 days later. All in all, Phar Lap won 37 of his 51 races and over A$66,000 in prize money.

Barbaro was a dark bay or brown colt, bred and owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson and trained throughout his tragically short racing career by Michael Matz in Fair View, Maryland. A grandson of Roberto, who won the English Derby in 1972, Barbaro raced just once as a juvenile, beating two rivals by 8 lengths and upwards in the Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park in November 2005. He also won the first two starts of his three-year-old campaign, the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park West and the Holly Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park – both Grade 3 events – before making a successful transition to Grade 1 level in the Florida Derby at the latter venue.

 

The following month, Barbaro recorded the biggest – and, sadly, the last – win of his career in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Stepping up to 1 mile 2 furlongs for the first time, the Dynaformer colt led at the two-furlong marker and only had to be pushed out by jockey Edgar Prado for an impressive, 6½-length win over Bluegrass Cat. In so doing, he recorded the widest winning margin since American Triple Crown winner Assault won the “Run for the Roses” by 8 lengths in 1946. Winning punters counted their winnings like someone who’d just stuck the jackpot on slots,  Online Casino Deutschland style.

 

Two weeks later, Barbaro lined up for the second leg of the American Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, for which he started hot favourite. Initially, Barbaro broke through the starting gate, but was soon pulled up and reloaded, only for disaster to strike seconds after the start. The horse broke down on his off hind leg after a furlong and was later found to have shattered, splintered and cracked bones above, below and at the back of the fetlock joint.

 

He was treated for his injuries at the New Bolton Centre at the University of Pennsylvania – coincidentally, just three miles from the Jacksons’ Lael Stables in West Grove, Pennsylvania – and his broken leg eventually healed, albeit not perfectly. However, by that time he had developed laminitis – a hoof disease, to which horses with broken limbs are particularly susceptible – in both front feet. Consequently, he was humanely euthanised in January 2007. In his racing career he had won five of his six races and earned over £1.3 million in prize money.

Nijinsky, named after the celebrated Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, had the distinction of being the last horse to win the three most coveted races on the British horse racing calendar, the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St. Leger, collectively known as the “Triple Crown”.

 

An imposing bay colt, who grew to stand 16.3 hands high, quite unlike his diminutive sire, Northern Dancer, Nijinsky was owned by Charles Engelhard and trained by Vincent O’Brien at Ballydoyle, Co. Tipperary. In his juvenile season, in 1969, he was unbeaten in five starts, culminating with an easy victory in the Dewhurst Stakes, over 7 furlongs, at Newmarket, when ridden for the first time by Lester Piggott.

 

Consequently, Nijinsky started odds-on favourite, at 4/7, for the 2,000 Guineas back at Newmarket the following May and, again, won easily by 2½ lengths from Yellow God. In the Derby, he started 11/8 favourite and beat main market rival Gyr by 2½ lengths in the fastest time since Mahmoud in 1936 and, in the St. Leger, he justified odds of 2/7 by beating Meadowville by a length, without ever being asked for maximum effort. In so doing, Nijinsky became the first Triple Crown winner since Barham in 1935.

 

Nijinsky tasted defeat just twice, on the last two starts of his career. On his penultimate start, in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, he was beaten a head by the rallying Sassafras, ridden by Yves Saint-Martin. On his final start, in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket – where he was particularly fractious before the start – he ran below par and was beaten three-quarters of a length by Lorenzaccio, ridden by Geoff Lewis. All in all, Nijinsky won 11 of his 13 races and over $670,000 in prize money.

 

At the end of his three-year-old campaign, Nijinksy stood at Clairborne Farm, Kentucky, where he became a leading sire until his death, as a 25-year-old, in 1992. He had been plagued with chronic leg problems and was humanely euthanised to prevent further discomfort.