Phar Lap

by Armstrong, Geoff; Thompson, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781865085432
• ISBN10: 186508543X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Summary

The definitive book on this much loved Australian icon.

Author Biography

Geoff Armstrong's passion for racing dates back to the early sixties, when his grandfather taught him to read using a Saturday from guide while recounting tales of Phar Lap and other champions of the turf. Armstrong is the author of the official centenary book of cricket's Sheffield Shield, A Century of Summers, and co-author of the first history of Australia's involvement in international one-day cricket, The People's Game. He compiled and edited The Greatest Game, an anthology on Australian rugby league, and was co-author, with Mike Whitney, of Whiticisms. He has also worked with Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh on each of Waugh's seven best-selling books Peter Thompson's fascination with racing began when his grandmother backed Piping Lane at 40-1 to win the 1972 Melbourne Cup. As a commentator on sporting issues, his opinions have been read in The Age, The Financial Review and Business Review Weekly, and heard as those of 'Thommo from the Track' on Melbourne radio's 3AW. As an owner of several slow horses, he has often been heard to invoke the chant of the hopelessly optimistic: 'Even Phar Lap ran last in his first race.'

Table of Contents

Foreword by The Hon. Bob Hawke, AC	vii
Prologue	xiii
Part I: The racehorse
The unraced two-year old Cashy's champion	3	(16)
The Breeding --- He could be anything	13	(6)
Autumn 1929 I don't think he'll stay	19	(10)
Spring 1929 A tale Of two Bobbies	29	(26)
Autumn 1930 He could've won by a furlong	55	(14)
Spring 1930 Double trouble	69	(20)
The Shooting --- Warning or Spectacle?	83	(6)
Cup Day 1930 Wonderful what a horse can do	89	(16)
Autumn 1931 A change of colours	105	(12)
Spring 1931 Splits in the stable	117	(20)
Autumn 1932 It's a Long way to Caliente	137	(32)
The Death --- Who killed Phar Lap?	155	(14)
Part II: The icon
The media star by Eddie Butler-Bowdon	169	(10)
A view from the press box by A.B. Paterson	179	(4)
Devoted to the cause by Bill Whittaker	183	(14)
Remembering Phar Lap by Elizabeth Willis	197	(10)
Standing tall: The museum exhibit by Eddie Butler-Bowdon	207	(4)
Phar Lap's pedigree	211	(5)
Phar Lap's racing statistics	216	(10)
Glossary	226	(7)
Further reading	233	(1)
Acknowledgements and sources	234	(3)
Index	237