Phar Lap - How good?

[RustyCage]

Ive always heard about Phar Lap being the one of the best horses of all time, but have never really heard why? What made it so good? How successful was it? Was it considered the best at the time or was it only years later that people realised how good it was? Was it so much better than every other horse ever, like a Don Bradman or Michael Schumacher, or was it just better than the horses it was running against?

[heater31]

not being a big racing buff one possibilty could be that every time that it raced it won and during the depression years everyone used to scrape enough money together to go to the track for entertainment and if they were lucky enough to have any money left over they would back Phar Lap and win enough money to make life easier.


My Grandfather used to talk yarns about the times he had years ago one of the them was during the depression after playing football on a Saturday He and his brother (who also played a few games for Norwood) would then go to the pub and stand out side on the verandah because they didnt have enough money to buy drinks waiting for the Sat nite dance to start. times were extremely tough

[mal]

The Red Terror must have been a champ, they made
a movie about him.
His heart is in a mueseum somewhere.

[am Bays]

I think it is something to do with the following record

51 starts
37 wins
3 seconds
2 3rds
9 unplaced

8 of the unplaced came in his first two years of racing. Basically from 1930 to 1932 the depression years he was only unplaced once, therefore the punters could go to a race put what little hard earned they had on him and walk out in front.....

[Ecky]

I think it is something to do with the following record

51 starts
37 wins
3 seconds
2 3rds
9 unplaced

8 of the unplaced came in his first two years of racing. Basically from 1930 to 1932 the depression years he was only unplaced once, therefore the punters could go to a race put what little hard earned they had on him and walk out in front.....

8 of those unplaced were actually in his first 9 races. The only other unplaced was when they made him carry a ridiculous record weight in the 1931 Melbourne Cup.

I can't find all the stats on the net, (a summary is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phar_Lap) but if you take into account at one stage he won 31 of 33 races in a row (many of which were Group 1s), and also his winning margins (usually many lengths, I believe) the statistical difference between him and all other horses is quite comparable to the difference between Bradman and all other batsmen.

Compare his record to Makybe Diva's ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makybe_Diva) and you will see that statistically there is no comparison.

[mal]

The autopsy into Phar Laps death in America showed the
champion had splinters up its arse.
Stable hand Tommy 'Wood'cock was implicated!

[another grub]

4 wins over Flemington week says it all..... Sat, Tues, Thurs and Sat.... He's the best ever!!!