Editing Phar Lap (section)

== Death ==
Early on 5 April 1932, the horse's [[strapper]] for the North American visit, [[Tommy Woodcock]], found him in severe pain and with a high temperature. Within a few hours, Phar Lap [[haemorrhage]]d to death. An autopsy revealed that the horse's stomach and intestines were inflamed, leading many to believe the horse had been deliberately poisoned. There have been alternative theories, including accidental poisoning from lead insecticide and a stomach condition. It was not until the 1980s that the infection could be formally identified.

In 2000, equine specialists studying the two necropsies concluded that Phar Lap probably died of [[Equine proximal enteritis|duodenitis-proximal jejunitis]], an acute bacterial [[gastroenteritis]].<ref name="Melbourne-Cup-1930">{{cite book |title=Melbourne Cup 1930 |author=Geoff Armstrong and Peter Thompson |year=2000 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-1-74114-750-6 }}</ref>
[[File:Phar Lap mount.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Phar Lap's skin was preserved by [[Louis Paul Jonas]] and is now exhibited as a taxidermy mount by [[Melbourne Museum]].]]
In 2006, [[Australian Synchrotron]] research scientists said it was almost certain Phar Lap [[arsenic poisoning|was poisoned]] with a large single dose of [[arsenic]] in the hours before he died, perhaps supporting the theory that Phar Lap was killed on the orders of US gangsters, who feared the Melbourne Cup-winning champion would inflict big losses on their illegal [[bookmaker]]s.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1770876.htm |title=Phar Lap poisoned, scientists say |work=ABC News Online |date=23 October 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37027569 |title=PHAR LAP WAS POISONED. |newspaper=[[The Courier-Mail]] |location=Brisbane |date=19 September 1936 |access-date=7 February 2011 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> No evidence of involvement by a criminal element exists, however.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2278343.htm |title=Catalyst (2008 report on arsenic death of Phar Lap) |work=ABC News Online |date=19 June 2008 }}</ref>

Sydney veterinarian Percy Sykes believes deliberate poisoning did not cause the death. He said "In those days, arsenic was quite a common tonic, usually given in the form of a solution ([[Fowler's Solution]])", and suggests this was the cause of the high levels. "It was so common that I'd reckon 90 percent of the horses had arsenic in their system."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1771619.htm |title=Phar Lap arsenic claims premature: expert |work=ABC News Online |date=23 October 2006 }}</ref>

In December 2007, Phar Lap's [[mane (horse)|mane]] was tested for multiple doses of arsenic which, if found, would point to accidental poisoning.

In April 2008, an 82-page handwritten notebook belonging to Telford and containing recipes for tonics given to Phar Lap in the days before swabbing was sold by a Melbourne auction house. It showed that Phar Lap was given tonics designed to boost his performance that included arsenic, strychnine, cocaine and caffeine.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/phar-lap-notebook-sells-for-37-000-20080424-ge702w.html |title= Phar Lap notebook sells for $37,000 |work=The Age/Australian Associated Press |date=24 April 2008 }}</ref> The find gave credence to Woodcock's deathbed admission in 1985 that Phar Lap may have been given an overdose of a tonic before the horse died in 1932. The notebook was sold to the Melbourne Museum for $37,000.

On 19 June 2008, the Melbourne Museum released the findings of the forensic investigation conducted by Ivan Kempson, University of South Australia, and Dermot Henry, Natural Science Collections at Museum Victoria. Kempson analysed six hairs from Phar Lap's mane at the [[Advanced Photon Source]] at [[Argonne National Laboratory]] near [[Chicago]]. These high resolution X-rays detect arsenic in hair samples, showing the specific difference "between arsenic, which had entered the hair cells via the blood and arsenic which had infused the hair cells by the [[taxidermy]] process when he was stuffed and mounted at the museum".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/horseracing/its-official-phar-lap-was-poisoned/2008/06/19/1213770778284.html |title=Sydney Morning Herald: It's official, Phar Lap was poisoned |publisher=Smh.com.au |date=19 June 2008 |access-date=2010-05-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Kempson I, Henry D |title=Synchrotron Radiation Reveals Arsenic Poisoning and Metabolism in Hair: The Case of Phar Lap |journal=Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. |year=2010 |volume=49 |issue=25 |pages=4237–4240 |doi=10.1002/anie.200906594|pmid=20432493 }}</ref>

Kempson and Henry discovered that in the 30 to 40 hours before Phar Lap's death, the horse ingested a massive dose of arsenic. "We can't speculate where the arsenic came from, but it was easily accessible at the time", Henry said.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news?slug=ap-australia-pharlap&prov=ap&type=lgns |title=Yahoo! Sports: Phar Lap died of arsenic poisoning |publisher=Sports.yahoo.com |access-date=2010-05-06 |archive-date=27 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627040913/http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news?slug=ap-australia-pharlap&prov=ap&type=lgns |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In October 2011 the ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]'' published an article in which a New Zealand physicist and information from Phar Lap's strapper state that the great horse was never given any tonic with arsenic and that he died of an infection.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/phar-lap-poisoning-theory-down-the-drain-20111030-1mqh4.html | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | title=Phar Lap poisoning theory down the drain}}</ref> Said Putt, "Unless we are prepared to say that [[Tommy Woodcock]] was a downright liar, which even today, decades after the loveable and respected horseman's death, would ostracise us with the Australian racing public, we must accept him on his word. The ineluctable conclusion we are left with, whether we like it or not, is that Phar Lap's impeccable achievements here and overseas were utterly tonic, stimulant, and drug-free."

Contradicting this is the tonic book of Harry Telford, Phar Lap's owner and trainer, on display in Museum Victoria, Melbourne. One recipe for a "general tonic" has a main ingredient of arsenic and has written below it: "A great tonic for all horses".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1373916/tonic-book-harry-telford-phar-lap-1930s |title=Tonic Book – Harry Telford, Phar Lap, 1930s |access-date=19 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424203429/http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1373916/tonic-book-harry-telford-phar-lap-1930s |archive-date=24 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>