The Bottom Line
Pros
- Useful narrative of Phar Lap's story
Cons
- Same authors of numerous other Phar Lap books appear to have gone to the well once too often
- Unexciting read loaded with speculation as much is still unanswered to this day
Description
- The legendary Phar Lap won 37 of 51 starts, closing out his career with a victory in Mexico at Agua Caliente.
- Having won the Caulfield Cup, he was the heavy favorite going into the Melbourne Cup.
- Bookmakers feared heavy losses as many had bet the "double" which would win if Phar Lap could pull off the sweep.
- With this in mind, they were the prime suspects in the investigation, although to this day it has gone unsolved.
Guide Review - Melbourne Cup 1930 by Geoff Armstrong and Peter Thompson
In a scene ripped straight from a gangster movie, an unknown gunman tried to shoot Phar Lap on a quiet suburban street at dawn as strapper (groom) Tommy Woodcock was walking him back to the stables after morning workouts. Because of the lack of light, Woodcock could not clearly identify the culpits who attempted the "drive-by shooting". Phar Lap was hidden at an undisclosed location under heavy police presence, while Melbourne's most famous detective attempted to find the shooters.Armstrong and Thompson used research from numerous sources, sifting fact from fiction, to piece together this story, but point out in the preface that all the names used were real, other than the bookmakers so as to not incriminate anyone. However, records found both in newspapers and in police files fail to answer the question of who pulled the trigger.
However, with nobody getting hurt, and the possibility there might not have been a shot fired at all, it ended up being the "perfect crime", one that actually added to the legend of Phar Lap and the Melbourne Cup.
Unfortunately the book was a tedious read mostly filled with information already seen in other books on Phar Lap. No new details have been dug up on this topic, and those who have read these authors' previous works likely do not need a copy of this book. Those who have not may enjoy this "summary" version of his story which is sold at a lower price point than Armstrong and Thompson's coffee-table "Phar Lap" book from the same publishers, released in 2000.
