Smokin’ Joey won on Derby day this year and then placed on Stakes day. Two great runs in 7 days. Not bad. But this is nothing compared to what happened in Cup week 1930. Yes Bernborough won two great races with huge weights in a week at Doomben in 1946 and Tulloch won twice in a week plenty of times by huge margins. Carbine on two occasions won three races in one day but that was a long time ago. The below description is without a doubt the greatest achievement by a thoroughbred in the history of the Australian racing industry.
Melbourne Cup week 1930: Phar Lap’s Flemington onslaught
Derby Day. 1 November 1930.
On this day, a week after winning the Cox Plate, Phar Lap backed up in the Melbourne Stakes over a mile and a quarter. Today this race is the 2000m Mackinnon Stakes. This race was at WFA and Phar Lap beat another champion and second favourite in the race Amounis (Amounis ran third) and a horse named Tregilla that ran second. This race since almost the dawn of time has been used to warm up a horse for the Melbourne Cup; so the fact that Phar Lap won this race was no real surprise. Well actually it was a little bit of a surprise because the day before the Melbourne Stakes, gangsters or bookies had tried to kill Phar Lap to avoid the huge Melbourne Cup payouts that they were facing. Phar Lap jumped at 5-1 on ($1.20) and won untouched in what was a training gallop by three lengths.
Melbourne Cup Day. 4 November 2013.
We all know that Phar Lap won the 1930 Melbourne Cup, and it was a stunning win. The champ won effortlessly by three lengths while carrying what today equates to 62.5kg and Phar Lap started odds on; he is still the only horse ever to start odds on in the Melbourne Cup. Consdiering the amount of people who bet on the Cup, it is still amazing that despite the big weight and the Great Depression, this horse started odds on. The weight of money behind him to get him to odds on must have been huge. This shows that the public support was simply huge; the Great Depression was raging, but people still found a little money to all to a man back Phar Lap. The Cup win makes it two for the week for Phar Lap and he was not even half done. The champ again won by three lengths and was again untouched. He paid 11-8 on ($1.72).
Oaks Day. 6 November 2013.
After winning the Melbourne Stakes and the Melbourne Cup (with a record weight for a four-year-old) Phar Lap was not sent for a spell, but rather the connections kept him running. Harry Telford’s theory was if you want a pet get a dog. Racehorses are born to run. With this in mine, Phar Lap took on a crack field of hard and fit milers over the mile in the Linlithgow Stakes. This race has now been reduced from 1600m to 1200m and moved to Emirates Stakes day. It is called the VRC Classic and was won this year by Buffering. We cannot estimate how hard it is for a horse to comeback from 3200m to run in a 1600m race two days later. On the Tuesday Phar Lap had effortlessly carried a weight that would have killed Atlantic Jewel, to victory over 3200m. Now he was lining up in a 1600m race just for the sake of it. And of course he won. He was 7-1 on ($1.14) and won accordingly untouched by 4 lengths. This made it three wins in Cup week 1930 and he still had one more to go.
The Final Day; today known as Emirates Stakes Day. 8 November 1930.
On the 4th and final day of the carnival Phar Lap was entered in the mile and a half C.B. Fisher Plate (2400m) and betting for one of the only times in the history of Australian racing was stopped due to everyone accepting that Phar Lap was over the line. He had won three races in the week already but the bookies still felt he was unbeatable and as such they did not take bets on the champ. That basically means he jumped at $1.00. If you bet ten dollars and he wins you get back your ten and nothing else. Not really worth the risk is it? Well the bookies were right and Phar Lap won untouched by 3.5 lengths thus giving him four wins in Melbourne Cup week 1930. One win per day for the four day carnival. Extraordinary. The C.B. Fisher Plate is no longer run but for arguments sake we will compare this race with Queen Elizabeth that was won by Precedence on stakes day this year.
Therefore Phar Lap alone won the races in Cup week that were won this year by Side Glance (the Mackinnon), Fiorente (Melbourne Cup), Buffering (Sprint race) and Precedence. As earlier mentioned… this is the greatest achievement ever by a Thoroughbred in Australia. Considering how most trainers protect their horses these days, it is highly unlikely a horse will ever race on all four days again.
Four wins in a week. Sensational stuff.
By Zeb Armstrong
