Some theories for Phar laps death??

Question

Some theories for Phar laps death??

Answer 1

If I remember correctly.  May have been poisoned or bad feed.

http://www.saferhorseracing.com/gpage26....

Answer 2

He was poisoned.  Gamblers had shot at him in Australia!

Answer 3

A couple of years ago they did a test on some of Phar Lap's hairs from his mane and found an overdose of arsenic.  On the day he died, he had a fever and his stomach and intestines were inflamed.  With the medical technology of the day, they couldn't find the exact disease but it was later found to be a form of gastroenteritis.  Then the study from a few years ago found the arsenic.  Because of his symptoms, people guessed that he was poisoned.  After the study, people think that he was poisoned through an overdose of arsenic.  However, I read recently that arsenic was a lot more common then and that they'd deliberately give small doses to horses and that amount of arsenic may have been in his system as a result of many doses.

So it's still all conjecture.  No one can really say for sure.  The arsenic may or may not have been the cause... it could have just been a bacterial disease.  One doctor suggested it was a particular bacterial disease caused by stress... it would manifest itself as fever, irregular heart beat, colic, and death, all of which Phar Lap suffered on his last day.  It's a possible explanation because the horse was trained hard for the Melbourne Cup, shipped over the ocean, raced again, and sent to a new barn all in a short time... that would be a stressful experience.

If it was the arsenic, it might have been one deliberate large overdose or an accidental overdose with small doses given to the horse over time adding up to an overdose.  There's even evidence to suggest that the trees around his new barn in California had been sprayed with an insecticide containing arsenic, so the horse could have accidentally poisoned himself.   I don't think we'll ever actually know for sure.

Answer 4

It has been suggested that Phar Lap was poisoned by an American racing syndicate because they believed he would beat their horses.

Another theory is that he was fed unfamiliar food which reacted and caused colic, which can be fatal in horses.

Third theory was that his food was enriched with a substance which accidentally caused food poisoning.

Whichever theory was correct, it was a tragic end to a great Aussie legend.