Summary

This letter of sympathy was one of a large number sent to his trainer and part owner Harry Telford after Phar Lap died in April, 1932. The Telford family retained the letters, and they were donated to the museum in the 1990s.

More Information

  • Collection Names

    Phar Lap Collection

  • Collecting Areas

    Leisure, Public Life & Institutions

  • Acquisition Information

    Donation from Mrs Nancy Telford, 20 Oct 1999

  • Date Written

    12 Apr 1932

  • Inscriptions

    Text: Mr. Telford/Dear Sir/I hope you will/not think me presumptuous in/writing to you but I am so/upset about Phar lap that I/feel I must let you know how/I loved him. While he was/here I saw him race only once;/in the Spring Stakes at/Randwick, and then soon after/that, to my dismay I read that/he was to be sent to America./While he was there I/constantly thought of him,/and hoped he would soon/return to Australia./It is just a week to-day/as my mother and I sat sewing/that we heard over the/wireless Phar Lap is dead. I/said to Mother It can't be true/it is just a cruel joke./I hope some day to possess/a horse with a lovely nature/like Phar Lap,, when funds are/better perhaps, but there is/plenty of time as I am only/16 years of age./I feel very miserable, and/only wish his precious life/could have been saved, also/that he had stayed here./I have just a faint idea/how upset you must be.

  • Classification

    Sport, Horse racing, Correspondence

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    History

  • Type of item

    Document

  • Overall Dimensions

    25.1 cm (Length), 20 cm (Width)

  • Keywords

    Correspondence, Death & Mourning, Horse Racing, Horses, Racing Industry, Sport, Making History - Phar Lap