Phar Lap heart ruled too fragile for transtasman flight

The Australians have had a change of heart - Phar Lap's mighty motor will no longer be winging its way home to mark the Wellington Racing Club's centenary.

The legendary racehorse's heart was to go on display at Te Papa on Friday week for a month but experts at National Museum of Australia in Canberra have decided it would be too risky to subject the organ to a transtasman transplant.

The National Museum of Australia announced the setback yesterday, saying it regretted letting the club and the New Zealand public down.

"We did our level best to loan the heart," the museum's general manager in charge of collections, Freda Hanley, said. "We knew the risks, and did our best to mitigate them."

An inspection of the heart's condition this week - for the first time in 20 years - found the tissue was unexpectedly fragile, a museum statement said.

Trentham's centennial manager, Gerry Morris, said: "It's a bit of a blow but we completely understand their reasons. We still have Phar Lap's skeleton in New Zealand and it's rock solid."

The heart was to have featured at a centenary dinner next week but Mr Morris said he was still pleased to have the presence of legendary Australian trainer Bart Cummings and former New Zealand jockey Jim Cassidy.

Te Papa's chief executive Dr Seddon Bennington said he was disappointed but understood the Australian museum's decision.

"The museum's primary responsibility is to care for this unique object. Te Papa would have done the same if it was part of our collection," Dr Bennington said.

Phar Lap's abnormally large heart, weighing 6.2 kilograms (the average horse's heart weighs 4kg), has been preserved since the 1930s.
After conservation treatment, Phar Lap's heart will return to the National Museum's Australian Sports display next month.

- NZPA