August 28, 2008

PHAR Lap's 1930 Melbourne Cup trophy, one of Australian sport's holy grails, is a step closer to being found.

Racing historian Andrew Lemon has claimed the three handle 18 carat gold loving cup won by Phar Lap was recycled and is now the 1980 Melbourne Cup trophy. Phar Lap's missing cup has fascinated racing historians.

Lemon said the 1930 cup, sold in the 1940s by trainer Harry Telford when he fell on hard times, has been recycled not once, but twice. First as the 1953 Cup trophy won by Wodalla and then further altered to bear the inscription of Beldale Ball for the 1980 Cup.

Three years ago it was proven a trophy purporting to be the 1930 Cup bought by Port Macquarie car dealer Bob Todd was a fake. But until yesterday's intriguing tale, the whereabouts of the 1930 Cup made for the Victoria Racing Club remained a mystery.

Lemon, who has chronicled the missing cup tale in the The History Of Australian Thoroughbred Racing Volume III - In Our Time launched yesterday, stopped short of claiming he has total proof.

"All the circumstantial evidence says it is Phar Lap's cup. But there is a difference between evidence and proof,'' he said.

VRC chairman Rod Fitzroy only learned of the "discovery'' last Thursday. "We are 90 per cent sure. There are advanced metallurgy tests that can be conducted and we will further examine the archives of Drummond's,'' he said.

Fitzroy said the design of the 150th anniversary Cup in 2010 would be similar to the 1930 Cup: "when the trophy was at it's zenith.''

Lady Susan Renouf, former wife of Beldale Ball's late owner Robert Sangster, now owns the prized trophy which is on display at the Racing Museum at Federation Square.