Killing Phar Lap: A Forensic Investigation

In a short update Kerry is delighted to announce that Killing Phar Lap was nominated for Best Podcast in the True Crime category at the Australian Podcast Awards 2021. On the other hand the National Museum curators & Director Mathew Trinca throw the Phar Lap heart DNA testing process into chaos.

A heart as big as Phar Lap’s. Journalist Peter Luck’s ground breaking interview with Mary McCann in the late 1990’s includes horse vet Bill Nielsen’s confession to his daughter – “It’s not Phar Lap’s heart, it’s a draught horse’s!” Portions of Phar Lap’s heart pieces that were cut out and put in separate jars in 1932, are sent to a cutting edge lab in France for DNA testing. We take into account the entirety of all my findings, of all the evidence. Not long before his death Tommy Woodcock is diplomatic yet explicit and reveals what really happened to Phar Lap.

A recap - The indisputable facts - Horse vet Bill Nielsen’s devious behaviour leaves traces. Bill fails to report the ‘medicine’ he dosed Phar Lap with on the early morning of his death, instead blaming Tommy Woodcock for grazing Phar Lap on arsenic sprayed pasture. Mob historian Christian Cipollini puts the birth of the mob’s so called ‘Murder Inc’ in 1932 into perspective to reveal the unified, deadly nature of the Syndicate, coast to coast, across the whole country. Australian journalist Bert Wolfe was at the scene when Phar Lap died and firmly believed the great horse was deliberately poisoned. Was competitive millionaire race horse owner Willis Sharpe Kilmer involved? Does the metal box containing Phar Lap’s remains, that Bill Nielsen buried at Menlo Park, contain Phar lap’s real heart?

Winter of 2005; a seed is planted for the invisible to become visible – forensic science at its best. Ivan Kempson from the University South Australia and Dermot Henry from Melbourne Museum reveal how they tested Phar Lap’s hide hair and found he had ingested an enormous amount of arsenic in the hours before his death.

Back to Menlo Park ranch California, horse heaven, gangster heaven...then everything went wrong ... San Diego trainer Harry Unna collects a broken hearted Tommy & takes him for a break to his ranch away from the trauma of Menlo Park. When Tommy is training for Willis Kilmer in Chicago Tommy bumps into Harry who takes him to meet his friend ... Al Capone.

The Border Barons - Satan’s Playground - Hollywood movie stars and mafia mobsters mix it up at the famed Agua Caliente Race Club resort and casino.

Sore Heads - empty pockets – Dave Davis and his inside circle win a fortune on Phar Lap to the wrath of the mob’s race fixers, and quickly leave Mexico for the safety of the Menlo Park ranch, California

Back at the Menlo Park ranch, it is horse heaven, gangster heaven. But then .. everything went wrong ... “Did Ed Perry recruit Bill Nielsen into the death plan?

Horse vet Jay Hansen recalls his family’s time living at the Menlo Park ranch in 1932 when Phar Lap died.

High Hopes – Taking on the World – “The best holiday I ever had, just me and me horse” - California here I come.

After amassing a fortune on Phar Lap, why would our great horse’s owners send him to the dodgy race tracks of Mexico and the United States?

Tommy & Phar Lap arrive in Tijuana for The Agua Caliente Handicap, the so called richest horse race in the world.

In the Arms of Criminals on the San Mateo Peninsula. Kerry describes Phar Lap’s excruciating death at Menlo Park, California followed by the immediate & critical post mortem.

Inside Information. Kerry gives the background to her family’s enduring relationship with Tommy & Emma Woodcock.

Dedicated to Tommy Woodcock & Phar Lap. Kerry Negara outlines the forensic investigation that has taken her over 5 years to deliver in this ground breaking podcast. She tells how Phar Lap was killed in Menlo Park California, by whose hand and why. Along the way Kerry questions whether the iconic heart specimen on display at the National Museum of Australia is actually Phar Lap’s heart. Kerry believes it is not.