Phar Lap to be put back together (correctly!)

The skeleton and hide of Phar Lap on display at the Melbourne Museum to help mark the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup. Photo / NZ Herald

The skeleton of New Zealand's most famous racehorse, Phar Lap, will stand a little more proudly when it is rearranged to correct mistakes made by museum staff in the 1930s.

The New Zealand-bred champ dominated the Australian racing scene during the Great Depression and was credited with giving people a hero when they needed one the most.

Following his death in 1932, Phar Lap's body parts were donated to museums here and in Australia.

His skeleton was first displayed in New Zealand's Dominion Museum in 1938 and his mounted hide was given to the Melbourne Museum. His enormous heart was donated to the Institute of Anatomy in Canberra and is now at the National Museum of Australia, also in Canberra.

When the skeleton was loaned to the Melbourne Museum in September 2010 as part of the celebrations for the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup, it became clear he wasn't standing quite right and needed a a makeover, Te Papa staff said.

While there was debate whether it was more important to maintain the 1938 version as an historic exhibit, it was finally decided that it is more important to "re-articulate'' the skeleton in a more anatomically more correct posture.

The 1938 articulation was done by Dominion Museum taxidermist Charles Lindsay and osteologist E.H. Gibson of the Otago Medical School.

"Given that neither man was an expert in equine anatomy, they did a remarkable job. But there are a series of minor errors that collectively mean that the skeleton does not quite match the proud physique of Phar Lap in his prime. This was exacerbated by metal fatigue of the rod holding up the neck and skull, resulting in the skull drooping from its original position,'' Te Papa said on its website.

Now that the skeleton is back at Te Papa, a team is working to have the skeleton re-articulated and back on display by early next year.

The skeleton will be matched against a life-sized image of Phar Lap's hide and rearranged to follow the posture of that.

Some of changes have already been made, including increasing the length and curvature of the spine, and lowering it at the front to increase the projection of the shoulder blades above the spine.

Phar Lap's skeleton is one of Te Papa's best known exhibits. Perhaps the most famous horse ever to emerge from Australasia, the national identity of Phar Lap is as intensely debated each side of the Tasman as is who invented the pavlova.

Born at Seadown near Timaru in 1926, Phar Lap was bought by the Sydney-based American businessman David J Davis in 1928.

In his four-year career, Phar Lap won 37 of 51 races he entered, including the Melbourne Cup in 1930.

He won 14 races in a row in 1930-31, and then 32 of his last 35 starts. Davis had him shipped to North America where he won his only race there - the Agua Caliente Handicap - in record time.

He died in mysterious circumstances soon after the race, on April 5, 1932.