A Sydney car dealer believes he has found the the missing Melbourne Cup won by the legendary Phar Lap in 1930.
The big New Zealand-born gelding easily won the 1930 race even though his handicap meant he was carrying 4kg more than any other four-year-old horse had ever carried in
a Melbourne Cup.
The prized trophy later went missing, but car dealer Bob Todd says he has found it.
Mr Todd says he came to own the controversial trophy after an elderly man offered it and a sum of cash in exchange for a near-new car in 1998.
The man told him he had bought the trophy from a John Ellis in the 1970s - a claim supported by letters from the Ellis family.
The letter said the cup had been sold to them by Phar Lap's trainer and it had remained in their custody for nearly 30 years, Mr Todd said.
Now the discovery of a jeweller's hallmark on the base of the cup has reignited debate, prompting the Victorian Racing Club to reinvestigate Mr Todd's claim despite having rejected the trophy's authenticity seven years ago.
"With fresh evidence and the fact this claim has not gone away, the club would welcome the opportunity to review that position," club marketing manager Joe McGrath told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "The hallmark from the jeweller is a key point but we need to look at the cup again and have an independent jeweller determine the lifespan of the trophy's gold."
The hallmark, W D & Co, matches that of William Drummond - the jeweller commissioned to make the original cup at the time.
Photographs of the original cup reveal Mr Todd's is the same design, size and shape.
Mr Todd said he had already been offered A$80,000 ($88,000) for the 18-carat gold trophy, but wasn't interested in selling it for less than a million dollars.
"I don't need the money, but if someone was to offer me $1 million of course I'd think about it," he said.
Phar Lap's 1931 Cox Plate trophy was last year sold at auction for A$400,000.
- AAP
