PETER PAN

All the World is made of faith and trust and Pixie dust...and the magic of Peter Pan

In 1932, they said there would never be another Phar Lap. Yet within months there came a racehorse so wildly brilliant that he was instantly compared to the dead champion. Peter Pan was a legendary Australian chestnut racehorse and stallion that raced in the early 1930's off the back of the Phar Lap era, and during the Great Depression. The horse was born and bred in Singleton by the Dangar family who were pioneers in racing. Peter Pan was sired by Pantheon (GB) out of Alwina by St Alwyne (GB). He was foaled at the Baroona Homestead near Singleton NSW in 1929. His sire Pantheon was an outstanding racehorse in his own right, winning 10 races from 44 starts in England and Australia. Alwina did not race, but was a very good broodmare. Peter Pan was known for having an unusual colouring for a Thoroughbred. He was chestnut with a blonde mane and tail. Frank McGrath's wife loved Peter Pan for his colouring and racing beauty.

With Phar Lap, Chatham and Rogilla, all household names at the time, Frank McGrath, Sr. and some others considered Peter Pan to possibly be a better horse than the great Phar Lap. Peter Pan was famous for winning the Melbourne Cup twice, in 1932 as a three-year-old and 1934. In the running of the 1932 Melbourne Cup, Peter Pan, carrying Billy Duncan was travelling at the rear of the pack when he clipped the heels of the horse in front and fell to his knees. Running behind him, stablemate Denis Boy bumped the champion back onto his feet. From there, Peter Pan raced past the pack to take out the race by a neck. When he was led into the winner's circle, a grass stain was clearly visible on his face. He was the last horse to win dual Cups until Makybe Diva in 2005 and remains one of only five horses to win more than one Melbourne Cup.

In 1933, Peter Pan fought a near-fatal viral disease that swept Sydney's racing stables and did not contest the Melbourne Cup. Frank McGrath Snr. personally nursed the horse back to health. Peter Pan won his 1934 Melbourne Cup carrying Darby Munro with 9 st 10 lb (61.5kg) on his back and from an outside draw on a heavy track, hence his long odds of 14/1. In 1932, he also won the AJC Derby and the MacKinnon Stakes. To win two Melbourne Cups is a rare feat, and this with his fine record gained him a place in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. To date, he remains the only Melbourne Cup winning horse to win multiple Melbourne Cups in non-consecutive years. Following the second win there was great public debate about which was the better horse, Peter Pan, or the magnificent Phar Lap. Opinion was divided, but as they say, comparisons are odious. Certainly Phar Lap has a special place in Australian minds and  hearts. The pair never ran in the same race, but both competed during the years of the Great Depression, raising the morale of the entire country.

In 1935, Peter Pan suffered a recurrence of the illness that nearly killed him in 1933. Once again, Frank McGrath Snr. nursed him back to health but the horse was not his old self. Out of loyalty to the enormous public following that Peter Pan had gained, Rodney R. Dangar and McGrath agreed to start Peter Pan in the 1935 Melbourne Cup. The horse carried 10 st 6 lb (a pound more than carried by Carbine to win the 1890 Melbourne Cup) but finished 13th. He was retired to stud the following year. Peter Pan died on May 5 1941, due to infection following a broken bone in his leg. He was buried at Baroona. His headstone is inscribed, most appropriately; ‘A VERY GALLANT HORSE’.

Record - 38: 23-6-1
Earnings - £34,938

Melbourne Cup (1932, 1934)
Melbourne Stakes (1932, 1934)
Hill Stakes (1932, 1935)
AJC Plate (1933)
Randwick Stakes (1933, 1935)
AJC St Leger (1933)
AJC Cumberland Plate (1933, 1934)
AJC Autumn Plate (1934, 1935)
All Aged Stakes (1935) (Australasian record)
Rawson Stakes (1935)
Craven Plate (1935)
AJC Jubilee Cup (1935)
AJC Spring Stakes (1935)