1932. The Phar Lap era. Australian racing was not ready for another hero.

 

Tightly ensconced in the days of the Great Depression, Australian morale was low. When news came that Phar Lap, the national sporting icon, was dead, everyone said there would never be another horse like him. Yet in just a few short months there came one of the most brilliant, speedy racehorses Australia had ever seen. A horse that would be as successful as Phar Lap stormed into the public eye and captured the hearts of the nation. 

 

Across four years, Peter Pan won 23 stakes races at the highest level, including two Melbourne Cups in sensational circumstances. He smashed the Australasian mile record in 1935, and fought through illness and injury to leave his mark on the sport of kings. But he would forever linger in the shadow of Phar Lap, for Australia had not been ready for him.

 

Peter Pan: The Forgotten Story of Phar Lap’s Successor is the tale of the horse that came next; one of the most incredible thoroughbreds Australian horse racing has ever seen, yet forgotten so quickly. It is the story of triumph during the Great Depression, and the coming of a new champion when Australia least expected one. It is time to restore the standing of our other great racing hero.

 

Jessica Owers was born the year Kingston Town won his first Cox Plate. In 1988 she was introduced to Phar Lap on the school curriculum, and she has been writing about racehorses ever since. After completing a degree in environmental science and journalism from the University of Stirling, Scotland, Jessica worked as a riding instructor, then staff-writer for the Sydney-based magazines R.M. Williams’ Outback and Breeding & Racing. Her work has since been published in Inside Breeding, The Thoroughbred, Turf Monthly and Racing Life, along with various other books and publications across the Australian racing industry.

 

Jessica lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Peter Pan: The Forgotten Story of Phar Lap’s Successor is her first book, and the result of five years of work. She is

currently writing her second racing book.