Did tonic kill Phar Lap?

NEW tests have been carried out on a hair from Phar Lap's mane in an attempt to determine how the champion horse was poisoned with arsenic.Analysis of the latest tests could shed light on a long-held theory the Australian horse-racing legend may have been accidentally poisoned with an arsenic-laced tonic, known as Fowler's Solution.
Hair from a horse hide preserved in a similar fashion to Phar Lap's also has been tested. It is hoped those tests will provide a better understanding of the effects of arsenic used in preserving Phar Laps' hide.
It was revealed last year scientific tests had proved for the first time Phar Lap died of arsenic poisoning.
The arsenic traces found by Dr Ivan Kempson, of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program and Museum Victoria's Dermot Henry, were consistent with a large, single dose of the poison about 35 hours before Phar Lap died in California on April 5, 1932.
The latest tests were conducted by the same team at a synchrotron outside Chicago where the original tests were undertaken.
The tests provided no evidence of other arsenic ingested by Phar Lap in his last week. It is hoped analysis of the new tests will reveal any sign of repeated arsenic doses that may have been ingested and passed into the structure of Phar Lap's hair through the bloodstream.
Any positive results also will be compared with the chemical signature of arsenic in the first tests.
Tests on samples of hair obtained from a preserved horse hide at a Scottish museum also will be compared to the original test results.
"This data will allow us to compare arsenic levels and determine whether Phar Laps' levels clearly indicate that he ingested arsenic," a museum spokeswoman said.
The behaviour of arsenic in the first hair strands tested was consistent with results from a test on the hair of a pig that had been poisoned with arsenic. But there were some anomalies.
Strong traces of arsenic on the root bulb of Phar Lap's hair and hide had a different chemical form and were also associated with traces of lead.
Dr Kempson said this suggested it was a different arsenic that may have come from lead arsenate used to preserve Phar Lap's hide.
The new tests were conducted using a $20,000 State Government grant.