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Phar Lap to return, immortalised in bronze
By STU PIDDINGTON - The Timaru Herald
Last updated 05:00 02/05/2009
Phar Lap is close to be immortalised in bronze when sculptor Joanne Sullivan-Gessler unveils her full-sized clay statue this weekend.
Around 50 invited guests will crowd into her North Shore shed for the momentous moment.
Once cast, the statue will be placed at the gates of the Timaru raceway that bears the chestnut gelding's name. Phar Lap Trust chairman Derek Mayne, who heads from Timaru to Auckland this morning, said he was bursting to see it. "We sent one of New Zealand's greatest trainers, Colin Jillings, to check it out and he was amazed."
Jillings said that at full gallop with the flare of the nostril, the muscle tone, the sinews all strained out to full gallop, the sculpture wa exceptional.
"Joanne needs 100 per cent marks for this, it is marvellous, marvellous."
He said the sculptor had captured Phar Lap's image, with an 8.2 metre stride and jockey Jim Pike on his back, without fault after studying countless photographs of the great horse.
Mayne said he hoped the publicity surrounding the unveiling would help kick-start the fundraising effort again, with the trust still around $100,000 short of their $450,000 target after the cost and incidentals increased.
"It's still all go and the statue will head to the foundry next week where it will take about four months to complete."
The huge Timaru-bred horse, who has become an icon, won 37 of his 51 starts before his premature death aged five.
The statue will be unveiled in Timaru on November 25.
Anyone able to make a donation can contact the the trust through their website www.pharlap.org.nz
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