Reading about the NZ/Australian debate re where Phar Lap's remains should finally be laid to rest made me ponder the thorny question: where exactly should a horse be laid to rest? In the country where it did the majority of its racing? Where its owners are based? Or somewhere else?

Phar Lap's skeleton is permanently based in New Zealand but his heart resides at the National Museum in Canberra. Plans to travel the heart to Wellington Race Club to go on short-term display with the skeleton at the Museum of New Zealand as part of centenary celebrations of the Wellington Racing Club were abandoned a few weeks back as the abnormally large organ (weighing more than 6kgs) was said by curators to be too fragile to make the journey.

There are some that argue all of Phar Lap's remains should reside in New Zealand but to say that Australia's Depression Hero is a "New Zealand" horse just because he was born there is something akin to a ludicrous game of political semantics.

Makybe Diva was born in Europe but should the Europeans have the right to her remains in the unfortunate circumstance that she passes away?

What about Silent Witness? He's Hong Kong's world champion sprinter despite being born in Taree, NSW. Personally I couldn't care what Australian State he was born in. He's a Hong Kong horse despite the number of PR sources that ride his success to promote Southern Hemisphere sprinters.

Anyway, back to good old Phar Lap. If you want to learn about the 1.5cm tear in his heart that has kept his heart from traveling to NZ you can download (and listen) to the story at the following URL.