The delicate skeleton is on loan to the Melbourne Museum as part of an exhibition to mark 150 years of the Melbourne Cup.
It is usually displayed in the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.
It is the first time Phar Lap's skeleton has left New Zealand since it arrived in the country in 1933.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/13/3009566.htm?site=sport§ion=more
It may seem strange to many that a race horse could be so cherished. Yet Phar Lap was and some argue still is, Australia's greatest race horse. Although his winning ratio was impressive, he won 37 of his 51 starts; it is not what he is remembered for.
Instead, Phar Lap is loved and remembered because he was an Aussie battler.
Academics have argued that because Australia was a colony that experienced unprecedented hardships in both manmade and natural form, Australians never formed an equivalent of the "American Dream," leading us to place more value on attitude than reward.
Whether you believe that to be true or not, it is apparent that as Australians we have embraced a culture of instead of just celebrating the people who win, Australians also celebrate the people who don't give up.
In the case of Phar Lap they remember that he was born of poor blood lines and lost most of his early races.
They remember that he was ugly with warts on his face, that handicappers saddled him with enough weight to stop a train and that someone tried to shoot him.
They remember that when he left Australian shores to prove his worth in America, he easily won his first race against all the odds, and then tragically he died.
Even the way he raced inspired those who watched him.
His jockey would hold him back until the final turn and then let him sprint for the finish. It is was as if the crowd would reach a point where they believed that all hope was gone, and then he would find something extra that left his opponents in the dust.
But what many remember most of all, is that Phar Lap overcame his adversities because his heart was almost twice the size than that of most race horses.
Usually this sports column focuses on how we can take lessons from our elite 'human' athletes. But this thoroughbred ran all of his races with his whole heart, inspiring a nation struggling under the great depression, giving the downtrodden hope.
If one horse can inspire so many through his races, imagine the number of lives we as Christians can affect through the running of our race.