Peter Pan

A wonderful, forgotten racing story set in The Great Depression In 1932, they said there would never be another Phar Lap. Yet within months there came a racehorse so wildly brilliant that he was instantly compared to the dead champion. He was Peter Pan. Within months of Phar Lap's death, Peter Pan had won the Melbourne Cup and then two years later, won it again - the first horse in 72 years to take home a second. The newspapers of the day called him a 'superhorse' and declared 'another Phar Lap takes the stage.' But over the long years, Australia forgot their new champion. Peter Pan: The Forgotten Story of Phar Lap's Successor is the tale of the horse that came next - the brilliant, speedy Peter Pan. Casting off the shadow of Phar Lap, this tells the story of triumph during the Great Depression and the coming of a 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.