Phar Lap chat takes me back 12 months to an Aussie audience with my racing idol

A telephone conversation sends my mind back to this time last year, when life was different for us all, even those on the other side of the world, which is where I happened to be.

I love Australia and Australians. One of them is an author called Geoff Armstrong, who kindly gives me 30 minutes to talk about his specialist subject Phar Lap. I'm writing a feature on the wonder horse, who was famously at the centre of two mysteries. Shortly before the 1930 Melbourne Cup gunmen seemingly tried to kill him, while many claimed his death in 1932 was due to arsenic poisoning. Geoff has views on both.

Perhaps more than anywhere else iconic racehorses are part of Australia's DNA. That was evident 12 months ago this week when the nation said goodbye to a sporting sweetheart. I was fortunate to be there.