PHAR Lap's skeleton will cross the Tasman during celebrations for the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup.
New Zealand's Te Papa Museum in Wellington - where the skeleton is housed - has agreed to the loan after calls for it to become part of an exhibition at Melbourne Museum alongside the horse's hide.
Victorian Racing Minister Rob Hulls confirmed that the skeleton's steel frame had been assessed by New Zealand conservators and given the green light to travel without risk.
"This is a major coup for Melbourne as New Zealand has never before agreed to lend Big Red's skeleton to an international museum and it will be the first time it has travelled overseas since it arrived in New Zealand in 1933," Mr Hulls said.
Mr Hulls has renewed calls for the National Museum of Australia to loan the horse's heart to the exhibition.
New Zealand's racing minister John Carter said the collaboration would showcase to sporting fans the size of the racehorse giant.
"The Melbourne Cup is a race that stops both our nations and one of its greatest winners ever, Phar Lap, is significant to the racing history of both New Zealand and Australia," Mr Carter said.
Phar Lap was foaled in New Zealand and raced in Australia.
He was born in 1926 and died in 1932 from a sudden mystery illness that was suspected to be accidental arsenic poisoning.
Phar Lap's skeleton will be on show from September until January 30, 2011.
