30 Years of Mystery – Shergar

Today, the racing world will remember thirty years of mystery that has surrounded one of the most famous racehorses ever, Shergar. it was this day thirty years ago, under the cover of darkness, that a group of men went to the home of James Fitzgerald to kidnap one of the most famous horses the world has ever known.

The Aga Khan bred Shergar was trained by Sir Michael Stoute in Newmarket, and began his racing career in 1981 with a scintillating 10 length win in the Guardian Classic Trial at Sandown. After witnessing the magnificent colt in this classic trial, racing correspondent Richard Baerlein advised punters that “at 8/1, Shergar for the Derby, now it’s time to bet like men.” His words would come to be wise beyond even his expectations. Improving on his debut, Shergar slammed the field in the Chester Vase by a colossal 12 lengths, before becoming the odds on favourite for the biggest race of his career, the Epsom Derby.

The perfect vision of the equine form

 As a young 19 year old at the time in his first Derby, jockey Walter Swinburn would only have to sit tight and let Shergar make history. Swinburn remarked after the race that he just allowed Shergar to “lob along as the leaders went off at a million miles an hour.” Shergar ranged up alongside the field, cruised by and went a long way clear. He had gone so far clear at one stage that the jockey on the runner-up, Glint of Gold thought he had won, only to realise that there was another horse ahead on the Epsom skyline; that horse was Shergar who won by a record 10 lengths. No horse has ever matched, or even nearly matched Shergar’s winning distance in the Derby. From Epsom, Shergar moved on to the Irish Derby at the Curragh, and he duly obliged by 4 lengths, and as the commentator expressed, he was barely in “an exercise canter.” He also won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot by 4 lengths, before failing to fire in the St Leger at Doncaster. Speaking about Shergar’s loss, jockey Lester Piggott commented that “he must have been over the top by then”, but in any case, the horse’s enigmatic career was over.

Shergar was to be sent to stud at Ballymany Stud, near the Curragh, Co. Kildare. Proving how much of a national hero he had become, Shergar returned to a carnival atmosphere on Main Street, Newbridge, where school children waved the Aga Khan silk colours, and the horse was royally welcomed home to the Curragh of Kildare. Shergar had produced 35 foals before his disappearance, one of which, Authaal, went on to win the 1986 St Leger.

In the dense fog of February 8, 1983, a group of what is thought to have been 6 masked gunmen entered the poorly protected Ballymany Stud stables to take the legendary Shergar. At 8.30pm on the night, Shergar’s groom, James Fitzgerald thought he heard a car pull into the yard, but believing it to be nothing, he forgot about it. At 8.40pm, Fitzgerald’s son Bernard answered a knock at the door, where he was confronted by a man dressed in a Garda uniform and a balaclava. “Is he in?” the man asked. Bernard stepped back into the house to alert his father, when he was victim to a heavy blow to his back. James rushed from the sitting room and found a pistol pointed at him, and he and his family were pushed to the kitchen and held at gunpoint. The gang then forced James out to the stables where he had to bring the men to the illustrious Shergar’s stall. They loaded him into a horsebox and towed the great champion away into the flatland mist that hung over the Curragh. Mr Fitzgerald was then forced into another vehicle and driven around for three hours, before being given a password for the gang’s negotiations, and dumped out of the car seven miles from the stud.

Shergar winning the 1981 Epsom Derby by a massive 10 lengths 

What followed the horse’s kidnapping was a media frenzy, and the public were enthralled in the mystery of Shergar’s disappearance. Chief Superintendent with the Gardaí at the time, Jim Murphy once said of the investigation, “a clue…that is what we haven’t got.” Every stable, farm, and outhouse in the Republic of Ireland was searched during the investigation, but the thieves’ negotiations failed as the syndicate owners of the horse refused to pay any ransom for the safe return of Shergar. Their reason for this was the contention that such a payment would mean every racehorse in the world becoming a target for similar crimes. The thieves have never been brought to justice, but many theories of their identity have been bounded about in the following years. In the aftermath, the syndicate released a statement blaming the IRA for the crime. The IRA theory has become the most prevalent in subsequent years.

It is alleged in the IRA “supergrass” Sean O’Callaghan’s book, “The Informer”, that the IRA were responsible, and that the motive for the crime was to raise money for arms. He claimed the entire crime was led by Kevin Mallon, and that Shergar was shot within hours of being snatched. When they discovered they would not receive any ransom for the horse, it is said the captors felt they couldn’t release the horse given the vast media and public whirlwind surrounding the debacle. In a Sunday Telegraph interview, a former IRA member involved said that he witnessed Shergar being machine gunned to death in his remote stable. He said “there was blood everywhere” and at one point it was so bloody, “the horse even slipped on his own blood.” He described how there was a lot of cursing and swearing when it appeared the horse would not die. He said Shergar eventually bled to death. Despite these reports, there has never been a definitively confirmed account of the horse’s demise, and a body has never been discovered. Thirty years on, conspiracy theories and rumours aside, the mystery of Shergar still remains as contentious and debatable as ever. His story has become legend, and almost packaged by fading memories as a myth, but Shergar was a real hero of the track, and a thoroughly great champion.