Shergar (3 March 1978 – ) was an Irish-bred, British-trained
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
racehorse. After a very successful season in 1981 he was retired to the Ballymany Stud in
County Kildare, Ireland. In 1983 he was stolen from the stud, and a ransom of £2 million was demanded; it was not paid, and negotiations were soon broken off by the thieves. In 1999 a
supergrass, formerly in the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
(IRA), stated they stole the horse. The IRA has never admitted any role in the theft.
The
Aga Khan, Shergar's owner, sent the horse for training in Britain in 1979 and 1980. Shergar began his first season of racing in September 1980 and ran two races that year, where he won one and came second in the other. In 1981 he ran in six races, winning five of them. In June that year he won the
202nd Epsom Derby by ten
lengths—the longest winning margin in the race's history. Three weeks later he won the
Irish Sweeps Derby by four lengths; a month after that he won the
by four lengths. In his final race of the year he came in fourth, and the Aga Khan took the decision to retire him to
stud
Stud may refer to the following terms:
Animals
* Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding
** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred
Arts and entertainment
* Stud (band), a British progressive rock group
* The Stud (bar), a gay ba ...
in Ireland.
After Shergar's
Epsom Derby win, the Aga Khan sold 40 shares in the horse, valuing it at £10 million. Retaining six shares, he created an owners' syndicate with the remaining 34 members. Shergar was stolen from the Aga Khan's stud farm by an armed gang on 8 February 1983. Negotiations were conducted with the thieves, but the gang broke off all communication after four days when the syndicate did not accept as true the proof provided that the horse was still alive. In 1999
Sean O'Callaghan, a former member of the IRA, published details of the theft and stated that it was an IRA operation to raise money for arms. He said that very soon after the theft, Shergar had panicked and damaged his leg, which led to him being killed by the gang. An investigation by ''
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
'' concluded that the horse was shot four days after the theft. No arrests have ever been made in relation to the theft. Shergar's body has never been recovered or identified; it is likely that the body was buried near Aughnasheelin, near
Ballinamore,
County Leitrim
County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
.
In honour of Shergar, the
Shergar Cup
The Shergar Cup is an annual horse racing event held at Ascot Racecourse, usually during early August. The race is named in honour of Shergar, the horse that won the 1981 Epsom Derby, 1981 Epsom Derby, Derby and was killed in an IRA kidnap, and wa ...
was inaugurated in 1999. His story has been made into two screen dramatisations, several books and two documentaries.
Background and early training
Shergar was a
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
bay colt with a white
blaze, four white
socks
A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late ...
and a
wall (blue) eye. He was foaled on 3 March 1978 at Sheshoon—the private
stud
Stud may refer to the following terms:
Animals
* Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding
** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred
Arts and entertainment
* Stud (band), a British progressive rock group
* The Stud (bar), a gay ba ...
of the
Aga Khan IV
Shāh Karim al-Husayni (born 13 December 1936), known by the religious title Mawlānā Hazar Imam by his Ismaili followers and elsewhere as Aga Khan IV, is the 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailis, a denomination within Shia Islam. He ha ...
—near the
Curragh Racecourse
The Curragh Racecourse -- usually referred to as simply the Curragh -- is one of Ireland's most important Thoroughbred racecourses. It is situated on the Curragh plain in County Kildare, between the towns of Newbridge and Kildare.
History
...
in
County Kildare, Ireland. Shergar was sired by
Great Nephew
Great Nephew was a British thoroughbred who became a champion miler in France. He also became a very successful sire, producing two Derby Stakes winners.Prix du Moulin
The Prix du Moulin de Longchamp is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is sch ...
and
Prix Dollar in France in 1967. Great Nephew's other progeny included
Grundy,
Mrs Penny and
Tolmi. Shergar's dam was Sharmeen, a seventh-generation descendant of
Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal (/'/; ), born Arjumand Banu Begum (27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, oft ...
, a horse that is described by the
National Sporting Library
The National Sporting Library & Museum or NSLM (formerly the National Sporting Library) is a research library and art museum in Middleburg, Virginia in the United States.
History
The National Sporting Library was founded in 1954 in the personal ...
as "one of the most important broodmares of the 20th Century".
In 1978 the Aga Khan—the leader of
Nizari Ismailism, philanthropist and horse owner—announced he would send some of his
yearlings for training in England. For a trainer, he chose
Michael Stoute
Sir Michael Ronald Stoute (born 22 October 1945) is a Barbadian British Thoroughbred horse trainer in flat racing.
Career
Stoute, whose father was the Chief of Police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assis ...
, who was based at
Newmarket. Stoute had a good year in 1978, and had trained the winners of the
Oaks,
Irish Oaks
The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres), and it i ...
and
Yorkshire Oaks
The Yorkshire Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at York over a distance of 1 mile 3 ...
with
Fair Salinia
Fair Salinia (18 March 1975 – 31 March 2004) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare best known for winning the classic Oaks Stakes in 1978. In a racing career which lasted from September 1977 until September 1978 she won four of he ...
, and the
Gold Cup with
Shangamuzo. Shergar was sent into training with Stoute in 1979, as the Aga Khan's second year of sending horses to England.
According to Stoute and Ghislain Drion—the manager of the Aga Khan's Irish studs—Shergar was easy to
break
Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to:
Time off from duties
* Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties
* Break (work), time off during a shift/recess
** Coffee break, a short mid-morning res ...
, and had a good temperament. He responded very well to training, particularly in September 1980, when the jockey
Lester Piggott
Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...
rode him in the run-up to Shergar's debut race.
Racing career
1980: two-year-old season
On 19 September 1980 Shergar ran his first race, the
Kris Plate, with Piggott as his jockey. The race was open to two-year-old colts and
geldings over a straight at
Newbury. Listed as favourite with
odds
Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics.
Odds also have ...
of 11–8, he kept in behind the leaders before opening up and winning by
lengths. Richard Baerlein, the racing correspondent for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'', thought Shergar's run was the best from a two-year-old that season. After the race Stoute said the horse would run one more race that year to gain experience, before resting until the following year.
Shergar's second race was the
William Hill Futurity Stakes at
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, run on 25 October 1980. He was again ridden by Piggott, with odds of 5–2 in a very experienced field of seven. Shergar sat behind the pace-setting leader for much of the race, and when that horse faded, the running was taken up by
Beldale Flutter. Shergar challenged for the lead, but Beldale Flutter pulled away and won by lengths; Shergar came in second. Following the race, Michael Seely, the racing correspondent of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', thought Shergar's run was significant, and that he was "a magnificent stamp of a horse" whose odds of 25–1 for the following year's
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
were worth considering.
1981: three-year-old season
Over late 1980 and early 1981 Shergar filled out and was stronger by April 1981. Stoute had decided that Shergar should run in
that year's Derby, and planned the season accordingly. The first race to prepare him was the
Guardian Newspaper Classic Trial, run at
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...
on 25 April 1981, where he was ridden by
Walter Swinburn
Walter Robert John Swinburn (7 August 1961 – 12 December 2016) was a flat racing jockey and trainer who competed in Great Britain and internationally.
Biography
Swinburn was born in Oxford. He was the son of Wally Swinburn, who won ...
. In a 9-horse, -mile (2.0 km) race, Shergar raised his pace after a mile and won by 10 lengths. Baerlein had written in his column before the race that at 25–1, the odds for Shergar to win the Derby were excellent. After the win, he noted them shortening to 8–1, where, "the bet is still worth pressing"; he continued "If ...
hergarwins his next race at Chester or the Ladbroke Lingfield Trial as easily, he will be down to less than 4–1. Surely this is the time to bet like men."
As further training for the Derby, Stoute decided that Shergar needed practice on a left-hand cornered course; he selected
Chester, where the
Chester Vase
The Chester Vase is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 63 yards () at Che ...
was run on 5 May 1981. After keeping pace with the leaders, with half a mile to go, Swinburn urged Shergar to increase speed, and he did, overtaking the leaders and going clear to win by 12 lengths.
On 3 June 1981 Shergar ran in the Derby. Set over a mile (2.4 km) course at the
Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, the Derby is a
Group 1 Group 1 may refer to:
* Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal
* Group 1 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N
* Group On ...
flat race open to three-year-old Thoroughbred colts and
fillies
A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use:
*In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old.
*In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...
. After the top of the uphill straight start of the course, Shergar was well-placed and moving through the other runners. At Tattenham Corner—the final bend of the course—Shergar took the front of the race and opened up a lead over the others. Commentating on the race,
Peter Bromley informed listeners that "there's only one horse in it—you need a telescope to see the rest!" Swinburn eased off the pace with two
furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hor ...
s to go, and won by ten lengths. It was the largest winning margin of any Epsom Derby. John Matthias, the jockey of the second-placed horse
Glint of Gold, said that "I thought I'd achieved my life's ambition. Only then did I discover there was another horse on the horizon." In the light of Shergar's run of wins, particularly the Derby, Baerlein wrote that the horse was one of the finest he had seen.
While out on the gallops on 15 June, Shergar threw his rider, ran through a hedge onto the road and trotted along to the local village. He was spotted by a local resident, who followed the horse until it stopped to graze on a hedge, and then led him back to the stables. Shergar was unharmed during the event, and Stoute recalled "it's very lucky nothing happened to him; there's a crossing there, and it's a difficult thing".
By the time the
Irish Derby was run at the Curragh, on 27 June 1981, Swinburn was suspended following an infringement at
Royal Ascot, so Piggott returned to ride Shergar. At the half-way point in the race, Shergar was in third place, but increased his pace to take the lead with three furlongs to go. He slowed during the last furlong, and won by four lengths. As the horse approached the line,
Michael O'Hehir
Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ga, Mícheál Ó hEithir; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling, football and horse racing commentator and journalist. Between 1938 and 1985 his enthusiasm and memor ...
, the commentator, informed viewers that "He's winning it so easily; it's Shergar first and the rest are nowhere". After the race Piggott told reporters that he had no doubt that Shergar would win as the horse never struggled in the race. He also said that Shergar was one of the best horses he had ever raced on.
Following Shergar's Epsom Derby win, a group of US horse owners had offered $40 million to syndicate the horse. The Aga Khan turned down the offer, and instead decided to syndicate Shergar for £10 million at £250,000 for each of the forty shares—a record price at the time; the Aga Khan kept six shares for himself and the others were sold individually to buyers from nine countries. The shareholders had the option each year of selecting a mare to be
covered—or of selling that option on. The
stud fees were £60,000–80,000 per cover, which meant that shareholders could expect to make a profit from stud within four years.
Shergar had a break of almost a month until he ran in the
at Ascot on 25 July 1981. The race was slow-paced to start and Shergar was boxed in by other horses, but found a way out by the time the leaders had reached the final straight, and accelerated to win by four lengths. For Baerlein, the race showed that Shergar was the best horse he had ever seen race; Michael Phillips, the racing correspondent for ''The Times'', wrote that the win "proved that Shergar is a cut above the average but not exceptional". Phillips continued that Shergar "failed to fill me, and many more besides, with the magic that was in the air after
Nijinsky
Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...
and
Mill Reef
Mill may refer to:
Science and technology
*
* Mill (grinding)
* Milling (machining)
* Millwork
* Textile mill
* Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel
* List of types of mill
* Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine ear ...
had won the same race".
The Aga Khan and Stoute considered entering Shergar into the
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...
that autumn, but decided that he needed one more race to prepare. They entered him into what would be his final race, the
St Leger Stakes
The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...
at Doncaster on 12 September 1981, with Swinburn as the jockey. Ten days before the race, a story was published in the racing newspaper ''
Sporting Life'' that Shergar had not been practising well and had become "mulish"; Stoute stated that the rumours were untrue. Shergar was running well in the race, although the soft ground was not to his liking, but on the final straight, when Swinburn tried to get him to accelerate to the front, the horse would not respond. Shergar came in fourth, lengths behind
Cut Above, the winner.
Surprised by the manner of the loss, Stoute and the Aga Khan ran a series of tests on Shergar. All showed the horse was in good health, and he worked well in training after the race. Unwilling to risk the horse without knowing what had happened at the St Leger, the Aga Khan did not enter him into the Arc, and instead retired him to the Ballymany Stud, near the Curragh. He later explained to a racing journalist:
He was just an exceptional athlete. All through the spring and summer he completely dominated European racing in a very dramatic manner, and after he had run so uncharacteristically in the St. Leger, we knew something had gone wrong, but we didn't know what it was, so it was an easy decision to retire him before the Arc.
Stud career
The Aga Khan turned down large offers to put Shergar to stud in the US, and instead chose to stand him at the Ballymany Stud in Ireland. He arrived in October 1981, and was paraded down the main street of
Newbridge, County Kildare
Newbridge, officially known by its Irish name Droichead Nua (), is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. While the nearby Great Connell Priory was founded in the 13th century, the town itself formed from the 18th century onwards, and grew rapidly ...
. Milton Toby, the writer on Thoroughbred racing and equine law, judges Shergar to have been "a national hero in Ireland. ... one of the most recognizable sports personalities—horse or human—in Ireland."
In 1982—his only rutting season—Shergar covered 44 mares, from which 36 foals were produced: 17 colts and 19 fillies. Of these, three won
Group races, and the most successful of his progeny was
Authaal
Authaal (17 May 1983 – after 1999) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was probably the best horse sired by the ill-fated Shergar, winning at the highest level in both Ireland and Australia. He was unraced as a two-yea ...
. When sold as a
weanling (between six months and a year) Authaal reached 325,000
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
. He was sold a year later, where he fetched 3.1 million guineas. In 1986 he won the
Irish St. Leger by five lengths. Toby considers that Shergar's progeny were "perhaps not a disappointing first crop, but certainly below expectations for a horse with Shergar's racing prowess."
At the start of February 1983 Shergar's second stud season was about to begin, and he was in high demand, and had a full book of 55 mares to cover. He was expected to earn £1 million for the season.
February 1983 onwards
Theft
On 8 February 1983, at around 8:30 pm, three men—all armed and wearing masks—entered the house of Jim Fitzgerald, the head groom at Ballymany. They were part of a group of at least six, and possibly up to nine men. One of the men said to him "We have come for Shergar. We want £2 million for him." Fitzgerald said the men were not rough, although one of them who carried a pistol was very aggressive. Fitzgerald's family were locked into a room while he was taken, at gunpoint, out to Shergar's stable and was told to put the horse in the back of a
horsebox.
After the horsebox was driven away Fitzgerald was told to lie on the floor of a van, and his face was covered with a coat. He was driven around for four hours before being released near the village of
Kilcock
Kilcock () is a town and townland in the north of County Kildare, Ireland, on the border with County Meath. Its population of 6,093 makes it the ninth largest town in Kildare and 76th largest in Ireland. The town is located 35 km (22&nbs ...
, approximately from Ballymany. He was told not to contact the
Garda Síochána (Gardaí)—the Irish police—or he and his family would be killed, but to wait for the gang to contact him. He was given the code phrase "King Neptune", which the gang would use to identify themselves. The men did not say that they were from the IRA, or give any other indication as to who they were, although one of the men spoke with a Northern Irish accent, and another seemed to be experienced with horses.
Fitzgerald walked on to the next village and called his brother to pick him up. On arrival back at Ballymany, he rang Ghislain Drion to inform him of the theft, and urged him not to call the police because of the threats that had been made. Drion attempted to reach the Aga Khan in Switzerland to inform him, then rang Stan Cosgrove, Shergar's vet, who was also a shareholder. Cosgrove contacted a retired
Irish Army
The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The A ...
captain, Sean Berry, who was manager of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association. Berry contacted Alan Dukes, a friend of his who was the serving
Minister for Finance, who suggested that Berry speak to
Michael Noonan, the
Minister for Justice. Noonan and Dukes told him to call the Gardaí. By 4:00 am Drion had managed to contact the Aga Khan, who told him to phone the Gardaí straight away. The force were then contacted, but it was eight hours after Shergar had been stolen and any possible trail had already gone cold.
The Aga Khan had several reasons for non-payment of the ransom, including that he was only one of 35 members, and could not negotiate or pay on behalf of the others. He was unsure whether Shergar would be returned even if the money was paid, and concerned that, if the kidnappers' demands were met, it would make every high-value horse in Ireland a target for future thefts. The shareholders were divided on the approach. Brian Sweeney, a veteran of the American horseracing industry thought that "if you ask a mother who has had a child that has been kidnapped if a ransom should be paid, I think the answer would be 'yes, and quickly'"; another shareholder,
Lord Derby
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...
, disagreed and said "if ransom money is paid for this horse, then there is a danger of other horses being kidnapped in the years to come—and that simply cannot be tolerated".
First approach by the thieves
The first phone call from the thieves was on the night Shergar was stolen; Fitzgerald was not back at Ballymany by that time, and had not had the chance to tell the news of the theft to anyone. The call was to Jeremy Maxwell, a horse trainer based in Northern Ireland. The caller demanded £40,000, although this figure was later raised to £52,000. Maxwell was told that the negotiations would only be with three British horse racing journalists,
Derek Thompson and
John Oaksey
John Geoffrey Tristram Lawrence, 4th Baron Trevethin and 2nd Baron Oaksey (21 March 1929 – 5 September 2012) was a British aristocrat, horse racing journalist, television commentator and former amateur jockey. He was twice British Champion ...
of
ITV and Peter Campling from ''
The Sun''. The men were told to be at the
Europa Hotel in central Belfast by the Thursday evening; the Europa was known as the most bombed hotel in Europe after having suffered multiple bomb attacks during
the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
.
When the three sports journalists arrived at the Europa, they were contacted by phone and told to go to the Maxwells' house to await further calls. On orders from the police, Thompson kept the person talking for as long as possible, but the caller rang off at 80 seconds—before the call could be traced. There were a series of calls to the Maxwells' house later that night, and at 1:30 am Thompson managed to keep the caller talking for over 90 seconds, which would have been enough to trace the call; he was told that the person who was doing the call intercepts had finished his shift at midnight and gone home. At 7:00 am on 12 February another call was put through to the Maxwells' house, which said that things had gone wrong, and that Shergar was dead.
Although a committee put together by the syndicate to co-ordinate their response later considered that this was a hoax, Toby argues that as the call about the theft preceded Fitzgerald's return to Ballymany—i.e. before anyone knew about the theft—and as the callers used the code phrase "King Neptune" in their communications, it is more likely that the calls, and the ensuing focus on the high-profile activity in Belfast, were undertaken to distract the authorities from what was happening with Shergar elsewhere.
Second approach by the thieves
On 9 February the thieves opened a second line of negotiation, contacting Ballymany Stud directly and speaking to Drion. The call, which came in at 4:05 pm, was short. Drion was not a fluent speaker of English and struggled to understand the Irish accent of the caller; the caller similarly had problems with Drion's heavy French pronunciation. Ninety minutes later, the caller tried again, with Drion asking him to speak slowly. A demand of £2 million was made for the return of Shergar, and for a contact number in France, through which further negotiations could be made. Drion provided the number of the Aga Khan's French office.
The syndicate which owned Shergar brought in the
risk and strategic consulting firm
Control Risks to handle the negotiations. They negotiated from the Paris office, with a series of telephone calls over four days. On Friday 11 February the negotiators demanded proof that Shergar was still alive, as there had been some speculation in the press that Shergar was dead. The thieves said that a representative of the syndicate should go to the Crofton Hotel in Dublin and ask for any messages for "Johnny Logan"—the name of an
Irish singer. Stan Cosgrove went to the hotel and asked for any messages. Armed members of the
Special Detective Unit
, headquarters = Harcourt Street, Dublin (D2)
, formed = as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID)
, preceding1 = Garda Special Branch
, preceding2 =
, jurisdiction = Ireland
, employees = Undisclosed~ 300
, budget = Undisclosed ...
—the domestic
security agency
A security agency is a governmental organization that conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a nation. They are the domestic cousins of foreign intelligence agencies, and typically conduct counterintelligence to thwart other ...
of the Gardaí—were present in an undercover role. No message was delivered, and Cosgrove returned home after waiting. Shortly afterwards the negotiators received a phone call from the thieves, angry at the presence of the police, and threatening that if any members of the gang were captured or killed, the negotiators and police would be murdered in retribution.
On Saturday 12 February the thieves contacted the negotiators and said that proof had been left at the Rosnaree Hotel. When this was picked up, it contained several
polaroid pictures showing Shergar; some of the pictures showed the horse's head next to a copy of ''
The Irish News
''The Irish News'' is a compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewpoint, though it als ...
'', dated 11 February. Cosgrove saw the photograph and confirmed that "it definitely was him", although he added "It wasn't proof that the horse was alive ... at that point ... you'd want to get much more definite evidence ... if you'd have seen the complete horse it would have been different, but this was just the head."
In a telephone call from the thieves to the negotiators at 10:40 pm on 12 February, it was explained that the syndicate were not satisfied with the pictures of the horse, which, they explained, did not constitute enough proof. The caller told the negotiators "If you're not satisfied, that's it". The call was ended, and the thieves never made any further contact. The syndicate attempted to re-establish contact with the gang, but there was no response to newspaper requests to do so.
Negotiations examined
The syndicate committee put together a report for the full syndicate, which examined the possible motives behind the theft. They concluded that the theft of Shergar was either undertaken to create confusion and publicity, rather than obtaining money, or that the negotiations were undertaken with naivety. They reached this conclusion after taking a number of factors into account. Many of the demands were physically impossible: the ransom demand included £100 notes, which did not exist. In one call at 5:45 pm to Drion in Ballymany, he was told to deliver the £2 million to Paris before noon the following day. In a call at 5:00 pm, the Paris negotiators were told to get £2 million by the end of the night—after the Parisian banks had closed. In another call, the negotiator in Paris was told to get agreement for a ransom, but told he should not contact anyone in Ireland, despite some of the shareholders being there. It also became clear during the course of the negotiations that the gang thought that the Aga Khan was the sole owner of Shergar; they had no knowledge of the other shareholders, and did not take into account the complexity of liaising and organising all 35 shareholders into a position of agreement.
Police investigation
The initial police investigation was hindered by the eight-hour lapse before the crime was reported, and by a local Thoroughbred auction, which meant several horseboxes were travelling in the area. Leading the investigation was Chief Superintendent James Murphy, a highly experienced detective. In his first press conference Murphy described how he was "slightly concerned" about the theft, and told reporters that "I have no leads". His comment about a lack of leads was not truthful, as Murphy withheld much information from the media, including the police finding the
magazine for a
Steyr MPi 69 submachine gun, which suggested a link to an IRA active service unit in South Armagh.
Murphy had a strong Irish
brogue, wore a
trilby
A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...
hat and had a self-effacing sense of humour. At one press conference, he announced "A clue? That is something we haven't got". Several people claiming to have paranormal powers contacted the Gardaí with their thoughts; Murphy reported that "
diviners
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...
,
clairvoyants
Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...
and
psychic persons—they're in three different categories—they must be running into the fifties now". During one press conference, six photographers turned up wearing similar trilbies to the policeman; ''The Times'' called him a "stage Irishman". One reviewer of a documentary in 2004 called Murphy "the most richly comic copper since
Inspector Clouseau
Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical '' The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in ...
". After eight days with no progress, he was replaced as the public figure of the investigation, but continued to lead it.
On 16 February a description of the horsebox used by the thieves—from a description given by Fitzgerald—was released. It was either light green or light blue with no working lights and no licence plates. The huge police search of possible hiding places for Shergar—by the Gardaí in the Irish Republic and the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Northern Ireland—found no trace of the horse or horsebox, but several
IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
caches of arms and explosives were uncovered, leading to the loss of several
safe house
A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor.
Histori ...
s. Up to 70 detectives were working on the case at one point. Two weeks after Shergar was stolen, the police search was scaled down, although the investigation continued.
Speculation and hoaxes
With no definite news of Shergar's whereabouts, and with the Gardaí limiting the information they released to the press, the media took to speculation to cover the story. Baerlein observes that in reporting the Shergar case, "the press speculation was remarkable for its enthusiasm and its inaccuracy over a long period of time". Such media claims included that Shergar had been stolen by
Colonel Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
as part of a deal to supply arms to the IRA; that, according to the
tabloid newspaper ''
Sunday Sport
The ''Sunday Sport'' is a British tabloid newspaper that was founded by David Sullivan in 1986. It mainly publishes images of topless female glamour models, and is well known for publishing sensationalized, fictionalized, and satirical conten ...
'', Shergar was spotted being ridden by the missing
Lord Lucan
Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 – disappeared 8 November 1974, declared death in absentia, declared dead 3 February 2016), commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British Peerages in the United Kingdom, peer who di ...
; that a Middle Eastern horse breeder had stolen him for stud; and that the
Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
had undertaken the act to punish the Aga Khan over a previous sale of a horse which had gone badly.
Eight weeks after Shergar was stolen, Stan Cosgrove was approached by senior detectives within the Gardaí who introduced him to Dennis Minogue, a horse trainer. Minogue claimed to have a contact within the IRA who had shown him a photograph of Shergar, and that he could help get Shergar released for a ransom of
IR£
The pound (Irish: ) was the currency of the Republic of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or IR£ for distinction). The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin ...
80,000. The Gardaí asked Cosgrove to assist them in a
sting operation to lure the thieves out. Cosgrove agreed, and on 20 July 1983 Detective Garda Martin Kenirons assisted the operation. He put the money in the boot of his car in a remote village, which Minogue was to collect once the horse had been released. The following day Kenirons found the boot of his car forced open and the money missing. Minogue had also disappeared, and the money was never recovered.
A subsequent internal Gardaí enquiry dismissed Kenirons from the force for breaching Gardaí regulations. In an interview in 2018 he reiterated his long-stated innocence and said "when it all went wrong, everyone jumped for the high ground. They
he senior Gardaí officersall denied that they had anything to do with the ransom."
Insurance
Shergar was insured through several different insurance companies. The
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...
insurance broker
An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negotia ...
s Hodgson McCreedy covered £3,625,000 of the total, and added a theft clause to the policy. Other shareholders—accountable for £1.5 million worth of shares—had insurance that did not include a theft clause; Cosgrove was one of the mortality-only insured members. Shareholders accounting for £3 million did not take out insurance; the Aga Khan was one of the uninsured members of the syndicate. Cosgrove was insured with the
Norwich Union
Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...
(now part of
Aviva), who refused to pay, even when it became clear that Shergar was probably dead; the company's
liability was £144,000.
The 20 policies that included a theft clause were all settled in full in June 1983, even though there was a question of whether there was a need to. Terry Hall, an animal insurance insurer with Lloyd's of London, observes that while theft was clear cut, the demand of a ransom meant that the action was considered extortion, rather than theft, which meant the mortality and theft policies did not have to be paid out. Legal advice was sought by Lloyd's of London, who were told that although it was a grey area, payment was advised.
Possible identification of the criminals
Police and intelligence sources considered the IRA as the most likely suspects behind the theft. During the 1980s, the
Irish republican movement followed the
Armalite and ballot box strategy, in which electoral success was chased by
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
, while an armed struggle was continued by the IRA. The strategy was expensive, requiring payment for arms and explosives for the IRA, and for political activity, advertising and salaries for Sinn Féin. The annual budget for the movement was estimated at between £2 million and £5 million, and it was always under financial pressure.
In October 1981 the
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about independence to the whole island of Ireland and the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Grea ...
—the leadership group of the organisation—approved the kidnapping of
Ben Dunne
Bernard Dunne (19 May 1908 – 14 April 1983) was an Irish businessman who was the founder and chairman of Dunnes Stores.
Early life
Ben Dunne was born as Bernard Dunn in the village of Rostrevor in County Down, Ireland in 1908. He a was the el ...
, then head of the chain of
Dunnes Stores
Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares.
In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain also has operations in Spain, and formerly in England and Scotland. The f ...
. Dunne was released unharmed after a week; both the Dunne family and the Gardaí deny a ransom of £300,000 was paid. According to intelligence subsequently received by the intelligence sources, after the success of the operation, it was decided to undertake another ransom—through kidnapping or theft—this time of Shergar.
In 1999
Sean O'Callaghan, a former member of the IRA who had been working within the organisation as a
supergrass for the Gardaí since 1980, published his autobiography. In it, he states that the plot to steal and ransom Shergar was devised by Kevin Mallon, a leading IRA member who sat on the Army Council; Mallon came up with the idea while serving time in
Portlaoise Prison
Portlaoise Prison ( ga, Príosún Phort Laoise) is a maximum security prison in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland. Until 1929 it was called the Maryborough Gaol. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium secur ...
. Mallon was put in charge of a Special Operations unit with orders to raise several million pounds, and several IRA men were taken from under O'Callaghan's control in IRA Southern Command and put into Mallon's unit. These included the IRA members Gerry Fitzgerald, Paul Stewart, Rab Butler and Nicky Kehoe.
Two weeks after Shergar's kidnap, Gerry Fitzgerald told O'Callaghan that he had been involved in the theft, and that Shergar had been killed early on in the process after the horse panicked and no-one present could cope with him. In the process the horse damaged its left leg and the decision was made to kill it. In his 1999 autobiography O'Callaghan states that Shergar "was killed within days" of the theft; in an interview for
RTÉ, the Irish broadcaster, in 2004, he stated that Gerry Fitzgerald "strongly suggested that Shergar had been killed within hours of his kidnap". The IRA then kept up a deception that the horse was still alive and in their care.
Kevin O'Connor, a journalist with RTÉ, identifies three parts of the gang: a section to undertake high-profile activity in Belfast, to focus media attention in the north; one part negotiating discreetly with the Aga Khan; and one part guarding the horse.
According to O'Callaghan, in August 1983, in an effort to raise the money that they failed to do with the Shergar theft, Fitzgerald and his group attempted to kidnap the businessman
Galen Weston
Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Weston and his family, with an esti ...
at his home in
County Wicklow. The Gardaí had been forewarned, and took over the house while Weston was in the UK. After a gun battle, Gerry Fitzgerald, Kehoe and three others were arrested. They received long prison sentences. O'Callaghan stated that "Essentially the same team that went to kidnap Shergar went to kidnap Galen Weston".
No arrests have ever been made in relation to Shergar's theft. The IRA have never admitted any role in the theft or its aftermath. Mallon and Kehoe deny any involvement in the events. Toby raises a query over O'Callaghan's story, saying the IRA informant was "a confessed informer whose life depending on his ability to weave a convincing web of lies. Without more evidence, O'Callaghan's story ...
sjust that, an interesting story."
In 2008 a special investigation by ''
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
'' obtained information from another IRA member who said that O'Callaghan had not been told the full story "because the gang was so embarrassed by what happened": a vet that the IRA had arranged to look after Shergar did not turn up because his wife threatened to leave him if he did. Once the IRA realised that the Aga Khan was not going to pay, the Army Council ordered the horse to be released. The extensive search by the Gardaí hampered any release, and Mallon thought he was under close surveillance, and that releasing the horse was too risky, so he ordered that it should be killed. The IRA source told the newspaper that two men went into the stable where Shergar was being held; one carried a machine gun:
Shergar was machine gunned to death. There was blood everywhere and the horse even slipped on his own blood. There was lots of cussin' and swearin' because the horse wouldn't die. It was a very bloody death.
Remains
Shergar's body has never been recovered or identified. Several sources, including O'Callaghan, ''The Sunday Telegraph'' and ''The Observer'' consider it likely that the body was buried near Aughnasheelin, near
Ballinamore,
County Leitrim
County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
. O'Callaghan said that as far as he knew, the remains had been buried on the farm of an IRA veteran from the 1940s, and that it would be difficult to get permission to dig on the land. Ballinamore is a town of strong republicanism, once nicknamed the "Falls Road of the South"—a reference to the
Falls Road, Belfast
The Falls Road () is the main road through West Belfast, Northern Ireland, running from Divis Street in Belfast City Centre to Andersonstown in the suburbs. The name has been synonymous for at least a century and a half with the Catholic com ...
, a highly republican area during the Troubles.
There have been several claims of equine skeletons being that of Shergar. Des Leadon, a specialist horse vet with knowledge of equine
pathology
Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...
, has assisted the Gardaí in several instances where a horse's remains may have been those of Shergar. He retains some strands of hair from Shergar's mane and tail which, he says, may contain sufficient
DNA to confirm an identification.
Legacy
In 1999, in honour of Shergar, the
Shergar Cup
The Shergar Cup is an annual horse racing event held at Ascot Racecourse, usually during early August. The race is named in honour of Shergar, the horse that won the 1981 Epsom Derby, 1981 Epsom Derby, Derby and was killed in an IRA kidnap, and wa ...
was inaugurated at
Goodwood Racecourse
Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House. It hosts the annual Glorious Goodwood meeting in la ...
, in a format that put a European team of jockeys against one from the Middle East. The race was later moved to
Ascot Racecourse
Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...
and is a competition between four teams, Great Britain and Ireland, Europe, the rest of the world and an all-women team. The winners of the competition are presented with a trophy showing Shergar; this was donated by the Aga Khan.
On the twentieth anniversary of Shergar's Derby win, a bronze statuette of the horse was presented to the winning jockey. A statue of Shergar stands in the grounds of Gilltown Stud, one of the Aga Khan's Irish stud farms.
The story of Shergar's theft was made into a television play with
Stephen Rea and
Gary Waldhorn, broadcast in March 1986 as part of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' anthology series. The play was based on the few facts known, plus a backstory described as plausible by Hugh Hebert, reviewing for ''
''. The theft was also dramatised as the film ''Shergar'', directed by
. There have been two television documentaries, ''Who Kidnapped Shergar?'', broadcast on
in June 2018.
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