Shergar was an Irish-bred, British-trained racehorse. After a very successful season in 1981, he was retired to the Ballymany Stud in Ireland. 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 they demanded a ransom of £2 million. 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 concluded that the horse was shot four days after the theft.
The IRA has never admitted any role in the theft.
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 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes by four lengths. In his final race of the year he came in fourth, and his owner retired him to Ballymany Stud in Ireland.
After Shergar's Epsom Derby win, 40 shares in the horse were sold, valuing it at £10 million. Retaining six shares, he created an owners' syndicate with the remaining 34 members.
No arrests have ever been made in relation to the theft. Shergar's body has never been recovered or identified; the body was likely buried near Aughnasheelin, near Ballinamore, County Leitrim. In honour of Shergar, the Shergar Cup was inaugurated in 1999. His story has been made into two-screen dramatisations, several books and two documentaries.
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