His frightened family had followed kidnappers' orders to remain silent and it was 5 am yesterday before police were contacted. Rumors abound that the horse was killed just a few hours after the abduction, but the true fate of the horse remains unknown. An Irish councillor claims he had discovered the head of horse racing legend Shergar. No. He's dead." The mystery man who went to Ireland to disappear. Bold Ruler. Shortly after 8.30pm on February 8, 1983, Jim Fitzgerald, then 53, the head groom who lived at the stud, heard a knock on his door. Tommy Foley, from Tralee in Co Kerry, said he found the remains of the And so it proved in the first year at stud, when it produced 35 foals. An Irish police spokesman said they had appealed for Mr Foley to come forward immediately so the find could be investigated. But having established beyond doubt that the horse was killed by the IRA - though Alison is unable to confirm some reports which said that it was machine-gunned to death after breaking a leg and becoming unmanageable - there remained the question posed by the title of the documentary, Searching for Shergar. Shergar's memorable ten-length Epsom Derby victory of 1981. "I would love to see this mystery resolved so that we all knew what happened to the horse's remains. "It's just three miles from Tralee and it would be a place where you would conceal the remains unseen for years. Bred by the Aga Khan in County Kildare not too far from the stud from which he was eventually taken, Shergar was trained by Sir Michael Stoute in Newmarket. Shergar Far from having one owner to get the ransom from the IRA had to deal with the multiple owners of shares in the horse some of whom did not want to set a precedent by paying a ransom. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Mr Foley, who used to enjoy betting on Shergar, said yesterday: "I found the skull in a sack hidden behind a rock in a dip. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Next Wednesday (8th of Feb) is the 29th Anniversary of the Man o War. I understand that. Those who looked after and rode Shergar agree that he was one of the kindest, gentlest racehorses ever to grace the racetrack. There was blood everywhere and the horse even slipped on his own blood. Something went wrong, please try again later. 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 2018, the Belfast-based documentary maker succeeded in making a film, Searching for Shergar, which is at once a warm evocation of his splendid life and an examination of the eerie void left by the manner of his death. Shergar is insured for nearly 4 million, only a fraction of his value. 1: First Down Dash, $89,707,366. Horse Profile and Mysterious Disappearance of Shergar His owner Le Mare always had the dream of winning the Grand National, so Red Rum began training for his new career in steeplechasing. Not only was Man o War one of the immortals of horse racing, he later became a top sire. But the next year - when 55 mares were lined up to breed from Shergar - everything changed. Should I Get A Pre-Purchase Exam On A Horse? "He was a gentleman and he even gave us his mobile telephone number. When proof was eventually presented, it was flimsy: a photo of Shergars head with a copy of a Belfast newspaper from February 9th held against it. Des Leadon, the head of clinical pathology at the Irish Equine Centre, who has investigated a number of horse corpses that were believed to have been Shergar, said DNA testing would have to be used to determine if the skull belonged to the missing horse. Four days after the kidnap, a last phone call came through to Paris. Once back home, Mr Fitzgerald found his family unharmed. And I wanted to capture this love story that Ireland had with this beautiful beast. In February 1983, Shergar was kidnapped from his stable in Kildare, held for ransom, and brutally killed by his captors who havent been identified. They contained names of people in the racing industry, which I knew were accurate from my own research, and that gave me great confidence in what he was saying. When the news broke, media from around the world descended on the Republic and three leading racing journalists were asked to come to Northern Ireland in a phone call apparently from the kidnappers. When she spoke with people, she found them friendly but reticent to speak about her chief subject. I found that really hard to understand. His son, James, an insurance claims expert and a family friend, knowing of O'Callaghan's information on the kidnapping, went to visit him in jail in Northern Ireland and, even though he passed on letters saying Shergar was dead, these were not accepted as proof. Shergar, a beloved thoroughbred The man who made Shergar a superstar appealed to the kidnapperslast night: "For God's sake, don't harm him. What has been discovered almost definitively, according to a close course, was that two handlers, one clutching a machine gun, went into the remote stable where the horse was being held and opened fire. In this case, the Read more. Shergar was retired to stud at the end of its Derby-winning year and immediately became the most valuable horse at that time. Unlike today, there were no electronic security gates, CCTV cameras or an intercom to gain access - even though the horses inside were sometimes worth millions of pounds each. Even though the Troubles ended a decade ago we were advised "not to spend more than an hour there if you are asking awkward questions". The kidnappers shrewdly chose their date to coincide with a horse sale at Goffs; the verdant roads were teeming with horse trailers. Now, however, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph to mark the 25th anniversary of the horse's kidnapping finally solves the puzzle of Shergar's final hours, why his remains have never been found and how the Garda, the Irish police, bungled their investigation. Its Shergar first . A TERROR chief who was publicly accused of being behind the Shergar kidnapping nips down to the bookies on the anniversary of the legendary racehorses disappearance. Collectively it had been decided not to pay the ransom because they figured if they had, every racehorse in the world would be in danger, as many of them were worth over a million pounds (1.5 million dollars) and Ireland had lacked adequate security. As scores of British journalists descended on Co Kildare, the hunt for Shergar turned into a media circus. Shergar won at a canter and the chief anticipation at Epsom was whether the sensational three-year-old and his young jockey would handle the enormous expectation. One of the most famous animal kidnapping cases the in the world took place in Ireland thirty years ago this Thursday. Millars research brought her to Leitrim and the wild landscape outside Ballinamore. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. And Walter was laughing. Instead, they were dealing with a syndicate, most of whose insurance policies covered theft. In many ways I wanted to call the film the Ghost of Shergar. O'Callaghan suggested the horse had thrown itself into a frenzy, injured a leg and that it was put out of its misery and "was killed within days even though the IRA kept up the pretence that he was alive". The family was in Ireland and made a detour to Ballymany one afternoon for a quick visit. We do not even know what kind of accents they spoke with.". Along with Kathryn, they have obtained information from seven or eight sources that the remains of the iconic thoroughbred lie in a bog in Co Leitrim. As his son, Bernard, answered it, three masked and armed men barged their way in and started ordering the family around. There was blood everywhere and the horse even slipped on his own blood. Mallon, a convicted killer originally from Co Tyrone, eventually became part of IRA folklore after shooting his way out of one prison and being lifted by helicopter from another. (In a bitter twist, Stan Cosgrove would discover that his did not). Copyright 2023 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. Lawyer Owen Tebbs, who organised the syndicate for the Aga, said: "It is quite likely many have not taken out insurance. Hes with his father Wally; boyish, serious, not remotely fazed. Stud fees were set at around 80,000 for each time it covered a brood mare. Red Rum did not have any foals. Among others, one reason the investigation was so difficult for authorities was because the kidnappers had chosen the day before Irelands big Goffs racehorse sale to abduct Shergar, when many horseboxes were being driven across all of Irelands roads, thereby making it hard to differentiate him. Jubilee Farm: The sanctuary in Larne helping refugees and asylum seekers, Life as a pet dog photographer: My rescue dog saved me, now Ive turned my passion into a business, What is Prime Hydration? Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. It changed my life, How King Charles III survived threats posed by nationalism on both sides of the Irish Sea, It tastes foul. The gang had chosen the time for the snatch carefully. Infamous Shergar-kidnapping case closes He said: "If Shergar is harmed in any way it will do untold damage to the whole bloodstock industry. The horse had retired from racing and had recently embarked on a lucrative career at stud with racehorse owners paying for Shergar to cover their mares in the hope the resulting foal would be another champion. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The remains of a Cherry Hill man reported missing by his family earlier this year were found by a hunter this week in a state park, authorities said.. Peter Myers, 68, Well, I would say, somebody knows. There were cameras all around." It was shortly after 8 pm when the son of Jim Fitzgerald, Shergars head groom that lived at the stud, heard a knock at the door. I doubt anyone has been there for years. It was a very bloody death.". Infamous Shergar-kidnapping case closes in on its 30th Anniversary File photograph: The Irish Times. But I couldnt understand why the way we talk about silence and fear in relation to the past on this island extended to this horse. The search for the last resting place of Shergar Did They Trade Horses In The Columbian Exchange? His peerless season, remember, coincided with the dark, muggy summer of the Hunger Strikes. Months After Disappearance Of Shergar, Questions Remain But Prime has become a playground obsession, Belfast celebrates Deaf Awareness week with new production Expecting, Comedian Hal Cruttenden on using divorce from Derry wife as show inspiration: I did run it past her. As his second season approached, Shergar was expected to cover at least 55 mares throughout 1983. "Thirty-five years after the horse was taken from its stable in Kildare, I wanted to do my own documentary, and the letters proved invaluable in pointing me in certain directions.