On this Day 1983

[jjcollins]

Police hunt Shergar's kidnappers

A nationwide hunt for 1981 Derby winner Shergar has begun in Ireland. The prize stallion was kidnapped last night from stables in County Kildare owned by the Aga Khan and his family for 60 years.

The unidentified kidnappers - numbering at least six - told head groom James Fitzgerald they would telephone a ransom demand by lunchtime today but have still made no contact.

His trainer Michael Stoute said: "Shergar was the best horse I have ever trained and I only hope to God nothing happens to him."

Nicknamed "Shergar the wonder-horse", he has been valued by Lloyds of London at £10 million at stud and carried an insurance premium of £300,000 when he was in competition.

A bay colt with a distinctive white blaze, Shergar was named European Horse of the Year in 1981 and retired from racing that September.


He is owned by a syndicate including Islamic leader the Aga Khan.

The breeding season starts in a week's time and Shergar was due to start his second season as a stud - to mate with up to 55 mares.

So far his fertility rate has been impressive as 42 of the mares he covered last year are in foal and another has already given birth.

The kidnap - the first of its kind in Ireland - began when two armed and masked men burst into the home of Mr Fitzgerald at the Ballymany stud in Newbridge.

The raiders then locked Mr Fitzgerald's family in a downstairs room before forcing him - at gunpoint - to release Shergar from his security stable.

Then they pushed the horse and head groom into a horsebox and drove off. Mr Fitzgerald was released four hours later and 40 miles away from the stud farm.

Detectives questioned him for several hours before putting listening devices in his home in preparation for further contact from the kidnappers.




jj...........

 

[SugarBear]

Okay....

 

[preshi]

Youi're starting to remind me of yaossa...

 

[cindysteve]

On this day in 1983 I was busy figuring out who I would ask to the Sadie Hawkins dance (didn't go), getting excited about graduation and senior prom, and the Band trip over spring break to Washington D.C.

 

[jjcollins]

Whats a yaossa preshi



jj........

 

[minniepumpernickel]

ROFL!

Yasooa (sp) was our resident foreign culture expert. He seemed to be fixated on one culture, and it was a little hard to decipher what he was talking about sometimes.

Sometimes we tried to debate with him/her, but it was hard to get anything from him that came from original thought!

Have a nice day all!

 

[Saffron]

Did they find the horse?

Could they trace any colts back to him that were conceived while he was being horsenapped?

I hope the story has a happy ending.

Minnie -- I love your description of that person. But you know what you did? You posted his name for the third time in a single day! You know what that means don't you!!!???!!!

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Oh no, everytime I come to the community board, I cause a fuss.

Or is it you, Saffron, that is the bad egg?

Just joking, you and Willy are two of my favorites. I hope that you both are doing well!

JJ we like you too!

 

[Saffron]

ROFLOL! You crack me up! It's always good to see you!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I agree, for pete's sake did they find the horse?????? I never heard of this. This time in 1983 I was going to college full time and living in a dorm.
Robin M.

 

[SugarBear]

15 February 2003
Shergar Shrouded in Mystery 20 Years On
—by Tony Bailie, Irish News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is a testimony to the Irish love of the racecourse that the word kidnapping in Ireland has become synonymous with the name of a thoroughbred horse called Shergar.

While other kidnap victims such as Brian Keenan and Ben Dunne both lived to tell their tales, it is the story of Shergar that still resonates 20 years after the event – even though he died.

On February 8 1983 an armed gang forced their way into the Ballymany Stud in Co Kildare close to the Curragh. Their target was a racehorse, which two years earlier entered the record books when it won the Epsom Derby by 10 lengths, the biggest winning margin in the history of the race. Shergar went on to win a further six races, including the Irish Sweeps Derby at the Curragh and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. By the time he was retired he had won £436,000 in prize money for his billionaire owner, the Aga Khan.

Prince Karim Aga Khan IV was the spiritual leader of millions of Ismaili Muslims, based mostly in Pakistan and east Africa. He also owned properties and business interests worth an estimated £2 billion, as well as a bloodstock empire of about 500 horses. The family interest in horse racing began with his grandfather and by 1983 the Aga Khan owned four stud farms in Ireland – at Gilltown, Sallymount, Sheshoon and Ballymany.

Despite winning nearly half a million pounds in prize money, Shergar’s real value was as a sire and although the Aga Khan retained an interest in the horse, 40 shares were sold to a syndicate for £10 million. The syndicate was able to charge a stud fee of £50,000 for Shergar and if his offspring did well on the track that fee would have doubled. But, despite the thoroughbred’s value, the Ballymany Stud was poorly protected and the kidnap gang had little difficulty in gaining access. At gunpoint they forced James Fitzgerald, the head groom, to identify Shergar and load him into a horse box.

Mr Fitzgerald was driven off with the horse and released four hours later on the Naas dual carriageway with a ransom note demanding £2 million for the safe return of the horse.

Leading the investigation into the kidnapping was trilby-wearing Chief Superintendent Jim ‘Spud’ Murphy, who became a media hero. His detection techniques were unconventional and a variety of clairvoyants, psychics and diviners were called out to help. During one interview Mr Murphy told reporters: “A clue... that is what we haven’t got.”

Despite numerous reported sightings and rumours of secret negotiations in the days following the kidnap there was little new information and a news hungry press pack began to focus their attention on Mr Murphy. During one press conference six photographers turned up wearing trilbies, identical to the police chief, after which Mr Murphy was given a much lower public profile.

There were numerous ‘sightings’ of Shergar throughout Ireland and further afield, including one report that the north African dictator Colonel Gaddafi had been spotted riding Shergar in the Libyan desert. This rumour had its roots in a news wire report, which stated that Shergar had been ‘found’ in Libya – unfortunately, the telex operator later admitted that he had accidentally left out the key word ‘not’.

Another story claimed that a Polaroid photograph of the missing horse had been sent to Johnny Logan, the Irish winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Despite all the hype it is now believed that there were genuine negotiations with the kidnappers and that a Polaroid photograph showing Shergar with a carrot and an up-to-date copy of the Irish Times was sent to prove that the animal was still alive. But four days after seizing the horse the kidnappers broke off communications and the trail went cold. It is believed the kidnappers may have thought that the Aga Khan was Shergar’s sole owner and were not aware that the horse was owned by a syndicate, making negotiations much more difficult.

In addition the kidnappers may not have bargained for the highly-strung temperament of a thoroughbred race horse and had been unable to control the animal. Although no-one has ever admitted responsibility for the kidnapping, IRA informer Sean O’Callaghan claimed in his autobiography that republicans were responsible. He claimed that the IRA gang had been unable to handle Shergar and that the £10 million thoroughbred was shot.

“The horse threw himself into a frenzy in the horsebox, damaging a leg and proving impossible for the team to control,” O’Callaghan wrote.

“He was killed within days even though the IRA kept up the pretence that he was alive and demanded a £5 million pound (sic) ransom for his safe return.”

As the chances of finding Shergar alive diminished, the focus moved more and more to what had happened to the horse’s body. Some people claimed that the £10 million thoroughbred had been sold to a knackers yard as dog meat, but even in death mystery surrounded his whereabouts.

Several years ago a horse’s skull containing two bullet holes was found wrapped in a cloth and many believed that it may have been Shergar, but forensic tests found that the skull belonged to a much younger animal.

In a recent interview, Walter Swinburn – who rode Shergar to victory in the 1983 Derby – said he was still as much remembered for his association with the missing thoroughbred as for his own achievements.

“To this day I am probably more remembered for riding Shergar than anything else,” he said.

“If I go back to Ireland there is hardly a week goes by without someone asking me about him.”

 

[jjcollins]

Thanks minnie lol - and yes the poor horse was killed

Hi Maggie


jj.......