60 Minutes Transcript: Shergar, a missing horse, an enduring sports mystery
Shergar's kidnappers asked for 2 million pounds in exchange for the racehorse's return. Shortly afterward, the kidnappers claimed the horse was dead. Decades later, the search for answers endures.
Legends and lore of the Irish national tapestry have come stitched with the story of Shergar, a champion racehorse and Ireland's answer to Secretariat. Kidnapped in 1983, Shergar, the fastest horse of his time, remains one of sport's great unsolved mysteries. Once a local favorite in County Kildare, Shergar's saga began when he won the 1981 Epsom Derby, England's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby.
Owned by Aga Khan, a spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims and one of the world's wealthiest royals, Shergar was put out to stud after his heroic performance at Epsom.
However, on February 8, 1983, masked men broke into Shergar's Ballymany Stud Farm and kidnapped the prized horse. Derek Thompson, a commentator, described Shergar as having a beautiful mover with a white face that endears him to the crowd. The kidnapping was initially thought to be an Irish Republican Army (IRA) plot, as the conflict in Northern Ireland, known as "The Troubles," was raging.
Shergar's head groom, Jim Fitzgerald, who was present when the kidnappers broke into the farm, described his trauma and the subsequent forced silence as a hallmark of the IRA. The IRA had previously raised funds for their campaign through bank and post office robberies, which led some to speculate that the kidnappers wanted cash for guns. Despite the passage of time, Shergar remains missing, with no arrests made or clues found, leaving him as one of Ireland's great sports mysteries.
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