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our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any time you need support
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notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music] in 1920 the country of ireland consisted
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of two self-governing territories northern ireland and southern ireland both of which belonged to the united
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kingdom following the war of independence and to the anglo-irish treaty of 1921 southern ireland declared independence
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from the uk and became the republic of ireland while northern ireland remained under british
00:02:29
rule this partitioning caused the great conflict between the two regions with irish nationalists in the republic
00:02:37
wanting all of ireland to be reunified as an independent country while unionists in the north didn't
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agree many inhabitants of northern ireland were descended from english ancestors
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and identified more as british instead of irish hence their loyalty to the uk the fact that the unionists were mainly
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of protestant background while the nationalists were predominantly catholic only furthered the divide
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in 1968 a period known as the troubles began marking a battle for control between those who thought
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northern ireland should be returned to the republic and to those who felt it should remain
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under british rule leading the charge was the irish republican army or ira also known as the provisional
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irish republican army the ira was an illegal paramilitary organisation whose primary goal was to force the
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united kingdom to negotiate a withdrawal from northern ireland they sought to bring about unification
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of ireland through any means including violence and terrorism when the troubles began fighting between
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the ira and british soldiers from northern ireland was at an all-time high over the years the ira
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bombed political and economic targets across northern ireland and england using guerrilla tactics in both
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urban and rural areas years of extreme protesting and violence had culminated in low morale and
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widespread despair throughout ireland and the economy was in trouble resulting in high unemployment rates and
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mass emigration yet one industry that continued to thrive was horse racing which provided twenty
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thousand jobs and detracted large sums of money from overseas in 1980 an irish racehorse named
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suregar took the industry by storm becoming a racing champion and national treasure the irish public
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adored shergar and watching him achieve great success provided a much needed distraction from the troubles he became
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a symbol of hope and possibility in an otherwise bleak and trying time [Music] [Music]
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shergar was born on march 3 1978 at a private stud farm in the irish county of kildare his father was a british-born
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thoroughbred racehorse named great nephew and his mother was charmaine a thoroughbred who had produced many
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other successful racehorses throughout her breeding career shergar was a quintessential
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thoroughbred he was tall and lean with an athletic build ideal for racing he had a light brown
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coat with a black mane and tail and four white socks on his legs running down his nose was a wide white
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stripe known as a blaze and one of his eyes was blue a phenomenon called a walleye
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some horse racing professionals believed that horses with a walleye are predisposed to being skittish and
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temperamental but trainers who worked with sugar dismissed this theory finding him laid back and easy to train
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the shahoon stud farm was owned by prince kareem a muslim leader better known in the west
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as his highness agar khan iv as the 49th spiritual leader of the shia ismaili muslims
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the agar khan is believed to be a direct descendant of the prophet muhammad shia islam has an estimated 15 million
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followers and the agar khan is considered to be their king and spiritual guide in 1957
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he inherited his position from his grandfather agar khan iii at the age of 20 and grew up to be a
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business magnate humanitarian worker and a racehorse breeder during his time as leader the agar khan
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has been celebrated for his exceptional contributions to human development and has received
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numerous awards and honorary degrees from institutions throughout the world he is also a
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billionaire who has been described by forbes magazine as one of the world's 10 richest royals
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over the years the agar khan has amassed assets such as valuable stud farms hundreds of
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award-winning racehorses an exclusive italian yacht club a private island in the bahamas
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several estates and two jets sure was trained to be a racehorse from a young age
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and grew up to become one of the agakhan's greatest success stories known for his nice temperament and for
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having a certain elegance in the way he moved he was more relaxed and affectionate
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than the average thoroughbred which appealed to his owners and the public who nicknamed him ireland's pegasus
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one of shergar's most endearing features was that when he galloped at full pace his tongue lulled out the side of his
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mouth which one racing commentator said made him look like a 10 year old solving
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a tricky maths problem shurgar's trainer was michael stout a barbados native hired by the agar khan
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in 1978 regarded as an up-and-comer michael had worked as an assistant to famous british
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horse trainer pat rowan and already had some big wins under his belt he began training sugar at the beach
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hurst stables in the english town of newmarket but initially saw nothing special about him viewing him as
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somewhat immature in august to 1980 jockey leicester pigott began taking sugar out for
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morning rides and the two quickly formed a bond lester was one of only two jockeys
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whoever rode sure gar the other being walter swinburne when racing sugar the two jockeys
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dressed in the racing colours of the agar khan an emerald green cap and jacket with red
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epaulettes sugar's racing career began at the crease plate in newbury on september 19 1980 when he was two and
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a half years old he was the favorite to win at odds of 11 to eight and after initially keeping behind he
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ultimately won by two and a half lengths this style of racing became his signature with sure
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often sitting in third or fourth place until he sped up and ultimately overtook the winning
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horses in the final straight between 1980 and 1981 he went on to win six of the eight major
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races he competed in including the guardian newspaper classic trial chester vars the epsom derby the irish
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derby and the king george vi than queen elizabeth stakes these collective wins were considered to
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be tremendous achievements in the racing world and as suregas reputation and prestige
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grew so did his popularity horse racing enthusiast richard bearline described his appeal in the guardian
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newspaper writing to say sure typifies the perfect racehorse would not be overstating the
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case his powers of acceleration are exceptional one or two experts have told me they
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consider sugar the best horse they've ever seen in 1981 sure was named european horse of
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the year and he soon became a household name in ireland and england even amongst to those who didn't follow
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racing on july 9 1981 the agar khan announced he would be keeping sure in ireland in order to use him as a
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stard unlike race winnings which can be inconsistent and unpredictable putting a racehorse to stud provides a
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steady income and the agar khan expected to breed ten of his mares to sugar each breeding season the agar khan
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wanted to syndicate sugar which meant selling shares so that ownership of the horse would be split
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between several individuals with 40 shares up for grabs the agar khan revealed he
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would be keeping six shares and selling the remaining 34 at the price of 250 000 pounds each
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the equivalent of around one and a half million australian dollars in today's money
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anyone who knew anything about horse racing wanted in on the action and the shares were quickly snapped up
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in total the syndicate invested 10 million pounds in sugar which was a record at the time for a
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stallion at stard it was reported that the agar khan could have made more money by shipping sugar
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to the united states where some breeding syndicates were prepared to pay up to 40 million us dollars
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however there had been a recent outbreak of a highly infectious equine venereal disease
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known as contagious sequined metritis resulting in international travel restrictions
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in addition the agar khan wanted sugar to remain in ireland because he was so well loved by the
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public and provided a respite for the tension between the republic and the northern ireland owning shares
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in sugar was considered to be a great privilege and it was up to each shareholder to
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organise their own insurance each of their individual policies ensured sugar for death
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caused by accident illness and disease but only some of the policies covered theft
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trainer michael stout and the agar khan wanted to race sure in the october 1981 french pre-de lark
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de triomphe also known simply as the ark to gain entry sugar first needed to succeed in a prep race
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so it was decided he would compete in the saint ledger stakes at doncaster in england
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it was the final race for the season and to the last time sure would race as a three-year-old
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although he was a favorite he finished in fourth place with his poor performance attributed to
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the fact that it had rained heavily the previous evening this loss meant that racing in the ark
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was out of the picture the agar khan didn't want any further losses impacting on shergar's
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desirability as a stud and it was therefore decided that he be retired at the peak of his short
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yet illustrious racing career to celebrate shurgar's achievements a public celebration was held in the irish
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town of newbridge with the agakhan parading sugar in front of crowds along the main street
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while the plaque band played at the time of shergar's retirement he was the most
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valuable stud horse in ireland making the agar khan the leading breeder it was expected that
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sure would produce many offspring who would be equally successful racehorses he was taken to the bali mani stud farm
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in newbridge where he was kept in a four-stalled stallion barn like most other horse studs in ireland
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at the time bali manny had very few security measures in place the entrance consisted of a five-bar
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wooden gate that could be unlocked from the outside and led to the stables where nameplates
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identified each of the horses the staff noted sugar was a very agreeable horse with a good
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temperament he was mainly looked after by 53 year old horse groom jim fitzgerald who lived with his wife
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and children down a quiet tree-lined street a short walk from bali manny jim's proximity to the stud farm was
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intentional as his role required him to be available to attend to the horses at any and all times
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he had a lifelong love of horses and had started working for the agar khan as an
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assistant when he was just 16. jim took his job very seriously and spent each day talking to the horses
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immaculately cleaning their stables and grooming them thoroughly when the 1982 breeding season arrived
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sugar was studded out at the cost of 70 000 pounds per day the equivalent of around
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118 000 australian dollars in today's money by the end of the year he had fathered
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37 foals and was booked to breed with 55 mares in the 1983 season which was due to commands on february 14.
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one week prior on tuesday february 8th a large horse auction hosted by goth sales took place
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in the village of kill located 22 kilometers south west of balimani the auction attracted visitors from all
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over ireland with the typically quiet and peaceful area becoming a hive of activity
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as people traffic and horse floats milled around well into the night as it was also
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nearly the breeding season there were a greater number of horse floats around than usual
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as mares were moved to various stud farms february 8 was one of the coldest days
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ireland had experienced that year but was otherwise a regular day for sugar at the stud farm
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in the morning he was taken out for exercise and later returned to his stable in the
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afternoon by jim fitzgerald that evening jim went home to eat dinner with his wife madge and to their six children
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the youngest of whom was five years old at 8pm jim returned to the ballymani stables to check that the horses were
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comfortable and settled the night was cold and foggy but everything seemed to be in order
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so jim walked back home at around 8 40 jim was upstairs when he heard knocking at his front door
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which was unusual for that time of night jim headed downstairs to see who it was
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but his pre-teen son bernard had already opened the door standing there was a tall man
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dressed like the guarder the name of the irish police service with a balaclava pulled over his head
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given how cold it was outside it wasn't out of the ordinary to see a guarder officer wearing a balaclava
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the men asked the bernard is he in which bernard took to mean his father he turned to call for jim but as he did
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so the man hit bernard across his lower back striking him to the ground by the time jim made it downstairs the
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man had pinned bernard to the floor with one hand in the other he held a pistol which he
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pointed towards jim at this point two more balaclava-clad pistol-wielding men entered the house and pointed their guns
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at the family another two assailants then burst through the door and ushered the children to a bedroom
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while the other four took jim and his wife madge to the kitchen jim noted that the men were all very
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calm and organized and referred to one another using the code word creswell it was obvious to him that the attack
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had been carefully planned one of the men told jim they had come for sure and demanded to be taken to him
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they told jim to get his code and then marched him over to balimani at gunpoint while the other two armed men stayed at
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the house to keep an eye on the family at 8 50 pm jim and his attackers arrived at the stables
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jim believed that horses could sense the emotions of people they were familiar with
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and did his best to stay calm so as not to alarm sugar it seemed to work as sugar appeared relaxed and was easily
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led from his stable still holding jim at gunpoint the men then demanded that he load sugar into a
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horse float that was attached to a nearby car at this point jim noticed that the men were carrying
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shortwave radios he also noted that one of the men seemed to have experience handling horses
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as he was more confident with his movements and less wary of sugar than the others by nine o'clock
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jim had successfully loaded sugar into the float some of the thieves then got into the
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car and drove away as jim watched helplessly the remaining men took jim back to his
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house and kept him under watch until 10 pm at which point three of them loaded him
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into the back of a van and drove off jim was ordered to lie down with a coat over his face
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his captors then drove over the rough country roads at high speeds repeatedly warning jim that he and his
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family would face a violent ramifications if they went to the police after approximately two hours they
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dropped a gym off at the side of a road about 48 kilometers northeast of bali many
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and gave him directions to the nearest town called kilcock the thieves told jim they wanted two million pounds for
00:22:33
sure safe return and would be using the code name king neptune for upcoming ransom
00:22:39
negotiations after telling jim not to look back they drove away into the night terrified jim walked to killcock
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arriving just before midnight and pounded on the door of a chinese restaurant until the owners let him in
00:23:00
they allowed him to use their phone and jim called his brother dez fitzgerald who drove out to give him
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a lift back to ballymany by the time he arrived home the armed man had a left and his family
00:23:15
were waiting up shaken but unharmed at 12 10 a.m on wednesday february 9 as jim was trying to come to terms with
00:23:30
what had happened belfast the based horse breeders jeremy and judy maxwell were awoken by a phone
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call judy answered and a male on the other line introduced himself as king neptune saying
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we've got shergar if you want proof we'll send you his ear thinking it was a prank call
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judy somewhat facetiously asked the man to take good care of the horse she then hung up
00:24:02
and went back to sleep without giving the call much more thought 20 minutes later at 12 30 a.m the phone
00:24:11
rang at the bbc television office in belfast the employee who answered heard the
00:24:18
voice of a well-educated sounding man with a southern irish accent he told the employee that sugar had been
00:24:26
kidnapped and the captors were only willing to negotiate with britain's three best racing journalists derek thompson
00:24:35
john oxy and peter kampling he ordered that the trio be at the europa hotel in central belfast by the evening of
00:24:45
thursday february 10 and said that on future calls he would identify himself as arco which was the name of another
00:24:53
famous racehorse meanwhile at belly manny jim fitzgerald was contemplating what to do next
00:25:04
at 1 15 am he called his boss giladrion who was the stud manager for the yaga khan's
00:25:11
irish stars and told him what had happened gila wanted to phone the gada but jim
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warned him not to so gila called the agakhan in switzerland instead unable to get a hold of him he then
00:25:27
called suregas vet and shareholder stan cosgrove the two men drove to bali many to speak
00:25:35
with the gym in person and to confirm that sure really had been stolen stan cosgrove soon phoned his friend
00:25:45
captain sean berry the manager of the irish thoroughbred breeders association and told him what had happened
00:25:54
captain berry later told author milton c toby that in his business the telephone call
00:26:00
from stan cosgrove was quote the equivalent of the director of the louvre in paris being told that the mona lisa
00:26:09
had been stolen at 1 45 am racing journalist derek thompson awoke to a phone call in
00:26:19
his london hotel room it was a reporter from london's press association who advised derek that sure had been
00:26:28
kidnapped and the captors had asked to speak with him personally derek didn't believe this at first but
00:26:37
the reporter repeatedly told him that it was not a joke derek eventually agreed to accompany the
00:26:44
other two racing journalists john oxy and peter campling to belfast the following evening
00:26:51
to negotiate shergar's release by 4 am gila drayon had a managed to get hold of the agar khan in switzerland
00:27:05
gillar asked whether they should simply pay the ransom quietly without getting the police
00:27:11
involved but the agar khan instructed him to notify the guarder he reasoned that there were too many
00:27:18
shareholders involved with sugar for him to make a decision on his own and it was inevitable that the garder
00:27:25
and press were to learn about the theft anyway the agar khan also said that there was
00:27:31
no guarantee that sure would be returned safely even if they paid the ransom and that paying could set a precedent
00:27:39
for further thefts of irish racehorses by the time the guardo were notified shergar had been missing
00:27:48
for almost eight hours this was enough time for the thieves to have taken him anywhere within
00:27:54
ireland or even abroad tracking him would be especially difficult as the goths sales horse auction that
00:28:02
was held the previous day meant there were a large number of horse floats traveling through the country
00:28:09
because of the tensions between the republic of ireland and northern ireland all the main gada
00:28:14
stations had radio contact with one another this meant that if officials had been
00:28:21
notified earlier stations further away could have put up roadblocks and possibly found sure within hours of
00:28:28
the kidnap yet by the time the kidnapping was reported the area was too large to cover leading
00:28:37
many to believe that the search was doomed from the start chief superintendent james murphy was
00:28:45
assigned to lead the case nicknamed the spud he was a tall slim man with a strong
00:28:52
irish accent and a dark sense of humor who always wore a three-piece suit with a black
00:28:58
felt trilby hat similar to a fedora by midday the media had gotten hold of the story
00:29:07
and to news reports of sugar's theft were being broadcast around the world journalists flocked to new bridge and
00:29:16
the small town was soon swimming with reporters speaking on the steps of the new bridge
00:29:23
gada station chief murphy told the gathering reporters that he wasn't overly concerned about the case
00:29:30
because quote a stallion cannot be kept by people who are not well up in the horsey field
00:29:37
and who do not know how to keep the animal he openly admitted that the police had
00:29:43
no leads but ordered that all irish stud farms and stables be searched immediately
00:29:51
40 detectives were sent to new bridge to work on the case and help with the search while the head
00:29:58
of the goddess murder squad was also assigned to the investigation the international criminal police
00:30:05
organization more commonly known as interpol were contacted due to the possibility that sugar had
00:30:12
been smuggled out of the country investigators inquired about any possible security footage
00:30:19
but the owners of bali mani stud had considered installing a security system an unnecessary expense as it didn't seem
00:30:27
possible that a racehorse could ever be stolen balimani did have one cctv camera inside
00:30:36
the main stable where sugar was housed but it was broken and didn't even have a tape inside
00:30:44
initial search efforts uncovered no sign of sugar but the gada did find caches of ira
00:30:51
weapons hidden throughout the irish countryside which resulted in the ira losing many of
00:30:58
their safe houses at 405 on wednesday afternoon one of the thieves phoned to bali
00:31:06
manny's starred giladrion answered but as he was french and not fluent in english he struggled
00:31:15
to understand the caller's demands the caller eventually became frustrated and hung up just over an hour and a half
00:31:25
later at 5 45 the thief phoned back this time giller asked him to speak slowly which he did the caller introduced
00:31:37
himself as king neptune and demanded two million pounds for sure safe release with the ransom to be paid
00:31:44
in 50 and 100 pound notes he also requested a phone number in france that he and his men could contact instead of
00:31:54
making calls to irish landlines that could be traced gila gave him the phone number for the
00:32:01
agakon's office in paris when word of the ransom demand reached sugar's shareholders they thought it was
00:32:10
odd that the thieves had demanded to be paid in 100 pound notes as such notes didn't exist
00:32:18
this led some of them to believe that shergar's theft was more a publicity stunt than a genuine kidnapping for
00:32:26
ransom regardless the shareholders hired a company named control risks group limited to
00:32:34
handle the negotiations on their behalf and a negotiator was sent to the ugga khan's office in paris
00:32:41
in anticipation of further incoming calls the following day of thursday february
00:32:51
10 racing journalists derek thompson john oxy and peter campling were taken to belfast's europa hotel
00:32:59
as the thieves had requested at the time the hotel was informally used as a home base for foreign
00:33:07
journalists which coupled with its central location had made it the ideal target for
00:33:14
bombings by the ira the building had earned the undesirable reputation of being the most
00:33:22
bombed hotel in europe a fact that made the three journalists wary as they entered its lobby
00:33:30
other reporters who had caught wind of the story had already gathered outside the building
00:33:37
within minutes of their arrival a message over the loudspeaker announced that there was a call for derrick
00:33:43
thompson derek took the phone and the caller on the other line told him he was being
00:33:50
watched he was then instructed to go to the farmhouse owned by horse breeders jeremy and judy maxwell the couple who
00:33:59
had received a phone call from king neptune in the early hours after sugar was stolen
00:34:06
saying that sugar had been kidnapped and that his ear could be sent as proof the maxwell's farmhouse was located 48
00:34:16
kilometers south of belfast in the town of down patrick after hanging up the phone
00:34:23
derrick immediately updated the garter and the europa hotel's chief of security as well as his fellow reporters john oxy
00:34:31
and peter campling the three racing reporters discussed how they could leave the building without
00:34:38
being noticed to prevent the other journalists from following and possibly compromising
00:34:43
sugar's safety eventually they snuck out via the hotel's kitchen and into a waiting car
00:34:53
when they arrived at the farmhouse the gada were already on site judy maxwell advised that she had just
00:35:02
received another phone call from the thieves who this time changed the code name to
00:35:07
balco referencing another well-known racehorse they had also reduced the ransom to just
00:35:15
forty thousand pounds equaling one thousand pounds for each share in sugar at 8 30 pm the phone rang at the maxwell
00:35:26
farmhouse and derek thompson answered it the caller used the code word acabalco and repeated the forty thousand pound
00:35:35
ransom demand he had given to judy earlier he ordered that the demands be broadcast
00:35:42
over the bbc evening news before abruptly hanging up leaving the gata with insufficient time
00:35:50
to trace the core captain sean berry who had been contacted by vet stan cosgrove
00:35:58
in the early hours following suregas kidnapping was eager to help in any way he could
00:36:05
he contacted the members of his organisation the irish thoroughbred breeders association
00:36:11
and they agreed to sponsor a reward of 50 000 pounds for safe return the reward was advertised in irish
00:36:21
newspapers alongside a phone number for the office of the irish equine center which the public could call with any
00:36:29
information captain berry said his organization was prepared to pay a higher reward if
00:36:36
necessary although he didn't publicise a specific amount stating our association
00:36:44
represents all horse breeders and we decided on this course of action as a gesture on behalf of the entire breeding
00:36:52
industry it is vital that shergar be found safe and dwell de gada agreed to captain berry's plan
00:37:03
on the condition that they were allowed to tap the phones in his home and office in case someone decided to
00:37:09
contact him there instead within hours of the reward being publicised calls started to come through
00:37:19
some were from animal lovers concerned about sugar's welfare with one caller asking if specific
00:37:26
information on how to feed and care for sugar could be published in a local newspaper
00:37:32
in response captain berry organised for a veterinarian to appear on irish television
00:37:39
to provide detailed care instructions directed at suregas captors in addition to these well-meaning calls
00:37:48
captain berry received several threats with one caller threatening to burn his house down
00:37:54
if he continued to search for sure these calls were usually terminated quickly after captain berry told the caller that
00:38:04
the phones were being recorded by the guarder chief superintendent james murphy continued to provide
00:38:13
updates to the media from the steps of the new bridge garda station due to his dark sense of humor and to
00:38:20
the vague answers he gave many members of the press believed he wasn't taking the
00:38:26
crime seriously the truth was that chief murphy knew more about the case than he
00:38:32
let on and simply chose not to share the information with the media but his secrecy added to the speculation
00:38:40
that he didn't know what he was doing the press dubbed him inspector oclusso after the bumbling detective from the
00:38:49
pink panther movies and some reporters turned up to press conferences wearing a similar hat to his
00:38:55
trademark trilby as a way of poking fun at him at 1 15 am on the morning of friday
00:39:06
february 11 the phone rang at the maxwell's farmhouse in downpatrick it was answered by journalist derek
00:39:15
thompson who was still there with the gada the caller introduced himself as king
00:39:22
neptune and told derek that if he didn't come up with the 40 000 pound ransom money by 9 am
00:39:29
sure would be shot derek had been advised by the guarder to try and keep the caller on the line for
00:39:37
as long as possible so they could trace the call and he managed to drag out the conversation for roughly three minutes
00:39:46
this should have been enough time to trace it but when derek hung up he was told that the officer responsible
00:39:53
for tracing calls had finished his shift at midnight leaving nobody to fill his role
00:40:01
this error would turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes the guarder made during their
00:40:06
investigation and they received considerable backlash as a result six hours later at 7am the phone rang
00:40:17
once more at the maxwell's farmhouse and derrick answered yet again this time the caller said that there had
00:40:26
been an accident and sure was now dead when asked where his body could be recovered from
00:40:34
the caller hung up the gada had been theorizing whether two different groups had been making the
00:40:42
ransom calls they suspected that those made to the agar khan's office in paris were legitimate while the calls to the
00:40:50
maxwells and to the journalists were intentional hoaxes designed to confuse the situation and by
00:40:57
time for further negotiations and more media attention this latest call strengthened their
00:41:05
theory and the forty thousand pound ransom demand and news of sugar's death were considered to
00:41:12
be false in a press conference chief murphy told reporters that he was regretfully no closer to solving the
00:41:21
case than he had been the previous day horse groom jim fitzgerald was still reluctant to speak to the police
00:41:31
at first he had been in such a state of shock that he was unable to recall any of the details of the attack but by
00:41:39
this point he was simply fearful of the threats the thieves had made against his family
00:41:46
although chief murphy didn't push him to speak jim did have one message for suregas
00:41:52
captors he asked them to feed suregas some carrots as they were his favorite food and would
00:42:00
cheer him up at nine o'clock that evening another call was placed to the agar khan's
00:42:08
office in paris the caller demanded the two million pound ransom again but the negotiator said he didn't have
00:42:17
the money because there were 35 shareholders he had to consult with the negotiator also asked for proof that
00:42:26
sugar was still alive which the caller agreed to provide before ordering that the money be ready
00:42:33
by nine the following night or sure would be killed an hour later at 10 pm another call came
00:42:43
through to the paris office by this point the media were reporting on the claim that sure
00:42:51
had been shot made during the phone call to the maxwell's house that morning the
00:42:58
caller told the negotiator that the news was false and that he could prove sugar was
00:43:03
alive he gave instructions that someone who wasn't associated with the bali many
00:43:10
starred needed to travel to the crofton airport hotel in dublin once they arrived at the hotel
00:43:18
reception they were to use the alias johnny logan the name of a famous irish pop singer at
00:43:26
which point they would receive proof that shergar was still alive the caller warned the negotiator not to
00:43:34
tell the guarder about this plan ignoring the thieves request to send someone who wasn't associated with bally
00:43:47
manny the owner syndicate chose shergar's vet stan cosgrove to attend the crofton
00:43:54
airport hotel [Music] they also tipped off the gada who sent special armed officers to surround
00:44:02
the premises at nine o'clock on the morning of saturday february 12 stan arrived at the hotel and asked
00:44:12
have you got a message here for johnny logan the staff at reception said no unsure of what to do next stan ate
00:44:24
breakfast at the hotel while waiting for further news at 11 15 a.m one of the thieves called
00:44:34
the agar khan's office in paris furious they had been unable to deliver the proof of life to the crofton airport
00:44:42
hotel because the building was surrounded by police officers the caller threatened to kill shergar as
00:44:51
well as the negotiator if they were caught by the gada four hours later at 3 12 pm the thieves
00:45:00
phoned paris once again they accused the negotiator of stalling for time and said he had one hour to get the two
00:45:09
million pound ransom together or sure would be killed when the negotiator said the
00:45:18
shareholders were concerned that sure was already dead he was told that proof of
00:45:24
life could be found at the rostenary hotel in the town of drogheda 49 kilometers
00:45:30
north of dublin a guarder officer went to the rostenary hotel reception where he was given a polaroid photo
00:45:41
it was a close-up shot of the horse's head taken next to a copy of the irish news
00:45:47
newspaper dated the previous day of february 11 1983. vet stan cosgrove was called to the new
00:45:57
bridge gada station to examine the photograph he was certain the horse in the picture
00:46:03
was sure but as it didn't show the horse's body he couldn't tell for sure whether or not
00:46:10
it proved that sure was still alive furthermore as the newspaper was from the day prior
00:46:19
it was possible that sure had been killed after the photo was taken details of the photo were withheld from
00:46:28
the press with the gada denying that any such polaroid existed at 5 pm the thieves once again
00:46:38
called the aggir khan's paris office demanding that the ransom be paid the negotiator said the shareholders
00:46:47
wanted to see a full-bodied photo of sugar standing up to prove he was still alive
00:46:54
this angered the caller leading him to threaten quote you may not pay for this horse
00:47:02
but you will definitely pay for the next one when you see what we do to this horse before hanging
00:47:09
up the agar khan still wanted to buy more time as it was against his principles to give
00:47:17
in and pay the ransom the irish and british governments agreed with his decision to withhold payment
00:47:25
confirming that under no circumstances would they assist with facilitating the money
00:47:33
five and a half hours later at 10 40 pm the thieves called the paris office to yet again
00:47:40
ask for the ransom the negotiator repeated the shareholder's demand for further proof of life to which the
00:47:49
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00:54:04
from the thieves or any developments in the case on tuesday february 15 one week after
00:54:11
sugar was stolen a man named patty mccann was walking through county tyrone in northern
00:54:17
ireland when he came across a horse's dismembered hinder leg that had been crudely severed at the hip
00:54:24
joint paddy was a horse enthusiast and could tell by looking at the limb that it
00:54:30
belonged to a thoroughbred that had been wearing professionally shod horseshoes he immediately thought of sugar and
00:54:38
reported the discovery to police authorities seized the lag but as it didn't have white sock markings on its
00:54:46
hoof like all four of sugar's limbs did it was confirmed not to be his that same day
00:54:55
the gata released the description of three of the suspects although jim fitzgerald hadn't seen
00:55:02
their faces due to the balaclavas they'd been wearing another groom at bali manny had
00:55:07
witnessed some men hanging around the stud farms entrance and was able to provide further
00:55:12
information on their facial features one of the suspects was labeled as a jockey type
00:55:20
being five foot three inches tall and having a slight build he was aged in his mid-20s with a dark
00:55:27
complexion hair combed down across his forehead and was wearing jeans and a denim jacket
00:55:34
based on this description some journalists surmised that he may have previously worked with
00:55:40
sugar at the stud farm adding to jim fitzgerald's theory that one of the thieves had appeared proficient at
00:55:47
handling horses the second suspect was in his early twenties was five foot seven inches tall and had
00:55:56
a medium build he had dark hair parted to the left a large prominent nose and was wearing a brown jacket
00:56:06
the third suspect was five foot eight of medium build and undetermined age and had been
00:56:12
wearing a dark jacket and pants with a hat that had a shiny peak he was described as resembling a guarder
00:56:20
officer or bus driver based on these descriptions the press referred to the three suspects
00:56:28
as the jockey the nose and the guard the gada technical bureau used the descriptions to create photo fit images
00:56:38
of the suspects although they were only intended for use by the gata two of the three photos were leaked to
00:56:46
the media with one published in the irish independent newspaper when a reporter asked chief murphy
00:56:54
whether the release of the images had resulted in any clues he responded we have got a good
00:57:01
description but what we haven't got is a clue journalists used this quote repeatedly
00:57:09
to highlight how botched the investigation was as part of their investigations the gada
00:57:19
followed up on a two-way radio call that had been intercepted on sunday february
00:57:24
6 two days before sugar was stolen the call had taken place between four men in county galway
00:57:32
on the west coast of the republic of ireland one of the men spoke with a cultured
00:57:38
english accent while the other three spoke with irish accents they used short phrases as though they
00:57:45
were speaking in code and mentioned an orange car and a road that was bad for a box presumably
00:57:53
meaning a horse float suspecting the call might have had something to do with the plans to
00:57:59
transport sure the gada conducted a thorough search of county galway but to no avail
00:58:09
on wednesday february 16 the gada released a witness description of a horse float that was spotted leaving the
00:58:16
ballyman he starred at 8 30 pm on the night of shergar's disappearance it was described as either a light blue
00:58:25
or light green two-horse trailer that was possibly manufactured by a company called
00:58:31
rice it was in rough condition with no license plate or working lights and was being towed by either a brown
00:58:40
hillman hunter or a vauxhall following the release of this information investigators were optimistic that the
00:58:48
float would be identified but their hopes were quashed when no leads arose later that day chief murphy stepped down
00:59:00
from handling the press briefings instead assigning the task to superintendent noel anderson
00:59:06
an experienced spokesperson and a senior press officer although he never confirmed why it was
00:59:15
likely that chief murphy stepped down due to the media's constant ridicule on saturday february 19 a loaded
00:59:25
magazine cartridge from an automatic rifle was found near the entrance of bali manny starred
00:59:32
it was from astaya daimler hook an austrian submachine gun that was rare in ireland
00:59:38
but known to be used by the southern command branch of the ira the gada were unable to lift any
00:59:46
fingerprints off the magazine or link it to an owner and ultimately decided to withhold the discovery from
00:59:53
the public the days continued to pass without any further contact from suregas captors
01:00:04
the shareholders tried to re-establish communication with the thieves via the media
01:00:09
but their attempts were unsuccessful they believed that sure would eventually be released unharmed
01:00:17
as they couldn't imagine that a fellow irishman would kill an innocent horse and beloved national
01:00:23
treasure however weeks went by without any leads or breakthroughs in the case until the investigation and media
01:00:33
reports started slowing down the public were eager to help with 150 000 people joining the search to check
01:00:43
fields farms and stables the gata followed every tip-off they received searching canal banks travellers
01:00:52
caravans and properties only to find out that several of the tip-offs were hoaxes crafted by
01:00:58
vengeful neighbors [Music] in a bid to gather information detectives interviewed more than 100
01:01:07
jockeys from ireland and england with the gada clarifying that these interviews had
01:01:13
nothing to do with one of the suspects being described as a jockey from an economic point of view the theft
01:01:21
of sugar was a huge problem for ireland not only did the horse racing industry provide 20 000 jobs
01:01:29
within the country but it also generated lots of money from international sources with the crime casting doubt on
01:01:37
the safety of the industry the irish economy was at risk of impact chief murphy told the press quote
01:01:47
if any harm happens to that horse it is going to do the industry an amount of anguish in this country and
01:01:55
for that reason alone i would ask the kidnappers to return the horse safely as the guarder grew increasingly
01:02:05
desperate they sought the help of around 50 clairvoyance which drew further ridicule from the press
01:02:14
a majority of the psychics believed that sure would be found west of the river shannon
01:02:19
in county galway which investigators believed was too compelling to ignore they searched this area with the help of
01:02:28
several psychics but nothing was found in early march a man named patrick kelly recognised the description of the horse
01:02:40
float used in shergar's kidnapping as his own float that was stolen in county louth
01:02:45
near the border of northern ireland he provided photos of the float and the jim fitzgerald positively identified it
01:02:54
as the one used by the thieves to transport shergar what seemed like a big breakthrough
01:03:01
ultimately led to nowhere as patrick kelly was unable to provide any further insight into who might have
01:03:08
stolen the float the hotline that had been set up by captain sean berry manager of the irish thoroughbred
01:03:21
breeders association remained active and on march 16 he received a call from a man with a
01:03:28
cultured irish accent who requested a 250 000 pound reward to begin negotiations for safe return
01:03:39
captain berry agreed to get the money together and the caller said he would be in touch again soon
01:03:46
using the code name rugby this code name concerned captain berry as he was a huge rugby fan
01:03:55
and became paranoid that the caller may have been monitoring his personal life or watching his family
01:04:01
[Music] he notified the guarder and on march 24 rugby called again captain berry told him the reward money
01:04:12
would only be paid if he received conclusive evidence that sure was still alive to which rugby said he would be in touch
01:04:22
captain berry and his wife were scheduled to depart for a two-week holiday in the canary islands
01:04:28
but they told the garda they'd be happy to cancel the trip in order to stay home to continue
01:04:33
negotiations the garda urged the couple to carry on with their plans and while they were on
01:04:40
holiday no further calls came through this added to captain barry's suspicion that he was under surveillance
01:04:52
the next phone call from rugby came on the morning of may 2 1983. this time he directed captain
01:05:00
berry to drive to the k-deen hotel in new bridge near bali manistad to wait for an incoming phone call
01:05:08
for a mr davies captain berry did as he was told with undercover guarder officers also
01:05:16
positioning themselves inside the hotel at 11am the phone rang for mr davies and captain barry answered as directed
01:05:28
rugby instructed him to return to the hotel the following afternoon with 250 000
01:05:35
pounds in cash at which point he would be taken to see sure captain berry went home
01:05:43
and obtained a blood testing kit from a local lequin dna testing facility he returned
01:05:50
to the hotel on the afternoon of may 3 where the phone rang at approximately two o'clock
01:05:57
this time rugby advised captain barry to travel to a pay phone and killed there at 9pm on may 5
01:06:05
where arrangements would be made to take him to sugar undercover officers noted a man who had
01:06:14
also been at the hotel the day prior was watching captain barry closely which confirmed their suspicion that he was
01:06:22
under surveillance they warned him to cease the negotiations if he feared his family was
01:06:28
in danger but captain berry wanted to persevere in the hopes of shergar's return
01:06:36
at 8 57 pm on may 5 he went to the phone booth and killed air and waited for the call
01:06:44
rugby rang one hour later asking captain berry if he would be willing to be held
01:06:49
with sure while positive identification was made and the reward money was handed over
01:06:57
captain berry agreed but said that vet stan cosgrove would have to accompany him to facilitate the necessary identity
01:07:05
testing rugby said he would check and call back shortly but captain berry waited and waited and
01:07:14
no further calls came through he never heard from rugby again and the reward remained
01:07:22
unclaimed shortly after this a member of the gata named officer kenyans contacted stan cosgrove wanting to
01:07:34
introduce him to dennis minogue a well-known horse dealer with an interesting story to tell
01:07:42
dennis told stan that intermediaries of sure gas captors had shown him a photo of sugar
01:07:49
then placed a hood over his head and drove him to an unknown location in the irish countryside where he saw
01:07:56
suregar alive stan asked to dennis if 80 thousand pounds would be enough to have
01:08:03
sugar returned safely with no questions asked dennis agreed to speak to the intermediaries who in turn
01:08:12
agreed to the deal through dennis the thieves directed stan to place 80 000 pounds cash into the booth of dennis's
01:08:21
car along with a 10 thousand pound finders fee for dennis they were then instructed to drive the
01:08:28
car to the village of artna crusher in county clare and leave it in a specified remote location there
01:08:37
the thieves would remove the money and replace it with instructions on how to retrieve sugar
01:08:45
officer kenyans agreed to accompany stan and dennis in the hopes of catching the thieves in
01:08:50
a sting operation the trio followed the instructions leaving dennis's car in the specified
01:08:58
location with 90 000 pounds cash in the booth and then left the scene they returned a short while later and
01:09:08
found that the money had been taken but there were no instructions regarding getting sugar back
01:09:16
upon realising that the whole plot had been a setup stan was convinced officer kenyans had
01:09:22
been involved from the get-go officer kenyans was investigated by the guarder and eventually sacked for carrying out
01:09:31
under-the-table police operations dennis minogue remained adamant that the horse he'd been shown
01:09:39
was shergar and opinions differ as to whether he and officer kenyans were part of the
01:09:45
setup or had been fooled themselves the months continued to pass with no major breakthroughs
01:09:55
by september 1983 mares that had been lined up to breed with sugar in the 1984 breeding season
01:10:03
began arriving at bali many stard where they were to be boarded until definitive news
01:10:10
regarding sugar emerged from the outset of the investigation de gada suspected that the ira
01:10:21
was involved in stealing sugar throughout the 1970s the ira had started receiving
01:10:29
weapons and training from international supporters including sympathisers from the united
01:10:35
states libya and palestine however their campaigns were costly and the amount of money coming in via donations
01:10:45
and illegal activities wasn't enough to fund their violent protests equipment weapons and explosives
01:10:54
by the 1980s the fbi was conducting an ongoing investigation into american support of the ira
01:11:02
which meant there had been a halt on weapons procured from the usa consequently the ira was in financial strife and
01:11:12
began resorting to kidnapping for ransom as a means of income with varying levels of success
01:11:21
in october 1981 the ira had kidnapped wealthy supermarket executive ben dunn after he pulled over in his car
01:11:30
to offer assistance at a staged accident ben was held hostage for six days while
01:11:37
negotiations were made for a one and a half million pound ransom to be paid his family wanted to pay the ransom but
01:11:46
were blocked by the gada prompting ben's property manager to pay instead to secure ben's safe release
01:11:53
[Music] this kidnapping set a crucial precedent as the ira earned a lucrative ransom without any
01:12:01
consequences in august 1983 six months after sugar was stolen seven armed ira members stormed the south of dublin
01:12:14
house of galen weston the wealthy president of the canadian supermarket chain intending to kidnap him for ransom
01:12:23
the gada had already received the tip-off that galen might be a target and were waiting inside to arrest them
01:12:31
a gunfight ensued with five of the perpetrators taken into custody for attempted kidnapping while
01:12:38
two escaped investigators believed that these were the same individuals who had stolen shergar
01:12:46
but they denied any involvement with the case [Music] three months later the ira abducted one
01:12:55
of galen's employees a widowed father of four named don tidy don was driving his teenage daughter to
01:13:04
school in the dublin suburb of rathbarnum when ira members posing as the gata pulled him over
01:13:11
and shoved him in the booth of their fake police car after a 22-day long investigation
01:13:19
don was found unharmed with his captors in a wooded area of county latrum and a shootout followed
01:13:26
resulting in the deaths of a guarder trainee and an army private the general consensus was that the ira
01:13:36
took sure as they had the motive and means to carry out the theft but when the ira didn't claim
01:13:44
responsibility some people doubted their involvement as they had always admitted to all their
01:13:50
other kidnappings moreover at the time sure was taken a number of british intelligence agents
01:13:58
had infiltrated the ira and it was expected that one of them would have surely heard about the plan
01:14:06
those who suspected the ira was responsible have argued that british intelligence
01:14:12
might have known but didn't speak up out of fear of putting their lives in jeopardy
01:14:19
it's also been suggested that the ira may have never owned up to the crime because the public outrage over sugar's
01:14:26
theft was so much more intense than the reaction to ira kidnappings of people it was argued that the ira kept it a
01:14:36
secret because they feared a huge backlash from the irish community over the theft of the beloved horse
01:14:48
by the end of 1983 insurance companies began to pay out sugar's various shareholders for their losses
01:14:57
most of the shareholders had taken out insurance with lloyds of london for over 10 million pounds which
01:15:03
included coverage for sure death as a result of accident sickness or disease twenty of the shareholders had also paid
01:15:12
extra premiums to cover theft which resulted in each of them receiving a payout of seven million
01:15:19
pounds those who didn't have coverage for theft didn't receive any payouts as it
01:15:25
couldn't be proved whether or not sugar was dead and therefore the insurance companies
01:15:31
weren't obliged to pay some of the wealthier shareholders took the issue to court
01:15:38
but their claims were unsuccessful which discredited some lingering theories that suregas theft
01:15:44
was an insider job orchestrated by the shareholders in a bid to collect large insurance payouts
01:15:53
by 1984 the case had gone cold and on february 6 just prior to the commencement of the breeding season
01:16:02
the shareholders and agar khan released their first official statement they confirmed to
01:16:09
their belief that the ira was responsible for the crime and that sure had been killed shortly
01:16:15
after he was stolen describing his chances of being alive as remote 18 months after shergar's
01:16:25
disappearance chief inspector james murphy told the washington post quote you have to take into account more
01:16:34
serious things a person's life is involved in a murder not a horse's but we keep looking
01:16:42
you can never feel dispirited though you have to take into account the lapse of time we follow up on anything
01:16:51
you can't call the case closed until it is theories continued to as to suregast fate
01:17:03
some believed he was held in a private farm until the story died down at which point he was disguised and
01:17:10
raced under a different name in order to win money for his captors this theory held a little credit as
01:17:18
there was no guarantee that sure would have performed after several years without training
01:17:24
and nor could he have been disguised well enough to prevent people from recognizing him
01:17:31
another theory was that sugar had been stolen for breeding purposes this too was easily dismissed as the
01:17:39
prophets derived from breeding with a famous racehorse came almost entirely from the name
01:17:45
attached to the horse without revealing that sure was the father any offspring he bore would be worth a
01:17:52
fraction of the cost some believe the middle eastern sheikh had stolen shergar to breed his own
01:18:00
successful racehorses but this theory was also dismissed given the sheer effort it would have taken to secretly
01:18:07
transport the horse internationally authorities did investigate this claim but found
01:18:14
no evidence to suggest a horse had been charted out of the country by sea or air around the time of sugar's
01:18:21
disappearance it was also speculated that the mafia may have been responsible in the months before shergar's theft a
01:18:32
french bloodstock agent named jean-michael gambit who was living in the united states
01:18:37
had been in talks with the agar khan about purchasing a racehorse it was speculated that jean michael
01:18:45
didn't have the money to buy the horse up front so he obtained a loan of half a million
01:18:50
dollars from the new orleans mafia the deal with the agar khan then fell through
01:18:57
but jean michael had already spent the money and couldn't afford to repay the mafia
01:19:04
on december 13 1982 jean michael was shot dead in his car and the vehicle sat alight
01:19:14
the theory was that he had been killed by the mafia who then stole shergar as a means of
01:19:20
repayment however the police ruled that jean michael's death was a suicide and he had staged the crime scene to
01:19:29
look like a murder so his family could collect from his multiple life insurance policies
01:19:36
neither the authorities nor the agar khan believed the two incidents were related
01:19:44
at one point it was even speculated that libyan political leader colonel muamma al-gaddafi was
01:19:51
responsible and was holding sugar in libya the theory was that colonel gaddafi had
01:19:58
struck a deal with the ira to steal shergar in exchange for weapons because he was opposed to the agakhan's
01:20:06
position as a muslim spiritual leader a position he felt he was much better suited to
01:20:14
it was argued that colonel gaddafi had decided to kidnap europe's most famous force as a way to
01:20:21
demonstrate the influence and power he held while causing the agar khan great embarrassment
01:20:29
this theory was rejected by authorities and sugar shareholders as there was no evidence to suggest
01:20:36
that colonel gaddafi even knew who sugar was let alone had anything to do with his
01:20:42
kidnapping there were also theories that sure may have been taken by someone who was
01:20:49
jealous of his success the agar khan had an ongoing rivalry with a kentucky-based bloodstock agent
01:20:57
named wayne murdie over a complicated horse sail in 1978 that had ultimately worked out in the
01:21:04
agar khan's favor wayne had been furious which led the media to report he may have retaliated
01:21:12
against the aggar khan by stealing sugar wayne denied any involvement and without any evidence to link him to
01:21:20
the crime the theory dissipated over time in an interview wayne admitted that he
01:21:27
hated the aggir khan enough that he would have relished pulling off suregas kidnapping but emphasized he
01:21:34
would never stoop that low years went by without any breakthroughs in the case in july of 1997 the ira
01:21:49
called a final ceasefire and on april 10 1998 a treaty known as the good friday agreement
01:21:57
was signed marking an end to the troubles over the course of the ira's 30-year campaign
01:22:06
approximately 1800 people were killed including 640 civilians and 1100 members of the british security forces
01:22:15
and an estimated 10 000 ira members were imprisoned at various times the same year that the good friday
01:22:25
agreement was signed an autobiography was published that claimed to reveal the truth about what
01:22:31
happened to shergar titled the informant the book was written by shawno callahan
01:22:38
a former senior member of the ira who had also worked as a police informant for the
01:22:44
gada in his book o'callaghan claimed that the ira had been facing bankruptcy in the early 1980s
01:22:53
and desperately needed money to further their campaigns so renowned leading member of the ira
01:23:00
kevin mallon was tasked with the job of raising several million pounds o'callaghan claimed that melon gathered
01:23:09
a small team from dublin to pull off the theft including one ira member named jerry
01:23:15
fitzgerald two weeks after sugar was taken fitzgerald confided in o'callaghan that
01:23:22
he was responsible and said only a handful of other people knew about the plot according to fitzgerald just the hours
01:23:31
after the theft shergar became extremely distressed and started thrashing about his captors were unable to calm him down
01:23:41
and he eventually injured one of his legs not knowing what to do the ira members
01:23:48
decided they had no choice but to shoot sure and then pretend he was still alive
01:23:53
in order to collect the ransom money when they realized that the syndicate wasn't going to pay without proof that
01:24:01
sugar was still alive the group abandoned the plan and deceased all communications
01:24:09
o'callaghan confirmed an ongoing theory that the thieves had made the mistake of
01:24:14
thinking that the agar khan was sure so loner and would therefore be the only one deciding whether or not to pay the
01:24:22
ransom they also didn't think that theft would attract anywhere near the amount of
01:24:28
media attention that it did summarising the kidnapping o'callaghan said quote it was a total cock-up
01:24:38
from start to finish police documents from the time corroborate this story as there were reports that a small group
01:24:48
of men from the ira suddenly changed their behaviour around the time that sugar was taken
01:24:56
but no definitive evidence exists and o'callaghan's claims have never been proven
01:25:07
in 1999 a movie titled sure gar was released based loosely on the events surrounding
01:25:13
the theft and it went on to win the award for best foreign film at the temecula international film
01:25:20
festival in california that same year her special race named the shergar cup was held at the goodwood
01:25:28
racecourse in west sussex england to commemorate shergar's memory the race was designed to be a
01:25:37
light-hearted competition with a unique racing format similar to the ryder cup in golf
01:25:43
and the winners were presented with a silver statue of sugar donated by the agar khan
01:25:50
the shergar cup was so popular that it became an annual event which today is called the dubai
01:25:57
duty-free shergar cup and is held at ascot racecourse in england [Music] in the spring of 2000 a council worker
01:26:08
named tommy foley was clearing out a narrow valley in county kerry island when he found a rotting coal sack
01:26:15
hidden underneath a rock it was badly disintegrated indicating it had been there for a significant amount
01:26:23
of time tommy unwrapped the sack and inside he discovered a horse's skull containing two bullet holes
01:26:33
thinking it was sugar tommy was beside himself and news quickly spread throughout town
01:26:39
that sure had been found des leden an equine veterinarian and clinical pathologist
01:26:48
was called to examine the skull a detailed examination revealed the skull belonged to a two-year-old horse
01:26:57
whereas shergar was five years old at the time he was stolen ruling out the possibility that it was
01:27:04
him on january 27 2008 the sunday telegraph newspaper published an article titled the truth
01:27:14
about sugar racehorse kidnapping the article expanded on ira member turned police informant shawno
01:27:22
callahan's story that kevin mallon had orchestrated the kidnapping according to a source close to a former
01:27:31
ira member the plan to kidnap shergar had been sanctioned by the ira's ruling body
01:27:38
the army council the kidnapping plot had failed from the start because the vet who'd agreed to look
01:27:45
after sugar pulled out on the night of the theft four days into the ransom negotiations
01:27:53
the army council decided it was too much trouble for little gain and told the ira to release shergar
01:28:02
by this point de gada were looking for sugar all over ireland and kevin mallon was under surveillance
01:28:09
making it impossible to transport the horse without getting caught malin instead allegedly ordered that
01:28:16
shergar be shot and two handlers opened fire on him using a machine gun according to the source it was a quote
01:28:27
very bloody death and it took several minutes for sure to succumb to his injuries
01:28:35
the article concluded quote and so the greatest racehorse of the century was butchered in the same way that the
01:28:45
ira killed many of its human enemies the source did not know exactly where s body was buried
01:28:53
but the fact that his carcass was riddled with bullets meant the gang did everything to ensure
01:28:59
shurgar's remains were never found many in the republic including broad republican sympathizers
01:29:08
would never have forgiven the ira and its political wing shin fein for machine gunning the equine
01:29:15
pride of the nation in cold blood in 2017 the royal mail released a series of postage stamps featuring racehorse
01:29:28
legends including shergar the back of the pack read in the summer of 1981 sure was the meteor that filled the
01:29:39
racing sky on august 29 2019 suregas vet stan cosgrove passed away he never received an insurance payout
01:29:52
for sure gas theft and had been forced to sell his 120 acre farm to recoup costs involved with his shares
01:30:00
in the horse as well as the 80 000 pounds he lost in the failed reward money scam
01:30:07
stan was remembered as an extraordinary equine veterinarian and for the work he did in trying to
01:30:14
recover shergar many believe shergar's remains are most likely hidden in county litrium
01:30:22
a largely deserted area that covers a land mass of 1590 square kilometers at the time the area was used for ira
01:30:33
training camps and to house members of the ira who were on the run in the 1980s police secretly excavated
01:30:42
some buggy areas in county latrum looking for sure but with no success des leden the equine veterinarian and
01:30:53
clinical pathologist says he still receives skeletal remains from time to time that require
01:30:59
testing to see if they belong to shergar a dna profile for sure has been completed
01:31:06
and is stored securely in case it is ever required to make a positive identification
01:31:12
in the future it was able to be completed because two veterinarian students had come forward
01:31:19
following suregast theft to admit they'd plucked two hairs from shergar's tale to keep as
01:31:25
souvenirs while studying at bali many stud to this day the ira has never claimed
01:31:34
responsibility for stealing surga although the gada the agar khan and a majority of suregha's shareholders
01:31:41
believe they were to blame in recent times it's been suggested that former ira members still haven't acknowledged
01:31:51
their involvement because the troubles and the organization's terror tactics are a painful old wound that the people
01:31:59
of ireland want to move on from the investigation into what happened to sugar is no longer active and former members
01:32:08
of the ira have no reason to come forward if they were responsible as they'd only risk putting their fellow
01:32:16
ex-comrades behind bars prior to stan cosgrove's death he commented that the ira's silence only
01:32:25
served as proof that they were responsible he believed that they chose to remain
01:32:32
silent out of shame regret and the fear of bad publicity after realizing that they quote
01:32:40
had done a repulsive thing to the irish people [Music] [Music] you