All language subtitles for shergar.the.racehorse.and.the.ira.s01e01.1080p.web.h264-cbfm[EZTVx.to]

Shergar, one of the most highly valued
horses in the world, was taken by gunmen

from Ballymany Stud near Newbridge in
Canticle Dare during the night.

Forensic experts visited the scene this
afternoon, but so far details of where

the £10 million horse was taken remain a
mystery.

Shergar moving sweetly on the outside,
takes up the running.

Shergar's going for the gun! There's
only one horse in it! You need a two

to see the rest!

Shergar wins the derby!

Good horses normally run by three
lengths. Great horses normally run by

lengths. Sure go on by ten lengths.

What? Come on.

At that time, he was the most valuable
racehorse in the world.

A star was coming back home. The star
happened to be a horse.

But that's what he was. He was a star.

For such a valuable horse to be outside
and be so vulnerable, you couldn't make

it up.

If you kidnap an individual, it is
essentially a political act.

Nobody had conceived of the idea that a
horse could be taken and held ransom.

February 1983, it was about eight o
'clock, half eight in the evening.

Suddenly, a gang of subversives burst on
the scene.

And immediately started shouting, we're
here for Shergar, we're going to take

him, we want two million.

The world and its mother, in terms of
the press pack, descended on this small

village. I got a phone call and this
voice, which I'll never ever forget,

we're watching you from across the
street.

A man using the fitting codename of
Arkell instructed the journalist to

an address in County Down 30 miles
outside the city.

Three guys jump out with balaclavas,
machine guns, and one comes round to my

side. And I thought they were just going
to spray the car and kill us.

For the government of the day.

This was an international security
embarrassment.

What were the police doing?

When this guy who said he was from the
IRA and they're the ones who sell used

the code word, and I immediately... That
was the code word, and I'd never told

anybody about it.

And I realized then that that was the
guy who I'd been talking to.

There's only one way to describe it.

A shitshow.

On the 8th of February 1983, Shergar was
just retiring for the night. He'd

covered a mirror that day, very happy
with himself, very well fed

on the spot, and everything had
quietened down from about 6pm.

Don't forget it's February, so nightfall
had come early. We're talking about a

very inaccessible and remote part of
County Kildare. One road in and one road

out.

Silence had fallen. There were barely
any rocks crowing in the bleak trees.

And then suddenly a gang of subversives
burst on the scene and were suddenly

barking orders, descending, and
individuals knowing exactly where to go.

They knock on the door of Jim
Fitzgerald, who is the head groom.

He's inside the house. His son, Bernard,
opens the door.

And these couple of characters wearing
balaclavas, one of them reportedly

dressed as a guard, pushed past the
child, knocking him down into the living

room and immediately started roaring and
shouting, we're here for Shergar, we're

going to take him, we want two million.

They usher all the family, several
children, a wife and Fitzpatrick, into

kitchen.

Don't anybody call the guards? They're
all armed, of course. And they take

Fitzgerald away over to the stables
where Shergar is.

They have brought a horse box towed by
one of the vehicles up to the stable.

And it suddenly became clear that they
were taking this wonder horse. And we

the letting down of a backboard and the
clattering of hooves going up and people

could not believe it.

I'd imagine it...

equates to something like somebody
walking into the Tower of London and

the crown jewels with no security around
and walking straight out. Here's a

piece of jewellery worth £10 million in
1983 with no security.

Mr. Gerrard himself is bundled into
another car. He's told to lie on the

A blanket or a coat or something is put
over him. He's told to shut up. And that

vehicle leaves as well, leaving the
family locked in this room and told to

nothing to nobody.

And within virtually no time, the horse
was motoring down this long avenue,

past those dark trees and out into
nothingness, into the void, never to be

again.

He's going to win by a big margin.

Shergar going a long way clear now.

What an amazingly comfortable triumph
for Shergar.

Shergar going to the post with an awful
lot of money resting between his ears.

Shergar was one of the most athletic.

middle -distance, Derby -winning
superstars that had enormous stride that

pulverised the opposition.

He was poetry in motion at his best in
the summer of 1981.

He was the superstar horse of the year.
There was nothing to touch him.

The thrill of the crowd, the roars of
the people in the grandstand as this

unimaginable beast flashed past the
winning post.

And everybody's celebrating a
thoroughbred.

There are 9 ,000 foals born every year
in Ireland alone.

He was one in 50 ,000.

Irish people have always been synonymous
with horses down through the years, and

those horsemanship skills have been
passed down through generations for

It all really begins with Vincent O
'Brien.

Vincent O 'Brien was a brilliant trainer
of horse. He excelled in national hunt

racing before he moved on to the flat.

The Cheltenham rivalry between the Irish
and the British, that began with

Vincent O 'Brien bringing horses over on
the cattle boats over to Cheltenham and

racing them over there and winning the
gold cup and winning the champion

It was a time when Irish racing just
began to start to make inroads into

able to be competitive at the highest
level internationally.

If you go into most pubs in Ireland,
there will be on the wall a picture of

Dawnrun or Istebrac or Arkell.

No country does it better. Despite our
size, despite our population, we can

I think that's why...

People regard the Irish horse as
probably the best in the world, and they

been consistently so for decades.

A quantum leap for horses in Ireland was
the stallion tax exemption that was

introduced in 1969.

The former Prime Minister, Charles J.
Hawley, he was a Trumpian figure.

He was transactional, he would get
things done, but he had a great passion

horses.

He was the one, when he was Minister for
Finance, before he was Prime Minister,

he introduced a remarkable tax
concession, which was all the stallion

tax -free.

In hindsight, it was a brilliant move
for the bloodstock industry in Ireland.

meant that stallion owners could have
stallions here, and when the stallions

here... then the mares follow them, and
then the foals from the mares are born

here and stay in Ireland. And that'd be
Godside Roswells and Galileo and

Honshire and Carlyle and all those top
-class horses who went on. And, you

even now, the ripples of that time and
of those horses, they're seen in Irish

racing today.

Shergar was born and reared and bred in
Ireland because of that strategy.

At the same time, there was political
instability in the Republic of Ireland.

There were three general elections
between 1981 and 1982.

There are serious political rows about
managing the national finances. The

unemployment rate went over 15 % in
1983. There was a sense of crisis

around the essence of the state and
whether it was working.

And then overlaying all of that.

was the existential threat to the state
itself coming from the IRA, from the

violence in Northern Ireland spilling
over into the Republic.

In order to carry out a conflict and to
wage war against the British state, the

IRA needed millions of pounds annually
and they were sucking it up from

everywhere and they needed to
undertake... fundraising action.

Some of it's perfectly legitimate, most
of it is not, and it involves dorking

and protection rackets in Northern
Ireland. Some of it came from pubs all

Ireland, and Friday nights and Saturday
nights, fellows going around with tin

cans collecting money for the prisoners,
quote -unquote, for the IRA.

There was also massive donations coming
in from the United States. There was an

organisation called NORAID, which was
involved in fundraising.

went around the Irish pubs and clubs to
show loyalty to the old country.

And a lot of it came from bank
robberies. There were a lot of bank

Northern Ireland and there were a lot of
bank robberies and post office

robberies in the Republic.

It was a common sight in the 1980s to
see post office vans and Brinksmouth

and Securicorps vans being escorted from
the central bank to banks distributing

money. escorted by armed troops and
armed guardi because they were

being attacked by the IRA.

As the security tightens on cash
transits and tightens around banks and

offices, they have to get new ways, so
they start kidnapping.

Executives like Don Tidy of Supermarket
Chain and indeed a Ferenka factory boss

in Limit called Tiada Haramow, which led
to a long siege at a house in Monastery

Evan.

There was a very prominent Irish
supermarket businessman, Ben Dunn. He

travelling to Northern Ireland to open a
new supermarket there, and he was

kidnapped in South Armagh by the IRA,
and he was held for a number of days. He

was released and harmed, and it's a very
murky business.

Some people say £1 .5 million was paid
over. Some people say £300 ,000. It's

just not known, but certainly some money
was paid.

They were moving from robbery and
extortion into kidnappings.

Figures who are seen as popular and are
also regarded as individuals who should

not be any part of this struggle and
should not be victims of this struggle.

Those kind of operations could not only
go wrong, but they could also, of

course, generate all the wrong headlines
for the IRA.

If you kidnap an individual, it is
essentially a political act. And it's

understood by your fellow men and women
that that's what it is. However, horses

don't hold political opinions.

Nobody had conceived of the idea that a
horse could be taken and held ransom.

Shergar carried the famous green -red
epaulets of one of the richest men in

world and the biggest racehorse owners
in the world, his highness the Argot

Khan.

His stud farms were strategically
placed, one in Normandy and...

two hearing killed out.

The Aga Khan's involvement goes back to
the early decades of the 20th century

when his grandfather became involved in
bloodstock and breeding in Ireland.

Mumfaz Mahal was one of the first horses
that he owned.

She was a great racehorse but she also
retired to stud and founded a great

dynasty. Shergar came from that dynasty.

Colt emerges, he's a home -bred of the
Agakans, he's sent to Michael Stout's in

Newmarket to be trained, and the story
goes that they were always working back

from Epsom.

He arrived at Michael's Beechhurst
stables in Newmarket as a very young two

-year -old in the spring.

Michael Stout, he was only getting going
then, but he's...

He's been one of the most successful
trainers ever in Britain. Up there with

Henry Chester, he was a brilliant
trainer of racehorses and it wasn't

that Diego Khan would choose to have
horses with him at the time.

Sir Gert was seen as an Irish horse,
despite obviously the flavour of its

owed more to the Aga can, but he was
delighted to invest in Ireland. And this

was the one bright spot in the 1980s
that we had the confidence of

investors in relation to our bloodstock
when factories were closing down all

over the place. And we were just hoping
for an economic break, but it seemed

things were getting worse and worse.

Ireland was part of Britain politically
up to 1921 when what is now the Republic

of Ireland gained independence.

The reality of the situation is that for
the 50 years after that break, Northern

Ireland was essentially a sectarian
state.

The truth is the Catholics in Northern
Ireland had a very, very bad deal for 50

years.

State jobs, state services, roads,
universities, houses were not accessible

to the Catholic minority.

They were treated as second -class
citizens.

That boiled over in the late 1960s,
inspired by the civil rights movement in

America. The Northern Ireland Civil
Rights Association, NCRA, started

demanding equality in education,
demanding equality in houses, demanding

equality full stop.

And they were met, unfortunately, by
state violence.

They were battened off the streets by
the police.

When the British Army was sent to
Northern Ireland, they were welcomed by

nationalist people, by the Catholic
people, because the British Army came in

initially to try and keep the peace.
That quickly turned when the IRA...

grew out of extinction, if you like,
revived itself in a new form in Northern

Ireland in the early 1970s and started
what became, in effect, a war.

There were 83 people killed as a result
of the Troubles in 1983 alone and more

than 100 the year before that. There was
obviously huge concern about the impact

and capability of the IRA as a terrorist
organisation.

The relationship with Britain was
difficult, to put it mildly. There were

couple of areas in life where those
tensions didn't exist, that they were

one side. One was rugby.

The Irish rugby team is an all -Ireland
rugby team. And the other area, of

course, was horse racing.

I first saw Shergon as a two -year -old
at Newbury. He ran in September.

in the Criss Plate, which was over a
mile, which is quite an extreme

distance for a young two -year -old.

He won that day by about two and a half
lengths, and he was quite impressed if

he went into everybody's notebooks.

Shergar made the progress that you would
expect him to make and then ran in the

Sundown Classic trial.

And he won it by ten lengths.

for an Irish horse to be competitive in
an English classic was kind of the

dream.

That's when people started to talk about
him as a potential classic horse, maybe

a potential Derby horse.

The Epsom Derby is one of the oldest
classics and it is deemed and regarded

the breed shaping race.

The race that if a colt can win that...

They have firmly established themselves
as a stallion prospect to stand at stud.

If you can win that and win it
impressively, you're probably the best

class.

Walter Swinburne gave him the perfect
ride, just behind the pace, towards the

outside with options everywhere. He
wasn't going to get boxed in. It wasn't

until really about two and a half
furlongs out that Walter Swinburne just

down and started to ride him. And when
he did, like the pace that he showed to

pick up and come away from his rivals.

It's like he turns into a Ferrari.

He just races off and it looks
effortless.

I almost felt like saying, has there
been a false start?

Because this horse was so far in front.

There's only one horse in it. You need a
telescope to see the rest.

They have a column to go.

Wow, it was one of those.

He's climbed this mountain.

He has eased up.

Serdar wins the derby. This is the
derby. Best horses in the world. And the

horse is miles clear.

The horses normally win by two lengths.

Good horses normally win by three
lengths.

Great horses normally win by four
lengths.

Sugar won by ten lengths.

What? Come on.

What was it like out there?

Well, I was just a passenger on a very
good horse.

You were always country? Yes.

It was my first derby for ITV. I was the
first man to get to it, apart from the

stable lad. Then I went up with the
microphone and said, Hey, what was that

winning the derby by ten lengths? And it
was the first derby interview that had

ever been put out on TV.

Because in the old days, we'd wait until
the jockey weighed in. But we decided

we had to do him. And we got him live on
the back of Shergar.

Even now, that's still the record for a
Derby win. No horse has won the race by

10 lengths since then. And we've had
lots of top -class Derby winners in the

meantime.

It's just phenomenal.

Margaret Thatcher, as British Prime
Minister, has declared war on the IRA.

She's not going to treat... them as
having legitimate political aims, that

not going to treat their prisoners as
legitimate political prisoners, and of

course that had led to the hunger
strikes as well, which captured

just in Ireland, but internationally.

I will never forget the palpable
tension, a kind of darkness about

because this was the time when Shergar
was winning his races, that the hunger,

-Block hunger strike was on.

What you had was a conflict over prison
status.

People who are convicted of terrorist
-related crimes demanded to be treated

they would see it, as political
prisoners, and did not want to wear a

uniform.

Those demands manifested themselves
inside the prisons in terms of refusing

wear a prison uniform.

There was a thing called the blanket
protest, where prisoners simply wrapped

themselves in blankets.

There was then the appalling dirty
protest, which was prisoners refusing to

laboratory facilities and smearing the
walls of their cells with their own

excrement.

And then they went on hunger strike in
1981, at the time of the elections, to

heighten the pressure on the government.

And then they started dying.

Bobby Sands has died after 66 days of
hunger strike.

The hunger strike period was... The
moment that Ireland teetered on the

there was a visceral atmosphere of
hatred towards the British government

single persona of Margaret Thatcher,
whom Irish people in general perceived

allowing political prisoners to die.

People came out onto the streets willy
-nilly and wearing black armbands. They

appeared from...

from nowhere and there were
demonstrations outside the GPO and of

funeral was gigantic.

But the succession of these deaths and
coffins being exploited had turned the

political situation into a powder keg
and of course it acted as a recruiting

sergeant for the IRA.

The IRA needed three to four million
pounds a year to conduct its campaign.

And they were very concerned, obviously,
the authorities, about where they were

going to get that money from.

Now, Shergar was valued at £10 million,
which is an extraordinary sum in the

early 1980s. And if you consider the
constant money worries and challenges

the IRA had, perhaps that idea of a
monetary prize, that that could solve a

of short -term problems for the IRA.

Someone comes up with the idea that
they're going to kidnap a racehorse.

People would always be looking out for a
double derby winner, to do the Epsom

and the Curragh double, because not many
horses do that. The fact of the matter

is that the Aga Khan would very much
like to have success on Irish tracks.

I said I'm going to get my sorry ass to
the Curragh on the 30th of June in 1981.

I was there that day and the whole sense
of awe that this was one of the best

horses ever.

Lester said he'd never ridden a horse
that was travelling so easy in a derby,

comfortable. It took his breath away
that the horse was just cruising with

He only won by four lengths, but he was
stopping at that point. You know, he was

literally just cantering home.

He was then the best of his age group.

The big question mark was whether he
could beat the older horses, the older

generation. That would be the real test
of Shergar.

He walked into the parade ring and
everybody recognised him straight away.

there was just a spontaneous round of
applause.

And he hadn't won at that point. People
were just so overcome.

What he did that day to older horses in
the King George was what set him apart.

Shergar. Probably had to step up again
on what he did on the diary to go and

take on the older horse in the King
George and he won by four lengths in the

end.

There was no second in the race that he
won. No one remembers who was second

because there was only one winner.

He was on track for the pre -large
stream at Longshaw in France but they

to give him another run before that so
he went to the St. Ledger.

It's a tough race to St. Ledger over a
mile and six and a half furlongs.

Doncaster is home straight. It's a long
home straight. They usually get racing

early. So you really need to see out a
mile and six and a half furlongs in

to win a ledger. And I mean, there were
various reports beforehand that he

wasn't just training as well as he had
been before Epsom or before the Currer

before Ascot.

And he was actually weak in the market
early in the week. But then he was

strengthened up again on the day, I
guess, because of his popularity and

of the trainer and the jockey.

Because he won his races so easily, they
were very confident that he'd stay the

extra quarter mile.

And Walter rode him carefully, looked
after him. He was conscious he wanted to

get him home over the extra distance.

And I think maybe that was the downfall,
the only finished fourth.

Which was a disappointment, but it
didn't really reflect on his career to

You know, he'd done everything. We could
forgive him that one failing.

And after that, they decided not to go
to the Ark, to retire in there and then.

So that was the end of his racing
career.

The big question was, where would he go
to stud?

Would it be France or would it be
Ireland?

So it was a huge celebration when it was
announced that he would be coming to

Ballymany Stud.

at the Curragh. And he literally came
out of training, stepped onto the plane

straight to Ireland in October 1981.

And there was a big homecoming party for
him.

They lined the streets to cheer his
horse box as it was passing through the

principal town.

That's extraordinary.

A star was coming back home. The star
happened to be a horse. But that's what

was. He was a star and he was much
loved.

He was the FA Cup winner, and he was the
local FA Cup winner.

It was just a great celebration.

It was more of a celebration of
welcoming him home to Ireland than it

for the stable welcoming him back as a
derby winner, you know, their own

party. This outshone it.

It was an honour and a privilege to have
him here.

It was a brilliant fill -up for the
Irish bloodstock industry.

to have a stallion of his quality, to
have a champion racehorse, to have the

best three -year -old colt of his
generation standing as a stallion in

You have to remember at that time he was
the most valuable racehorse in the

world.

He was such a sought -after commodity,
the shareguard of the stallion. J .K.

Kahn syndicated him. He kept six shares
himself, sold the other 34, and those 34

shares, they were bought by some of the
top breeders.

in the world. They were sold for $250
,000 each, which valued the horse at $10

million.

The maps of this were, if he stands for
five seasons, at around about $70 ,000

or $80 ,000 a cover, then by the end of
the fourth year, the people who, the

owners, basically, the people who own
the shares, they would be in profit. So

that's 40 mares every year.

60 or 70 or 80 ,000. By the end of the
fourth year, you'd be in profit. So that

was the plan. And that's, you know, it's
a sound plan.

By the time the 8th of February rolled
around, 1983, he's had one season that's

covered 43 mares.

He was only just a five -year -old. So
very, very young stallion with, you

lots more potential ahead.

They're starting to walk him more up his
feed, preparing him for the breeding

season.

The horse world is matriarchal.

It's led by the matriarchs. The mares
are the ones who keep control.

The stallion's job is only to protect
them and to fight off other stallions.

there's one stallion, one group of
broodmares.

So they become very masculine, very
territorial. They won't mix with other

stallions. You know, these are their
mares, and they look after them. That's

their sole job in life.

So that's it. He's full -on big man
stallion mode.

I was told that he became, not
aggressive, but, you know, he became a

He was grown up now. He wasn't the nice,
quiet schoolboy that we'd known.

So I would imagine he would have been
quite difficult to handle at that point.

He needed his groom. He needed somebody
he trusted.

What was incredible in those days is
that there was no security at the start.

He had the best people in the world to
look after him, obviously, and the top

people at the start, but there was no
security.

You and I could have just walked in.

February 1983 was a cold month.

It was about 8 o 'clock, half eight in
the evening when the kidnappers arrived

in Ballymany.

Jim Fitzgerald, who was the head groom
there, was living with his family. His

big family had six children and his
wife, Madge. They were looking for him,

knocked on the door, and wanted to be
taken to Shergar.

They knew what they were looking for.
They reputedly said that they wanted two

million for him, so they were very clear
about what was going on. It seems to

have only taken a half an hour.
Fitzgerald would have shown them to

Shergar was then loaded and taken away.

For the head groom of the Studs.

for something like that to happen. It
was unprecedented.

Again, in hindsight, there probably
weren't the measures in place to prevent

something like that happening. For such
a valuable horse to be outside and to be

so vulnerable, the levels of security
obviously weren't as high as they should

have been.

For family, it must have been absolutely
horrendous.

The kidnappers had taken with them Jim
Fitzgerald.

And they'd done so not only to quiet the
whore, this highly wired thoroughbred,

but also as a bargaining chip, if you
like, to let the others know that this

too was a hostage.

And that if they tried to do anything
peremptory, like to bring in the police,

that he would be in danger of forfeiting
his life.

Fitzgerald is driven around in this car
on the floor for some time and he's

eventually let out at the side of the
road 20, 30 kilometres away from

Dock.

And warned in the strongest terms not to
make any contact with the police.

James Fitzgerald, and we have to
appreciate the terror that he would have

in at that point, not just in relation
to the horse, but also in relation to

own family, and being told, if you
contact anyone, your family are going to

harmed, as well as yourself.

I mean, the IRA, given its reputation,
given its ruthlessness, given the way in

which it dealt with inconveniences and
those it regarded as a threat to its

operations, James Fitzgerald had every
reason to be very fearful.

Fitzgerald manages to get to a phone,
rings up the studs. Manager Ghislaine

Dreon, who's a Frenchman, tells him
what's happened.

Ghislaine sends a car, picks Fitzgerald
up, and brings him back to Ballymalley.

And at that point, they have to decide,
what are we going to do?

If you were threatened by the IRA, you
had good reason to believe they would

make good on their word. And everybody
in Ireland knew that, because the IRA

pay people back.

if they inform.

And in fact, the bodies of informers,
I'm afraid to say, littered the laneways

of Northern Ireland.

If anything was done to thwart what the
abductors wanted to do, there could be

sure and swift retribution.

I mean, the very idea of guns being
produced and held to people's heads

immediately interferes with your ability
to think logically.

So the safest thing to do is to do
exactly as you're told.

Some hours went by, and eventually poor
Jim Fitzgerald was abandoned and thrown

out of the horseback and following the
vehicle.

Obviously, it's an extremely fraught
situation. Fitzgerald had to release his

wife and children, who'd been locked in
a room in the house, and Drian, and he

had to decide what were they going to
do.

Jim Fitzgerald was told not to contact
the Gardaí, so it made sense that he

could contact Eilean Drian, who's the
Aga Cairns manager in Ireland, and tell

him what happened.

And then the wheel started going into
motion with various other people being

contacted. They don't call the Gardaí.
Drion calls Stan Cosgrove, who is a

vet who looked after Shergar and is also
one of the syndicate holders in the

animal. Cosgrove in turn rings a friend
of his called Sean Berry.

Sean Berry is an ex -army captain and he
runs the Thoroughbred Horse Breeders

Association at that time. So he was part
of the circle around Shergar and the

whole industry.

And

he

then makes a call to the Minister for
Finance, Alan Jukes.

The young Alan Dukes at that stage is
the Minister for Finance who's preparing

at the time a budget speech and is now
taking a call, a panicked call about

Shergar.

At three o 'clock on that morning, I got
a phone call from two very agitated

gentlemen to tell me that Shergar had
been stolen, was missing from the studs.

They were extremely... upset. This was a
superstar horse and they were clearly

very concerned for its welfare.

I asked them first if they had informed
the guards and they said no, they were

afraid to inform the guards so I said
you have no alternative.

The guards have to be informed of this.
I didn't see immediately what I could do

as Minister for Finance between then and
a budget speech the following

afternoon.

I just thought what the hell am I going
to do?

You didn't often get calls at 3 o 'clock
in the morning. And the phone was on

the bedside locker. And happily, my
little directory of Cabinet members'

numbers was just beside it. And I gave
them a phone number for the Minister for

Justice, Michael Noonan. I said, that's
the man you need to talk to, and he'll

talk to the guards and, you know, get
things in operation.

And I went back to sleep.

The Minister for Justice, Michael
Noonan, who was then contacted.

It's then.

that the Irish police force, the Gardaí,
are contacted.

Now, at that stage, seven or eight hours
had elapsed since the kidnapping of

Sergar. And it's reasonable to ask the
question as to why the guards were not

the first call that was made. But that
was the sequence of call.

And in a way, of course, it gave the
kidnappers a very significant head

There was a news blackout for a time.

Eventually the news was let out in time
for the evening bulletins, and people

realized that this superstar equine had
been taken from under their noses. And

furthermore, there'd been this terrible
delay in the police becoming aware.

Shergar, one of the most highly valued
horses in the world, was taken by gunmen

from Balamani Stud near Newbridge in
County Kildare during the night.

Gunmen entered the stud around 9 o
'clock last night. They held Mr. John

Fitzgerald and his family in a back room
at gunpoint.

Forensic experts visited the scene this
afternoon, but so far details of where

the £10 million horse was taken remain a
mystery.

The world and its mother, in terms of
the press pack, descended on this small

village in County Kildare.

It was phantasmagorical and...

unworldly in its nature.

I was in Sussex working on a stud farm
and we didn't have internet, you know,

you had a couple of TV channels, you
didn't have live streaming or anything.

But the first we knew was we saw it in
the sporting life.

There was that horror that we might not
see him again.

And I'm just thinking it's tragic. You
know, I remembered him two years ago as

nice sweet horse and now he's been taken
away and he's also a stallion. You

know, he's going to be difficult to
handle. You can't put him into a little

horse box and a little stable somewhere.
It was very vivid in the mind at that

point that what a dangerous situation he
was in.

Stallions are high octane.

thoroughbreds they are not simple beings
even if people will say their

temperaments are brilliant or this or
that or the other they're bred for a

really competitive sport and they are
very muscular they're half ton so

around 500 kilos on average and they are
strong so if they want to do something

no man will stop them stallions are most
highly strung than normal

horses, because they can get a bit
excited, quote -unquote. And I know

a nice, nice sort of guy.

He was a stallion.

And, you know, when he was taken out of
his routine, it would be like us.

Oh, I'm in the back of a horse box I've
never been in before. Where are you

taking me? You know, he doesn't know
that.

So it was all a bit different for him.

And at one level, while this was an
extraordinary run of colour for every

newspaper in every country under the
sun, at another level, it was just, it

sad, it was bonkers, it was ludicrous,
it was embarrassing.

I think at the time I asked my parents
and my grandparents, what was the

feeling, what was the understanding of
the whole coverage? Because everybody

went bananas about this. It was fearful.

what it would mean for the industry that
this was a possibility. And I think it

changed, regardless of the particular
story itself, it changed the landscape

how stud farms were run and how these
horses were regarded.

The level of planning and sophistication
and simply casing the joint that would

be involved in preparing for an
operation like this would require

skill. and manpower, heavy degrees of
manpower.

And I think Irish people immediately
assumed that the level of

involved here had to mean that it was
carried out by Republican subversives.

Irish people really believed that a
Rubicon had been crossed.

Whatever about kidnapping people and
intimidating your fellow humans?

And it was, in fact, an assault on every
person who went to the bookies on a

Saturday to have a little flutter in
these islands.

This was hugely embarrassing.

Ballymany was not remotely well
protected. It wasn't remotely secure.

The ease of access was actually
astounding when you consider Shergar and

value of Shergar. But then there was no
precedent for a horse being kidnapped in

this way in Ireland.

Nonetheless, you have to wonder about
the security, and I'm sure many did

afterwards. And then the question for
the guards, how are we going to handle

what is going inevitably to become a big
international story?

For ordinary Irish people, I remember
this was not only a humiliation, but it

was also a breach of trust, if you like,
because the one area of British -Irish

relations that had not been poisoned by
the troubles was bought.

People felt personally offended by this
action, including many people who were

Republican sympathisers, thought this
was wrong. And so the question arose,

the IRA really do this? Could they have
been that bone stupid to have attempted

to pull this off?

When the news of this broke at MI5
level, they were in no doubt, the only

who could have carried this out were the
provisional IRA.

It was such a profoundly stupid thing to
undertake that you have to wonder if

this was something that was sanctioned
at the senior levels of the IRA.

Surely they would have been aware, A,
that this could go very badly wrong very

easily. B...

that the public would obviously turn
against anyone who was seen to be

Shergar, this celebrity horse, this
wonder horse, in harm's way and see what

kind of a national and international
focus would it bring on the IRA, a very

negative focus on the IRA.

When you begin to add up those different
things, you have to question whether

those who were running the IRA really
thought this was a good idea or whether

they were actually made aware of this
plan.

Very quickly, the story goes into all
sorts of, as we would say today, rabbit

holes involving clairvoyance and mystics
and anonymous tip -offs and what have

you. The tabloid media goes crazy.

It's an unbelievable story.

And when I use the word unbelievable, I
mean it.

Fancy stealing a horse.

Fancy stealing a Derby winner.

You have Ballymany Stud.

being telephoned, Jim Fitzgerald being
telephoned. And when the kidnapping

happened, he was told, there's a code
word you will hear from us. The code

is King Neptune.

So somebody rang him, used the code word
King Neptune. There was a demand for

two million ransom.

And gradually negotiations that were
taking place at a higher level and

calls began to take this story in
another direction.

The word hearth is inevitably and
justifiably used regarding the public's

perspective. Chief Superintendent Jim
Murphy led the investigation.

He became something of a figure of fun.

It could be anywhere in the country.
Could be anywhere.

I got a phone call about two o 'clock in
the morning. It's the Fleet Street.

We've had the kidnappers with Shogar on.
They want you to fly over the belt.

Who am I talking to, by the way?

A man had come forward who was a local
detective.

He had heard about an IRA dry run
involving a horse box. There was a

produce £80 ,000.

It would have been a down payment, but
it was a serious amount of money.

You can have a very sophisticated plan
on paper in relation to a height, a

twist or turn, and throw the entire plan
into disarray.

The craziest, most lurid allegations
were coming forward, and the entire

circuit. transfers to Paris.

Unless the person with the sole power to
negotiate hands over the money is on

the phone in five minutes, the whole
deal is off. And fed up be messed

There's only one way of describing it. A
shitshow.