Shergar

Under the guidance of the eighteen year old jockey Walter Swinburn, Shergar smashed all records in the 1981 Epsom Derby. Third at the halfway point, Swinburn continued to make steady progress and at Tattenham corner with most of the field being pushed along Shergar was still cantering. At the three-furlong marker Swinburn eased into the lead, the race was over and Shergar completed the most dominating victory ever seen in Derby history, the ten length victory is still the record winning distance today.

Owned by the Aga Khan, Shergar was certainly one of the most talented horses in racing history, winning six of his eight races amassing prize money to the value of £436,000. He triumphed in the Chester Vase by 12 lengths, Irish Derby, King George and Queen Elizabeth stakes by four lengths each and still remains the last odds-on-favourite to win the Epsom Derby. When he was retired to stud, thirty-four syndication shares were sold for £250,000 each.

Despite the racing achievements, Shergar seems destined to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. On the 8th February 1983 Shergar was snatched from the Aga Khan's Ballymany stud in County Kildare, Ireland. The disappearance is still a mystery; only theories and rumours have offered any clues to Shergar's whereabouts and nearly twenty years later the truth is still not known. Speculation may continue regarding his fate, but the one fact remaining is that Shergar decimated the Derby field by a record margin and will be forever a Derby legend.