Horseracing has been a great tradition in the UK for hundreds of years. According to Wikipedia, the sport generates over £3.7 billion for the British economy and our country is home to nearly 60 licensed racecourses, which in itself demonstrates exactly how popular horse racing has become.
Occasionally, one horse stands out from its competitors to become a National Icon. But what happens to these horses after the camera bulbs stop flashing and they’ve been overshadowed by a younger, hungrier steed? Read on to find out.
Shergar
Shergar shot to fame by winning the 202nd Epsom Derby in 1981 and achieving a lead of ten lengths, the longest margin in the history of the race. Named European Horse of the Year, the Irish racehorse retired from racing the following September.
But Shergar hit the headlines again in 1983 when he was stolen by masked gunmen from the Ballymany Stud. Nobody was ever discovered and the controversial incident has been the subject of several publications and documentaries, with the story even having been made into a film.
Although elements of the incident still remain a mystery, it’s now widely believed that Shergar was stolen by members of the IRA in an attempt to extract a ransom, but the horse was killed when the kidnappers realised that their plan had failed.
