Racing News: Walter Swinburn, who rode Shergar to a record-breaking English Derby win in 1981, yesterday said he still hoped the mystery surrounding the racehorse's disappearance 20 years ago today would eventually be solved.
Swinburn, who was only 19 at the time of the victory, paid tribute to the "stunning winner" and said if his remains were discovered it would bring "closure" to a "very sad" chapter in racing history.
Swinburn, whose glorious career was launched by the record 10-lengths win at Epsom, said: "They used to call Shergar bomb-proof. Not only was he a fantastic racehorse, which everyone knew, he also had a fantastic temperament to go with it. I owe a huge debt to him. To this day he was the best racehorse I ever rode."
Recalling the Derby win, he added: "He took it in his stride and made the job much easier for me. Like I said back then, I was a passenger on a very good horse and that's exactly right to this day."
Two years after the Derby win, on February 8th, 1983, Shergar was stolen from the Aga Khan's Ballymany Stud near Newbridge, Co Kildare, in a plot thought to have been masterminded by the IRA to raise funds for weapons. The theory was given added weight when a former IRA police informer claimed the terrorist organisation had been responsible for the snatch but had been forced to shoot Shergar within hours of the kidnapping.
"If there was one horse that didn't deserve the end he got it was Shergar," said Swinburn, who retired from racing in 2000.
In April 2000, the discovery of a horse's skull containing two bullet holes in a remote Irish glen appeared to have signalled the end of the mystery. But tests done at the Irish Equine Centre in Kildare showed the skull did not belong to Shergar.
During his career, Shergar won six of his eight races, earning £436,000.
His awesome Derby victory was by far the biggest winning margin in the race's history.
In his first starts as a three-year-old he triumphed in the Classic Trial by 10 lengths, the Chester Vase by 12 lengths and then the Derby by 10 lengths.
He went on to take the Irish Derby, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. His only defeat as a three-year-old came when he finished fourth to Cut Above in the 1981 Doncaster St Leger.
Champion jockey Kieren Fallon returns to action today after having had treatment for a drink problem.
Fallon rides the David Loder-trained Shami for Sheikh Mohammed in the £25,000 Bet Direct Handicap at Lingfield - his only ride at the Surrey track.
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