Belfast Telegraph - THE WINTER NIGHT THEY TOOK SHERGAR - 2003-05-31

The winter's night they took ShergarSHERGAR was a wonder horse, loved by everyone but the bookmakers. Bred in Ireland by the Aga Khan, he won six of his eight races. Lester Piggott rode him to a four-length victory in the Irish Derby. The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes were notched up by the same margin. He won the 1981 Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths.

Voted European horse of the year in 1981, Shergar remains the last odds-on favourite to win the Epsom Derby.

When he was retired to stud he was seen as a money-making machine, but not just by the syndicate selling his services at