The Backstory: How Do You Kidnap a Race Horse?

Nothing like the Kentucky Derby... even if you’re not a dedicated thoroughbred race fan. Those animals are exquisite bundles of pure muscle. So... imagine trying to kidnap one! How would you do it... and what happens after you get him? It happened over 40 years ago in Ireland to one of the most remarkable European Derby winners of all time and his billionaire owner. This is his story.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, it's horse racing season, with the Kentucky Derby first
up this weekend. Now, even if you don't spend a
lot of time around horses, watching those breath takingly beautiful,
gigantic animals running for the roses is kind of a thrill,
along with sipping a frosty minjulip or two. But look
at the size and the power of those horses and

(00:21):
then try to figure out how somebody would be able
to kidnap one of them. I'm Patty Steele, a billionaire's
Derby winning thoroughbread disappeared into thin air. That's next on
the backstory. We're back with the backstory, all right. Even

(00:41):
if you only see one or two horse races a year,
it's really fun to watch those magnificent, kind of skittish
animals run. And the money attached to them is absolutely insane,
including breeding them, buying them, training them, racing them. But
a winner is the stuff of legend. Let's go back
to the nineteen forties. Ali Khan was the son of

(01:04):
Aga Khan, the third, a major presence in the world
of thoroughbred horse racing. Ali was the ultimate playboy, betting
and sometimes marrying movie stars like Grita Hayworth, his second wife.
But above all, he was a famous breeder and owner
of magnificent race horses. When his father passed him over
as Aga Khan the Fourth, giving the title to Ali's son,

(01:28):
he continued to live the life of a playboy horse breeder,
and he was incredibly successful. Race horses were in the
family's blood, and Ali's son, who became Agakon the Fourth
when he was just twenty years old, was now the
billionaire leader of the world's Ismali Muslims, and he was
also a major breeder of thoroughbreds like his father and

(01:49):
his grandfather. On top of that, he had a degree
from Harvard and had competed in the Olympics as a skier,
kind of accomplished. Later on he was active in resort
development and charity work, but horses were his first passion.
By nineteen eighty one, the prize possession of Agakon the
Fourth was the powerful race horse Sugar. That year he

(02:11):
was entered into the Epsom Derby, Britain's most prestigious race.
He won by an incredible ten lengths, a record that
still stands today. One radio commentator said there's only one
horse in it. You'd need a telescope to see the rest.
Shugar was called one of the greatest horses ever to
run in the Derby. He went on to win other

(02:32):
major races that year, including the Irish Derby. He'd been
bred in Ireland, so he was a national hero there.
To make the most of his investment, the Aga Khan
sold shares of Shugar keeping for himself around twenty percent,
but he cleared about twelve million dollars or thirty four
million in today's money. It was time to put Shurgar

(02:53):
out to stud. In late nineteen eighty one, he was retired,
set for the delightful life of a stud horse, with
every expectation that he would sire a generation of champion
race horses. Shargar's studfee was one hundred thousand dollars, about
the same as America's triple Crown winner Secretariat a few
years earlier. Nineteen eighty two was a good season for him.

(03:16):
He sired thirty five foals, but then it all came
crashing down. Now it's early nineteen eighty three. Sugar is
in his stable in Newbridge, Ireland, on a cold, dark
winter night in February. Problem is a stable is not
well protected. A horse trailer arrives at the stud buildings

(03:36):
at eight thirty p m. Inside his house, Shugar's groom,
James Fitzgerald thinks he hears a car in the yard,
but then hearing nothing else, he forgets about it. Ten
minutes go by, there's a knock at the door. Bernard,
James Fitzgerald's son, answers it. It's a man in a
police uniform wearing a face mask. He asks for James,

(03:58):
but then knocks young Bernard to the floor. James comes
into the room and sees his son on the floor. Suddenly,
three more men shove their way into the house. They
hold the family at gunpoint in the kitchen. James says
they were exceptionally calm and well organized. Several of the
armed men forced James to lead them to Shurgar's stable.

(04:19):
Once there, they load the thoroughbread into a trailer and
drive off. James is forced into another vehicle and driven
around for about three hours before he's thrown out of
the car. The crime shocks everyone. How do you kidnap
a champion racehorse who was unheard of before? And since
the crime was front page news around the world. The

(04:42):
AGA Khan's uncle said, the whole thing seems like fiction.
The kidnappers told James the Groom they wanted three million
dollars for the horse's return, close to ten million dollars
in today's money, but the horse was valued at thirty
five million in today's money. Now the problem is the horse,
as we know, is now owned by a syndicate, and

(05:03):
while the Aga Khan holds a large share, the group
decides no ransom will be paid. The cops make little progress.
Landowners and farmers try to help out, and even mediums
and psychics are called in. But there's nothing, no leads,
no evidence, no viable suspects, not even a body. James Murphy,

(05:25):
the Chief Superintendent of the Irish Police, at one point
says at a news conference, a clue that is something
we haven't got. As time passes, it seems pretty clear
the horse must be dead. The big British insurance company,
Lloyd's of London, agrees to pay out millions of dollars
to the owners. But this magnificent animal has vanished without

(05:49):
a trace. It's been forty two years and Sugar has
never been seen again. Soon suspicion points at the Irish
Republican Army, which was in a violent struggle with US
Britain at the time. Insiders tell the story that the
kidnappers knew very little about these powerful but fragile horses.
They had a rough time managing the high spirited stallion.

(06:11):
They claim he was killed only a few hours after
the kidnapping, possibly after injuring himself, and that he was
buried in a remote area, but his final resting place
has never been found. The case remains formally open. Hope
you like the Backstory with Patty Steele, Please leave a review.
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(06:34):
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to dm me if you have a story you'd like
me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on
Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is
a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our

(06:57):
writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
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on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
know you needed to know.