DiscoverSport's Strangest CrimesComing soon with Vanilla Ice...
Coming soon with Vanilla Ice...

Coming soon with Vanilla Ice...

Update: 2021-06-011
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This is the story of the world’s most high-profile kidnap...of a horse.

Welcome to Epsom, the year is 1981 and Shergar, a prized stallion, has just won the 202nd Derby by ten lengths - the longest winning margin in the race’s history.

Owned by the Aga Khan, the millionaire community leader, the champion horse gained international prominence and was regarded as a national hero during a difficult period in Irish history.

On a cold winter night in 1983, a group of armed men entered the Ballymany Stud in balaclavas and stole the stallion declaring: "We have come for Shergar. We want £2 million for him." The codeword for future negotiations was to be King Neptune.

While the facts of this case have been widely reported, this series unpicks the theories about the disappearance. We’ll revisit all the bizarre events that took place after the kidnap, from psychics to horse skulls to negotiations led by English journalists.

We unpick the police case and the comedy character leading it, trilby-wearing superintendent James Murphy and meet the sport’s journalist Derek “Tommo” Thompson who was flown to Belfast to negotiate the release.

Using archives, news reports and new interviews, we go along on a ride that has some strange turns, oddball characters and juicy conspiracies. Almost 40 years on from his kidnap, we look back at a story that gripped the world to try and understand why the horse’s legacy still lives on.

Told by the Texan tones of Vanilla Ice, we’ll reveal some of the strange theories that made this Irish story go global.

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In Channel
7. The Final Furlong

7. The Final Furlong

2021-06-0136:27

6. Proof of Life

6. Proof of Life

2021-06-0127:50

5. The Decoy

5. The Decoy

2021-06-0128:04

4. Send in the Cavalry

4. Send in the Cavalry

2021-06-0130:39

1. And They're Off!

1. And They're Off!

2021-06-0127:43

7. Hell

7. Hell

2021-09-2748:09

6. Hurricane Season

6. Hurricane Season

2021-09-2740:03

5. Whistleblowers

5. Whistleblowers

2021-09-2733:16

4. The Match

4. The Match

2021-09-2740:18

3. Antigua

3. Antigua

2021-09-2745:01

2. The Wild West

2. The Wild West

2021-09-2732:42

1. Lord's

1. Lord's

2021-09-2736:00

6. To Catch a King

6. To Catch a King

2022-02-2127:51

5. Pay the Milkman

5. Pay the Milkman

2022-02-2124:07

4. Fool’s Gold

4. Fool’s Gold

2022-02-2123:02

3. Treasure Island

3. Treasure Island

2022-02-2130:42

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Coming soon with Vanilla Ice...

Coming soon with Vanilla Ice...

BBC Radio 5 Live