VIRGIN Media One will broadcast the first instalment of new two-part documentary about Shergar next Wednesday, March 18th at 9pm. The second half will be shown on March 25th.

Shergar: The Racehorse and the IRA explores the extraordinary rise and mysterious disappearance of one of the world’s most celebrated racehorses in the early 1980s.

Told through first hand accounts, the series examines how the theft of a single racehorse reverberated far beyond the world of racing.

Episode one begins with Shergar’s racing career. Bred by the Aga Khan and trained in Newmarket by Michael Stoute, Shergar completed the Epsom-Curragh Derby double in 1981. At the end of that season he was retired to the Aga Khan’s Ballymany Stud on the edge of the Curragh. A number of shares in the horse were sold to racing industry figures and investors.

However, in February 1983 armed men forced their way onto the stud farm, held staff at gunpoint, and ordered head groom James Fitzgerald to load Shergar into a waiting horsebox. Within minutes, Shergar had been stolen, triggering shock across Ireland and Britain.

Ransom demands followed and negotiations unfolded amid fear, disbelief, and mounting tension. With no resolution and hope rapidly fading, suspicion increasingly turned towards the Provisional IRA. Soon all contact with the kidnappers ended and the horse was never found.

The series also features insight from racing journalist Donn McClean and broadcaster Derek Thompson, who provides a rare first-hand perspective on the Shergar investigation itself.

In 1983, Thompson travelled to Belfast during the kidnapping and became directly involved in attempts to secure the Derby winner’s release, receiving chilling calls from a man using the codename “Arkle.”

Shergar: The Racehorse and the IRA was produced by Peninsula Television for Virgin Media Television and Channel 4.