The kidnapping of the racehorse Shergar
Ireland, February 1983
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
Shergar won the 1981 Epsom Derby by ten lengths, one of the widest margins in the race's history, and was retired to stud at the Ballymany Stud in County Kildare. On the night of 8 February 1983, armed and masked men entered the farm, held the groom and his family at gunpoint and left with the horse in a trailer.
A ransom demand of two million pounds arrived days later, but the owners, a syndicate of 35 people, could not even confirm the animal was alive. Shergar was never found. The most widely accepted account attributes the kidnapping to the IRA, which was said to need money for weapons, and holds that the horse died a few days after being taken.
Sources
In the game
The Missing Champion
Royal London Dog Show, the eve of the final, 7:25 pm. Duke, a two-time champion corgi and the favorite for tomorrow's title, has vanished from stall 12 backstage.
The game borrows the champion who vanishes on the eve of the season and the ransom note. Characters, setting and outcome are fiction.
