On February 8 1983 the horse was kidnapped from Ballymany Stud, near the Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland. An Irish radio station received a ransom demand for £1.5 million. There were suggestions that the IRA were behind the kidnap. The horse was never recovered and to this day his fate is still unknown. He was the third famous race horse in history to be kidnapped. The other two were Carnauba and Franfeluche both recovered alive.
The missing/robbery of Shergar was such a big story, it was made in to a Hollywood film, Shergar, in August 1998, released in 1999, and starring Sir Ian Holm, Mickey Rourke, David Warner, Gary Cady, Alan Barker, Billy Boyle, and Stephen Brennan. Directed by Dennis Lewison.