Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Taking Shergar
- Thoroughbred Racing's Most Famous Cold Case (Horses in History)
- Narrated by: Robert Ferraro
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
Non-member price: $27.79
People who bought this also bought...
-
Spectacular Bid: The Last Superhorse of the Twentieth Century
- Horses in History
- By: Peter Lee
- Narrated by: Chaz Allen
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of the 1979 Belmont Stakes, Spectacular Bid stepped on a safety pin in his stall, injuring his foot. He had impressively won the first two races - the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness - but finished third in the Belmont, most likely due to his injury, making him one win shy of becoming the sport's third straight Triple Crown champion. But that loss did not prevent him from becoming one of horse racing's greatest competitors.
-
The Lucky Thirteen
- The Winners of America's Triple Crown of Horse Racing
- By: Edward Bowen
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In more than a century of American Thoroughbred racing, only 13 horses have won the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, all won in the same season). Veteran turf writer and racing historian Edward L. Bowen takes us through the rich history of one of the most formidable and exciting challenges in all of sport. Bowen covers the trainers, owners, and jockeys who etched their names into the annals of thoroughbred racing, and the “lucky 13” who captured all three jewels of the Triple Crown, racing’s most prestigious prize.
-
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
- A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Cartel
- By: Mark Paul
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1980s, a spectacular three-year-old female racehorse named Winning Colors was being groomed for success under her famous Hollywood trainer D. Wayne Lukas and the billionaire owner of the San Diego Chargers pro-football team Eugene Klein. Meanwhile, three fun-loving gamblers Miami Paul, Dino Mateo, and Big Bernie believed that Winning Colors could be the unlikely female winner of the 1988 Kentucky Derby.
-
-
Nice easy listen
- By Anonymous User on 17-05-2020
-
The Fine Cotton Fiasco
- By: Peter Hoysted, Pat Sheil
- Narrated by: Shane Jacobson
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brisbane, 1984. It all started with a simple plan to secretly swap a mediocre horse with a faster one, and rake in the cash with a few well-placed bets. What could possibly go wrong? In The Fine Cotton Fiasco, Peter Hoysted and Pat Sheil brilliantly tell the scarcely believable tale of how - through a combination of horrendous mismanagement, terrible judgment and comically bad luck - the scheme gradually unravelled. How did a horse with white painted socks dripping onto the turf come to hold the hopes of punters across Australia and beyond?
-
-
A laugh and a half
- By Anonymous User on 22-08-2019
-
Never Say Die
- A Kentucky Colt, the Epsom Derby, and the Rise of the Modern Thoroughbred Industry
- By: James Nicholson
- Narrated by: John Chester
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A quarter of a million people braved miserable conditions at Epsom Downs on June 2, 1954, to see the 175th running of the prestigious Derby Stakes. Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Winston Churchill were in attendance, along with thousands of Britons who were all convinced of the unfailing superiority of English bloodstock and eager to see a British colt take the victory. They were shocked when a Kentucky-born chestnut named Never Say Die galloped to a two-length triumph at odds of 33-1.
-
The Eighty-Dollar Champion
- Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
- By: Elizabeth Letts
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses - a drab white former plow horse named Snowman - and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots - and their win was the stuff of legend.
-
Spectacular Bid: The Last Superhorse of the Twentieth Century
- Horses in History
- By: Peter Lee
- Narrated by: Chaz Allen
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of the 1979 Belmont Stakes, Spectacular Bid stepped on a safety pin in his stall, injuring his foot. He had impressively won the first two races - the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness - but finished third in the Belmont, most likely due to his injury, making him one win shy of becoming the sport's third straight Triple Crown champion. But that loss did not prevent him from becoming one of horse racing's greatest competitors.
-
The Lucky Thirteen
- The Winners of America's Triple Crown of Horse Racing
- By: Edward Bowen
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In more than a century of American Thoroughbred racing, only 13 horses have won the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, all won in the same season). Veteran turf writer and racing historian Edward L. Bowen takes us through the rich history of one of the most formidable and exciting challenges in all of sport. Bowen covers the trainers, owners, and jockeys who etched their names into the annals of thoroughbred racing, and the “lucky 13” who captured all three jewels of the Triple Crown, racing’s most prestigious prize.
-
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
- A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Cartel
- By: Mark Paul
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1980s, a spectacular three-year-old female racehorse named Winning Colors was being groomed for success under her famous Hollywood trainer D. Wayne Lukas and the billionaire owner of the San Diego Chargers pro-football team Eugene Klein. Meanwhile, three fun-loving gamblers Miami Paul, Dino Mateo, and Big Bernie believed that Winning Colors could be the unlikely female winner of the 1988 Kentucky Derby.
-
-
Nice easy listen
- By Anonymous User on 17-05-2020
-
The Fine Cotton Fiasco
- By: Peter Hoysted, Pat Sheil
- Narrated by: Shane Jacobson
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brisbane, 1984. It all started with a simple plan to secretly swap a mediocre horse with a faster one, and rake in the cash with a few well-placed bets. What could possibly go wrong? In The Fine Cotton Fiasco, Peter Hoysted and Pat Sheil brilliantly tell the scarcely believable tale of how - through a combination of horrendous mismanagement, terrible judgment and comically bad luck - the scheme gradually unravelled. How did a horse with white painted socks dripping onto the turf come to hold the hopes of punters across Australia and beyond?
-
-
A laugh and a half
- By Anonymous User on 22-08-2019
-
Never Say Die
- A Kentucky Colt, the Epsom Derby, and the Rise of the Modern Thoroughbred Industry
- By: James Nicholson
- Narrated by: John Chester
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A quarter of a million people braved miserable conditions at Epsom Downs on June 2, 1954, to see the 175th running of the prestigious Derby Stakes. Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Winston Churchill were in attendance, along with thousands of Britons who were all convinced of the unfailing superiority of English bloodstock and eager to see a British colt take the victory. They were shocked when a Kentucky-born chestnut named Never Say Die galloped to a two-length triumph at odds of 33-1.
-
The Eighty-Dollar Champion
- Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
- By: Elizabeth Letts
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses - a drab white former plow horse named Snowman - and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots - and their win was the stuff of legend.
Publisher's Summary
It was a cold and foggy February night in 1983 when a group of armed thieves crept onto Ballymany Stud, near The Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland, to steal Shergar, one of the thoroughbred industry's most renowned stallions. Bred and raced by the Aga Khan IV and trained in England by Sir Michael Stoute, Shergar achieved international prominence in 1981 when he won the 202nd Epsom Derby by 10 lengths - the longest winning margin in the race's history. The thieves demanded a hefty ransom for the safe return of one of the most valuable thoroughbreds in the world, but the ransom was never paid and Shergar's remains have never been found.
In Taking Shergar: Thoroughbred Racing's Most Famous Cold Case, Milton C. Toby presents an engaging narrative that is as thrilling as any mystery novel. The book provides new analysis of the body of evidence related to the stallion's disappearance, delves into the conspiracy theories that surround the inconclusive investigation, and presents a profile of the man who might be the last person able to help solve part of the mystery.
Toby examines the extensive cast of suspects and their alleged motives, including the Irish Republican Army and their need for new weapons, a French bloodstock agent who died in Central Kentucky, and even the Libyan dictator, Muammar al-Qadhafi.
The book is published by The University Press of Kentucky. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
Critic Reviews
"Toby has made an important contribution to horseracing's historical tapestry." (James C. Nicholson, author of The Kentucky Derby)
"This is a book that will enthrall anyone who ever followed the story of Shergar...will introduce a whole new generation to a mystery that, sadly, may never be fully solved." (The Irish Field)
"A hard-to-put-down account of the day the world of Thoroughbred racing stopped in its tracks." (Mary Simon, three-time recipient of the Eclipse Award)
More from the same
What listeners say about Taking Shergar
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 29-02-2020
Bad Choice of Narrator
Why did they choose an American to narrate the story of the theft of a British racehorse in Ireland. So many mispronunciations of English and Irish place names and surnames detracted from the story significantly!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lmaris
- 15-07-2019
Badly told story & even worse narrator.
Mr Ferraro may be a good choice for Mickey Spillane type mysteries, but he was a bad choice here. He is unable to pronounce some common racing names like "Claiborne" (he says Clear-born). His gruff voice sounds bored most of the time, and tired. The story of the horse, its owner, and the theft is an interesting one, but needs a better author and narrator. The author jumped all over the place in time, then from one crackpot conspiracy to another. Even after the actual criminals were identified, the author went on present other outlandish ideas, even to claim "remote viewing" was real. It is not. Returned it with an hour left unheard because it was too painful to continue. A very good opportunity wasted by the author and narrator.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- caroline
- 25-03-2020
Dreadful book
The only good thing about this book was that the narrator wasn’t to bad There’s a lot wrong with this book Firstly unless you have a in-depth knowledge of horse racing and breeding you won’t understand it Secondly the constant American terms instead of English gets really annoying Thirdly very little of the book actually deals with shergar you could learn more about the stealing of shergar just by doing a google search Lastly it gives no new information and backs a Theory with very fact to prove it Don’t waste a credit
-
Overall

- Derek A. de la Harpe
- 14-11-2019
Not a great listen
Story confusing to follow. Narration worse: accent inappropriate to the story and many mispronounciations.
16 Best Audiobooks by Aboriginal Authors
Across genres, there’s no shortage of brilliant titles from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of Australia.



25 Best Celebrity Audiobooks
It’s always a pleasant surprise to pick up a familiar story and find an unexpected famous friend in the narrator’s booth.



Best Audiobooks of 2020
We've crunched the numbers, heard from our listeners and gotten expert opinions to round up the best listens of 2020.


