Shergar was kidnapped from his owner's stud farm in 1983 and never seen again: it is generally believed that he was killed by his captors who were members of the Provisional IRA.
[3] Authaal's dam Galletto was a successful racemare who won the Galtres Stakes in 1977[4] and was a daughter of the Irish Oaks winner Gaia.
A year later at the Goffs sale, he broke the European record for a yearling when he was bought for 3.1 million guineas by the bloodstock agent Tote Cherry-Downes[6] on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed.
Ridden by Christy Roche, he led for most of the way but was outpaced in the closing stages and finished last of the seven runners behind the Paul Cole-trained Nisnas.
He returned to Ireland for a minor race over one and a half miles at Naas Racecourse in September and won by four lengths from Bank Step.
Although his pursuers steadily reduced his margin of superiority in the straight, the colt never looked in any danger of defeat and won by five lengths from Faburola.
In their annual Racehorses of 1986 Timeform explained that they could not be sure of the extent to which the wide margin of Authaal's win in the Irish St. Leger was the result of Roche's bold tactics.