Ireland: Horsenaped

Stealing the Aga Khan's prize

It was after dark in the County Kildare countryside 30 miles southwest of Dublin, and Jim Fitzgerald's family had just finished dinner when there was a knock at the door. In burst five or more men, all masked and waving guns. Fitzgerald's wife and five of his children were herded together and locked in a back room. Fitzgerald, 55, head groom at nearby Ballymany Thoroughbred stud farm, was ordered to lead the gunmen to the stable of a certain five-year-old bay stallion.

Scared and a bit dazed, the horseman looped a bridle over the docile animal, then...

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