Memories of how the late, great Shergar cruised to victory with a wonderful, record-breaking display in the 1981 Epsom Derby

They are legendary names synonymous with Flat Racing. Yet, in the 231-year history of this contest, none of these sublime performances can match the superiority of Shergar’s triumph three decades ago.

His record-breaking Derby – he won by 10 lengths while being eased down in the last furlong by his jockey Walter Swinburn, then a teenage prodigy – is without equal in more than two centuries of Flat racing.

I can still remember where I was on Wednesday, June 3, 1981. I was in my last year in primary school in West London. I was sat at the back of Ken Reynolds’s maths class trying to pay attention while I fiddled with the satchel by my desk.

I was hoping he would not notice my small earpiece as I pretended to pick up a pencil while, in fact, switching on a transistor radio that I had smuggled into school.

The plan was proving as effortless as the 10-11 favourite’s uphill gallop from the start before the sweeping descent down Tattenham Corner, and the turn for home where the Derby would be won or lost.

As Mr Reynolds was trying to impart some knowledge about algebra, I was in a world of my own as Shergar, a beautiful dark-bay colt with a striking white face, burst clear to justify the pre-race hype.

And then it went wrong. Just as I was trying to calculate my winnings – perhaps I should have paid more attention in maths – the earpiece became disconnected from the crackly radio as Peter Bromley, the BBC commentator, prepared to deliver the immortal, spine-tingling line: “You’ll need a telescope to see the rest.”

Cue one very disgruntled maths teacher as chaos broke out. Some found it very funny – others were relieved that their boredom had been punctuated and that they would not have to wait until the Six O’Clock news, in this pre-Ceefax era, to discover the result.

This was one occasion when I could not complain about my punishment – 100 lines and a lunchtime detention every day for a week.

I could just drift off, at a time when the Epsom Derby was far more pre-eminent than it is today, and think about Shergar – this majestic horse that was captivating horse racing with his wealthy owner, promising trainer and rookie jockey.

Owned by the Aga Khan, Shergar had shown some promise as a two-year-old, finishing second to Sheer Grit in the Futurity Stakes (now the Racing Post Trophy) at Doncaster.

It was the following Spring that Shergar let rip, winning the Sandown Classic Trial and the Chester Vase by 10 and 12 lengths respectively. These were striking performances that almost defied belief. In short, this runaway winner was an odds-on certainty for Epsom – even though his trainer Michael Stoute, and the man responsible for the Queen’s Carlton House this Saturday, had enjoyed no luck with his previous three Derby runners.

History was also against Shergar – no Newmarket-trained horse had won the Derby since Royal Palace in 1967. And no favourite had won since Roberto won for Lester Piggott five years later.

There was early drama at the start when the Criquette Head-trained French entry Lydian was withdrawn after stubbornly refusing to enter the stalls. The slight delay added to the tension – both at Epsom and in a certain maths lesson.

Handily placed throughout by 19-year-old Swinburn, who was becoming the second youngest jockey to win the race behind the aforementioned Piggott, Shergar avoided the customary scrimmaging as the field bunched up before the descent around Tattenham Corner.

He was cruising effortlessly behind Pat Eddery’s mount Riberetto and also Silver Season, with the Queen’s Church Parade – the mount of Willie Carson – in close proximity.

Yet, as the field negotiated the sharp, downhill bend and straightened up for the race for the finish, Shergar eased clear.

It was pure poetry as the lead became one, two, five, 10 and 15 lengths before a motionless Swinburn, resplendent in the Aga Khan’s green silks with red epaulets, eased his thoroughbred down to a more sedate canter.

It was that simple.

Asked beforehand about his tactics in the straight, Swinburn had said: “I won’t look back.”

Yet he had to – he revealed afterwards – because he was so far clear that the jockey could not hear the also-rans and wondered whether they had come to grief in some form. “Riding Shergar feels like riding Pegasus,” he added.

The chasing pack was led by Glint of Gold who had been slightly hampered early on in what was to become a non-contest.

His jockey, the journeyman John Matthias, was sanguine afterwards. “I told myself I’d achieved my life’s ambition. Only then did I discover there was another horse on the horizon,” he said.

Shergar confirmed his greatness by going on to win the Irish Derby – Piggott replaced the suspended Swinburn in the saddle – before beating older horses with disdain in Ascot’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.

His only defeat came in Doncaster’s St Leger when, on unsuitable soft ground, he finished a lacklustre fourth to Cut Above, a horse that he had beaten out of sight in the Irish Derby.

He then made headlines in February 1983 when abducted from the Aga Khan’s Ballymany Stud in Ireland.

The IRA was blamed, though the terror group never admitted responsibility, and it is assumed that the horse was killed within days because his captors could not control such a finely-bred equine superstar.

The unstoppable combination of the Aga Khan, Stoute and Swinburn gained some consolation when Shahrastani prevailed in 1986. The winning margin could not have been less emphatic – half a length – as the horse narrowly repelled the fast finishing Dancing Brave, the subsequent Arc victor.

As Stoute, now a Knight of the realm, attempts to land his sixth Derby with Carlton House – just one short of the all-time trainers’ record – Swinburn will be Epsom’s guest of honour.

Each participating rider will be introduced to Swinburn, famed for his choirboy looks in the Shergar era, in the paddock before the big race.

Swinburn, who also won the Classic’s 1995 renewal on Lammtarra, is now a successful trainer based in Hertfordshire. He said last week: “The Derby is the one race that everyone dreams of winning.

“The Derby, to my mind, remains the ultimate test of the thoroughbred.”

He can also be certain of one other fact – it will take an extraordinary performance for this year’s winner to eclipse Shergar’s mesmerising triumph 30 years ago that caused so much joy.

tom.richmond@ ypn.co.uk