Stan Cosgrove, renowned vet at centre of the Shergar story, dies aged 91

Stan Cosgrove, pioneering veterinary surgeon and stalwart of Moyglare Stud for more than half a century, has died aged 91.

Memorably, he was also Shergar’s vet and had been a shareholder in the stallion before the brilliant Derby winner's infamous kidnapping. He appeared in the BBC-shown documentary Searching For Shergar and it is said that he gave £80,000 to act as a partial ransom in a botched Gardai sting.

A giant of the industry, Cosgrove formed a lifelong friendship with the late Swiss billionaire Walter Haefner and became the vet of what was to become Moyglare when the Kildare operation was an old dairy farm in 1962.

He was later appointed the stud's manager as it grew into one the most successful global commercial breeding centres, producing the French and Irish Derby winner of 1982 in Assert, the following year's Japan Cup heroine Stanerra and Refuse To Bend, who took the 2003 2,000 Guineas in the black and white Moyglare silks.

Other international successes include the Melbourne Cup win of Media Puzzle and another pioneering victory in the stud's colours, with long-time ally Dermot Weld, through Go And Go in the 1990 Belmont Stakes.

Shergar: Stan Cosgrove had shares in him as a stallionCredit: Mark Cranham

Cosgrove had a plethora of other achievements, having co-founded the Racing Academy and Centre for Education and been a founding member of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association. He was a Turf Club steward and also spent more than 40 years on the board of Robert J Goff and Co, the parent company of Goffs.

He was only days short of his 92nd birthday and died peacefully at home, surrounded by family. He leaves behind ten children – Mary, James, Catherine, Veronica, Michael, Paul, Nicola, Emma, Johnny and Sara, as well as grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

Cosgrove will be lying in repose at home in Barrow House, Monasterevin. The house will be open on Saturday from 4pm to 8pm and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm but otherwise strictly private.

The rosary is on Sunday at 5pm with funeral mass at 11am on Monday September 2 in St Peter and Paul's Church, Monasterevin, followed by burial in St Evin's Cemetery. Family flowers only.

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