Shergar stand him at the Ballymany Stud in Ireland. He arrived in October 1981, and was paraded down the main street of Newbridge, County Kildare. Milton Toby, the writer on Thoroughbred racing and equine law, judges Shergar to have been "a national hero in Ireland. ... one of the most recognizable sports personalities—horse or human—in Ireland." In 1982—his only rutting season—Shergar covered 44 mares, from which 36 foals were produced: 17 colts and 19 fillies. Of these, three won Group races, and the most successful of his progeny was Authaal. When sold as a weanling (between six months and a year)
Gainsborough Stud Joe Mercer retired. In 2016, a fire broke out in cottages at the stud farm, destroying a staff accommodation building. Gainsborough Stud Gainsborough Stud is a stud farm based in Woolton Hill, Newbury and owned by United Arab Emirates-based international racing operation Godolphin. It was established in 1910 to stand the racehorse Gainsborough and sold in 1981 to Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who operated it as part of his international horse breeding and racing interests, including training horses to race under his own and Godolphin's colours. On his death, Gainsborough Stud passed to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al