Pioneering Irish veterinarian Stan Cosgrove, who looked after and was a shareholder in the kidnapped Shergar, has died aged 91.
Cosgrove led the way in veterinary surgery and was internationally renowned for his work with racehorses as well as his lasting connection with Moyglare Stud.
He joined Moyglare as its vet when Walter Haefner bought the County Kildare property in 1962 and became manager nine years later.
Among the other famous horses he looked after was the Dermot Weld-trained Media Puzzle, winner of the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
As well as being vet to Shergar, Cosgrove played a role in the ultimately fruitless negotiations with the kidnappers who stole the horse from the Aga Khan’s Ballymany Stud in 1983.
Fiona Craig, Moyglare Stud’s bloodstock and breeding adviser, said Cosgrove was a pioneer in the industry.
“He was probably one of Ireland’s most gifted vets,” Craig said.
“Wherever you went in the United States, Australia or anywhere, everybody knew him.
“He was a pioneering vet in orthopaedic surgery and colic surgery on racehorses. He was doing things before they wrote the text book.
“He was a supreme vet back in the days when they learnt it the hard way.
“He was a fabulous man who lived a fabulous life.”
Along with Media Puzzle, Moyglare’s black and white colours with a red cap were synonymous with success in a host of big races with stars of the turf such as 1990 Belmont Stakes victor Go And Go, 1996 Irish Oaks scorer Dance Design, 2008 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Casual Conquest and Free Eagle, who landed the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2015.
