Barney Curley is an Irish-born, UK-based trainer best known for the Yellow Sam Incident in 1975. It was a betting coup that took incredible planning and patience but Curley pulled it off and pocketed a small fortune (low seven-figures in today’s rates). Actually, he didn’t pocket it because the bookies were so angry they paid him in single notes that filled 108 bags.
The Yellow Sam Incident hinged on communications – specifically, tying up the one telephone line at the track until it was too late to change the price. It would be impossible in today’s world of cell technology.
But Barney Curley is back in the news, this time for winning something like £1 million (although had his full plan worked, he would have won 20 times that!).
“One day,” he said, when asked about the four-horse gamble two weeks ago. “One day, I’ll tell the story.”
It should make for quite a tale, of the bets that were landed and, perhaps, the one that got away. It involved three horses from Curley’s own stable and another, previously in his ownership, that had moved to join Chris Grant.
Apparently it was a very complex plot that was years in the making.
The Independent: Barney Curley: ‘Nobody will win as much on horse racing in 100 years’
The Guardian: Barney Curley is back on course after his four-horse betting coup
