Is what Barney Curley has allegedly done...

In the UK today bad for racing?

as punters we love the coups,but surely to be able to get horses to perform when they want and not hold their form is bad for the game?

Whats your thoughts?

Summed it up very well Bob, terrible for the game imo. I didn't know he was still pulling those out the hat.

No because he shares and also self funds plenty good work with the poor


Better ask how trainers in sa cant get a horse fit after 120 days off never mind 700

I love Barney (tu)

saw a little bit of history(

This is just my opinion
I have always loved the butch Cassidy and the sun dance kid outlook in life, especially in gambling
So when I hear about betting coups etc
I get a kick about the ones that got away or the many that did get time

This is a game that makes life very interesting and always good to have a forum

Lol

jawad Wrote:

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> saw a little bit of history(

(tu)

LOW KEY will need to be renamed after sealing an incredible four-pronged gamble on a run-of-the-mill Wednesday to leave bookmakers facing a payout estimated at more than £2 million.

The previously undistinguished performer came home a comfortable winner of the 6.25 at Kempton to seal a coup built on earlier wins for the heavily backed trio of Eye Of The Tiger at Lingfield, Seven Summits at Catterick and Indus Valley at Kempton.

Bliksem !!!!!

Not his first coup
It happened at Bellewstown on 26 June 1975, and was orchestrated by Barney Curley, a Northern Irish professional gambler and entrepreneur. By taking advantage of an under-handicapped horse and the lack of easy communications between the Bellewstown racing course and off-course bookmakers, Curley made a profit of over IR£300,000 (>€1.7m adjusted for inflation) – one of the largest betting coups in Irish history..Dozens of Curley's friends, acquaintances, and paid accomplices stood in bookmaker's shops across the country with between £50 and £300 and sealed instructions to be opened upon receiving a call. None of the accomplices knew beforehand which horse had been prepared, or in which race it was to run. Curley called six or seven of his people at 2.50 pm, ten minutes before the race was to start, and instructed them to each call ten to twenty others. In all, Curley invested just over £15,000, his entire savings, in the gamble. Twenty-five minutes before the race was about to start, and fifteen minutes before the bets were to be placed, Benny O'Hanlon, a friend of Curley's in on the plot, walked into the telephone booth and pretended to place a call to a dying aunt in a non-existent hospital. His act was convincing, as the queue behind him waiting to use the telephone sympathetically allowed him to continue talking for half an hour, while off-course bookies desperately trying to lay off their liabilities struggled in vain to contact their counterparts on the course

Feb 2012 ~ Betfred, owner of the Tote, has caved in to pressure to pay up on a series of bets placed through its Gibraltar-based online business in May 2010 as part of a £4m gambling coup by Newmarket trainer Barney Curley.Betfred.com decided to void bets placed by five punters, four of whom were related to Mr Curley, which showed profits of more than £823,000.
Its decision, which attracted criticism from rival bookmaker William Hill, followed an intervention by the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority but was in contrast to Betfred's UK business, which paid out on accumulator wagers placed through its betting shops.
Mr Curley, who has a reputation for outwitting bookies, pulled off an ambitious gamble on four horses in May 2010, which almost triggered a payout of £20m but still resulted in a £4m windfall.
In a statement on Monday, the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, who was investigating the affair, said the matter was now at a close.
"Following conclusion of the investigation the operators have paid the bets as for them this was never a dispute about money," the statement read, adding that the operators had acted appropriately "at all times".

Was this his first.....................:S.Dont let Soodum see this one..............

The Yellow Sam betting coup was a successful sports betting scam, infamous within Irish and British thoroughbred horse racing.

It happened at Bellewstown on 26 June 1975, and was orchestrated by Barney Curley, a Northern Irish professional gambler and entrepreneur. By taking advantage of an under-handicapped horse and the lack of easy communications between the Bellewstown racing course and off-course bookmakers, Curley made a profit of over IR£300,000 (>€1.7m adjusted for inflation) – one of the largest betting coups in Irish history
The coup
Yellow Sam was a "slow but steady" horse bought by Curley and was given his name from his father's nickname at the races. Curley instructed the horse's trainer, Liam Brennan, to train Yellow Sam specifically for the somewhat obscure annual National Hunt race at Bellewstown, featuring mostly amateur jockeys. To ensure that the horse would run at least once with a much lighter handicap than would normally be the case, Curley first ran the horse in a series of races on other tracks in unfavourable conditions]

Curley spent weeks developing the plan and putting people in place. On the day of the race, Yellow Sam's starting price was 20–1, but if large sums of money were being placed on the horse, that figure would drop quickly, drastically reducing the coup's potential take. It was for this reason that Yellow Sam was to race at Bellewstown specifically, as the track was serviced by just one public telephone and had no private lines at all – making it uniquely possible to disrupt communications to the course bookies who determined the starting prices for the participants.[
Dozens of Curley's friends, acquaintances, and paid accomplices stood in bookmaker's shops across the country with between £50 and £300 and sealed instructions to be opened upon receiving a call. None of the accomplices knew beforehand which horse had been prepared, or in which race it was to run. Curley called six or seven of his people at 2.50 pm, ten minutes before the race was to start, and instructed them to each call ten to twenty others. In all, Curley invested just over £15,000, his entire savings, in the gamble. Twenty-five minutes before the race was about to start, and fifteen minutes before the bets were to be placed, Benny O'Hanlon, a friend of Curley's in on the plot, walked into the telephone booth and pretended to place a call to a dying aunt in a non-existent hospital. His act was convincing, as the queue behind him waiting to use the telephone sympathetically allowed him to continue talking for half an hour, while off-course bookies desperately trying to lay off their liabilities struggled in vain to contact their counterparts on the course

Curley had already built up something of a reputation during his years as a professional gambler, and knew that his presence at the course was likely to cause concern amongst the bookies, and possibly give away the scam before the off. Still, with so much at stake he wanted to see the race first-hand, so he crept into the centre of the course and watched the race concealed in a thicket of gorse. The gamble succeeded, with Yellow Sam winning the 13-hurdle race by two and a half lengths.[3] Since nothing about the coup had been illegal, the bookkeepers were forced to pay out the full IR£300,000 (>€1.7m adjusted for inflation). They did, however, pay out the winnings in single notes, filling 108 bags

The coup made Barney Curley infamous throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom, and made headlines in many Irish and British national newspapers and television reports. To this day, it continues to be listed as one of the greatest betting scams of all time.[4] Curley invested his earnings in a stable of horses which he continued to have trained for specific gambles, and in the purchase of Middleton Park House, a mansion in Mullingar, County Westmeath – for which he later ran a raffle of dubious legality, earning him over £1m.[3]

Irish bookkeepers amended their rulebook following the coup to require that bets of over £100 be placed at least half an hour before the start of the race. Bellewstown Race Course itself played up the coup in later years, and in 2005 ran the "Seamus Murphy Yellow Sam 30th Anniversary Hurdle", inviting Barney Curley and Liam Brennan to observe the celebrations
Yellow Sam continued to run in other races, and in his autobiography, Curley reported having earned a further £700,000 in bets on the horse before it was retired

One of the greatest gambles of all time has been landed in the 6:25 at Kempton. Barney Curley, one of the most renowned gamblers has organised to win four races in one day even though he’s retired.

The legendary trainer has passed his training base onto Des Donovan who has trained two winners today already in Indus Valley 4:25 Kempton(was 20/1 earlier and won at 4/6) and Eye of the Tiger (was 10/1 won at Evens) Another ex Curley horse called Seven Summit won at 9/4 having been 7/1 in the 1:40 Catterick.

All the money went onto Low Key who was 7/1 but won at 4/7 with accumulators, Yankees and Lucky 15s. Liabilities won’t be fully known until later this evening, but it could run into the millions.

Barney refused to comment to the racing post this morning when asked about the gamble and is not known for making interviews.

The four horses were 9,000-1 last night, 44-1 at lunchtime today and SP was 16-1

Galway racing fans will have the chance to meet the great man himself at the John Mulholland and Racing Post Cheltenham Preview night in a few weeks.

Running for over ten years, the night is a chance for people to discuss and debate the chances of various horses chances at the Cheltenham 2014 Festival. The night is run for Barney Curleys charity DAFA which has raised around €200,000 since the inception of the night.

Barney will be the guest of honour and it may be the only place to hear about today’s legendary attempt to replicate the Yellow Sam 1975 gamble-