Legendary racing figure Barney Curley passes away

The legendary Barney Curley, the man who orchestrated the Yellow Sam betting coup at Bellewstown in 1975, has passed away at the age of 81.

The late Mr Curley will always be associated with the hilltop Meath racetarck and was a special guest there in 2015 for the 40th anniversary celebrations of the betting coup.

The track features the Yellow Sam Bar which now is a central part of the facilities at Bellewstown Racecourse.

The betting coup returned some Ir£300,000 (at the time) for the connections.

Michael Furlong was the jockey selected to ride the Barney Curley-owned Yellow Sam which was available at 20/1 in the lead up to the race due to the poor form.

Furlong was a top amateur at the time and had been booked for the ride well in advance by trainer Liam Brennan.

For that 40th anniversary celebration the owner and jockey were present at the track as Bellewstown Racecourse in partnership with Droichead Arts Centre produced a 50-minute production that was written by Colm Maher and directed by Paul Hayes that re-enacted the events of 1975.

Curley was also involved in many other betting coups over the years and was the driving force behind the charity Direct Aid For Africa (DAFA).

He co-founded DAFA in 1997 after the death of his son Charlie in a car crash led him to visit Zambia to see the work being done in missionary-run schools and hospitals.

The late Mr Curley, a native of Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, was the 2015 recipient of the ‘Human Life, Human Rights and Human Dignity Award’ presented by the Oireachtas Human Dignity Group.

A gamble in 2010 was reportedly worth €5.2 million and led to a challenge to the Gibraltar government when its regulatory authority sanctioned the refusal to pay out on winnings by a number of British online betting operators registered there.

The case was settled in February 2012 and led to the so-called ‘Curley Tax’ on off-shore betting.

He made further headlines in 2014 when four horses linked to him won in races across the U.K. on the same day, reportedly costing bookmakers millions. Paddy Power colourfully described it as ‘one of the blackest days in the history of bookmaking.’

Check out the link below to see a clip from the play in 2015