Barney Curley tells the story of one of horse racings biggest betting coups at Bellewstown racecourse in 1975. Yellow Sam's jockey, Michael Furlong, also features.
Barney was the most feared gambler in Britain when I was growing up. If you saw one of his being backed, you knew it had a big chance. He is a legend of the game, one of racing’s greatest characters.
This man was meticulous in his planning and carried it out with military precision, good to see anyone get one over on the bookies cos its usually the other way about. He was not only a good trainer but also did a lot of charity in Africa which puts him way above most mortals in my opinion.
Remember early nineties a horse trained by curley in a bumper went from 33/1 to 6/4 in 5 mins got him at 12s won by a distance lol never seen a gamble like it . Most people in that bookies were on it.
A Curley horse in the nineties wouldn’t have opened 33s didn’t you just watch the vt?Bookies would open up as short as possible on his runners as opposed to large as not to get caught out.
I was a legal bookmaker in South Africa for 15 years. I find it amazing that the explanations of betting odds are so crap that most laymen still have no idea how the odds (rightfully and crime-free) are determined. Still, the punter is kept in the dark. Amazing!!!
ITV Racing in the UK have recently started displaying the bookies overround percentage pre-race alongside horses odds, sitting at well above 20%, usually 30+. I'd bet more money on the fact that punters have no idea what that means than I ever have on a horse
Nowadays its simply the Betfair lay price plus 10%.Nothing more and nothing less. Youll see horses firm from 10/1 into 3/1 back out to 14/1 in low betfair liquidity markets.
Speaks volumes to Barneys character that he could raise 300 people, all off whom he could trust.. Make no mistake nobody watching this programme could do the same ! I was more interested in the mercenary Sean Graham ! What a killer eh ! Makes sure Barney knows not to place bets in his shops so that he gets no liabilities and then with the knowledge he cant lose in the coup, sets about trying to do as much damage as possible to his rival bookmakers by extending the odds from 10-1 out to 20-1 via 14s and 16s The man took no hostages
Sean Graham had a great bit of info which he used to his own benefit. And getting 300 people that he could trust was amazing. I'd probably get about 50 quid on and then I'd have ran out of trustees!
@@gavinblack450 Don't forget Barney owed Sean Graham money, I wouldn't be surprised if he was in on it too. Barney would never admit to it because it would have been the only part of the scheme which would have been illegal.
The horse still has to jump the fences and not get brought down by a falling horse or get hampered by a riderless one, everything is in the bookies favour and yet they still cry like babies when someone like Barney turns them over, anyone who has sympathy for the bookies is either a bookie or a family member, I actually went to see the racecourse many years after the coup just to see where it all happened and yes it’s a well out of the way place very rural in those days and you could see why Barney chose it
He also robs the punters too, if they back one of his horses but dont know hes 'running it down the field', then hes more culpable. Bookmakers rob you through prices, not cheating like Curley did
@@Loganwolfen He also robs punters in another way. He runs down the form of his smokey to get the best possible handicap [ not to mention betting odds ] for a targeted race. So that the general betting public, which evaluates things based on a combination of form and fluctuating prices, are given to other starters in the race specifically other than his smokey. The rigged form and rigged betting market falsely shows that no one wants his smokey, so thus they invariably do their money on these other far more likely runners.
Sean Graham was in on it, he extended the odds, the rest followed suit blindly and got caught. I'm sure curly most likely paid him a percentage of the winnings
Don’t think he was in on it, he just told him not to use his shops when he pulled off whatever he was pulling off, the horse drifted naturally on the day as no racecourse punters were interested.
Still happens today. I remember a race last year with a 1-3 favourite and a newcomer who was 14/1 on first show. Just before the off the newcomer went to 8/1. The newcomer won. The two horses had different trainers but the same owner. Becareful with your money.
It happens all the time, the best time to back a horse is just before the off in a betting shop especially first time outers, watch the market then get on.
Straight out of a Dick Francis novel wonderful betting coup to match The Druid s Lodge Confederacy truly great punter generous caring man x I love betting coups landed and a bit of skulduggery. x
Its a great story, but anything could have happened, unseated rider, fell, ran out, all sorts of things could have happened, and even last week races 2 and 3 at Newcastle or L:ingfield were won by horses 100-1 and the 125-1.
That’s why it’s a gamble. All he could do was have the horse ready. As Barney said himself, you don’t know if somebody else is planning a coup in the same race, whether he’ll fall. Crazy game, but that’s why this coup became the stuff of legend.
oh barney i mind 20 years ago i bet 20 pound on this horse of his it was 14/1 it came up on the screen in bookies sorry cashier says that horse betting odds is paused now its not 14/1 i says i come bk half hour it was now 4/5 odds i never backed it bad price it won with a distance he was a bent trainer bookies hated him simple they were simply terrified of him
It’s all well and good having a coup but cheating by running the horse down the field many times is just criminal on the public who might have backed him in the races he wasn’t ever trying in. It is disgusting that this curly is praised for his cheating.
*What was Lester Like as a person, did he sign autographs, was he popular with the other jockeys and trainers, in the USA there are jockeys with 5500 to 8000 wins, are these American Legends better, was Lester tight with money, did he ever buy a Rolls Royce, was his wife happy, so many unanswered questions, rumours are circulating he was not a pleasant or nice guy to know. In fact, hated amongst fellow Jockeys.*
@@darrenremington6422 When fellows jockeys and trainers won't speak to you 'somethings up'. He rang trainers and owners up to ask to ride their well fancied mounts. and the dismounted jockey who lost the ride never forgot or forgave him. The book is in preparation about the hidden life of Piggot, read it when it is published. I prefer Barney Curley to Piggot.
@@SherwoodArrow l know where you are coming from, but it still does not take away he was a brilliant jockey, as was pat eddery, taken way too soon by the demon drink 🙏🙏🙏
Horse Racings Golden Rule ( Said Too This One) Seasons Ago On Epsom Downs( By Old School Crew) ( Bet Too Lose And Win If You Can) No more Said👏Pipers Son One ☝️ Just Watched( Ernie Johnson On Rheingold In Thee Epsom Derby) Pipped By You Know Who☝️😂👏👏👏
@@williammitchell9974 *The betting odds returns are fixed, how can the winner of a 10 to 28 horse race come in at 6-4, William, here's some good advice: Before every race watch the horses parade in the parade ring, study the jockeys' care & attention and intensity, compare him to the other jockeys, look for the carefree "I am NOT going to win Jocks and scrub them from your selections", you will end up with two "Somethings is going down today on this horse bets, pick the best, or back both. Watch the jockeys, follow them out as they enter the course to lead out, watch the riders, some flog the horse during the first 50 yards to the START-stalls. Your man is super-careful, I have seen this system produce 5 winners and two 2nds in an 8-card race at York. Respects BOB 14--12-22.*
The bookmakers golden ticket is the culture of punters in which their subconscious and conscious mind is focused on the betting and not on the readiness of the animal. Uneducated Desperate Coupled with information overload These are the winning ingredients for bookmakers. Study the animal not the form of the animal. The value lies in the ability to be patient and to find a window in which the horse you identify has a 70% probability to run in the money within 3 runs of identifying it. You Wait! You Win! The bookies weakness is incorrect pricing. Dont be price driven be outcome driven.
Full of admiration for this man , anyone who thinks he did wrong just think about how much the bookmakers rips punters off for . He did what anyone would do if they could awesome Barney
A deserved hollywood movie script in the pipes for legendary punter RIP Barney.
Barney helped so many in need in Africa, great fearless clever and compassionate man
Barney was the most feared gambler in Britain when I was growing up. If you saw one of his being backed, you knew it had a big chance. He is a legend of the game, one of racing’s greatest characters.
One of racings biggest parasites. Tony Martin and Charles Byrnes are the same. Curley was an arrogant wanker.
RIP barney true legend of the racing game , and true legend of charity done the hard yards , rest in peace.
O2
It’s in the giving that we receive. My role model. A giant legacy he left.
Good man Stephan. Mickey D’S weather man!!🤓👍
The master of the century Barney Curley and what a legend ✔RIP
Good on Barney 👍
What a legend. Well done Barney you caught the thieving feckers. Nothing more than they deserved. R.I.P. 👍😉
This man was meticulous in his planning and carried it out with military precision, good to see anyone get one over on the bookies cos its usually the other way about. He was not only a good trainer but also did a lot of charity in Africa which puts him way above most mortals in my opinion.
Surely there should be a Barney Curly Day every year at a Top Meeting...
Legend of the racing world. RIP Mr Curley
Superb all round, masterpiece from Mr Curley
Fair play to barney and not a greedy shared his winnings and firtunes with the needy rip legend
TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN AFRICA WHO STILL NEED HELP TODAY
Great story told by one of the great characters of racing
"I hope he enjoyed the car". 😄
It's the greatest horse racing story of all time and what a gamble good old Barney curley
Cracking watch. Brilliant true story.
Remember early nineties a horse trained by curley in a bumper went from 33/1 to 6/4 in 5 mins got him at 12s won by a distance lol never seen a gamble like it . Most people in that bookies were on it.
A Curley horse in the nineties wouldn’t have opened 33s didn’t you just watch the vt?Bookies would open up as short as possible on his runners as opposed to large as not to get caught out.
@Andrew Finch 33/1 to 6/4 last race bumper circa 90 or 91 there was only commentry and race results no VT or live tv at that meeting
A classic example of the knockout in the ring, where a big bookie, Sean Graham extends the price and the others follow, hence 20/1
RIP Barney. Great story x
Barney Curley is the punters pal,a true legend of the sport,if you can beat the bookies by hook or by crook I don’t blame any man👍🏻
Good on yeah barney😂 bookies got what they deserved. They have robbed punters for years. False favourites and so on. Get in there barney 👏 🙌 😂😂😂😂
They should make a film out of this
"A good moving horse on good ground is a lovely feeling.."
Bookies need a good rollicking now and then .Legendary man ,hope they make a movie
I was a legal bookmaker in South Africa for 15 years. I find it amazing that the explanations of betting odds are so crap that most laymen still have no idea how the odds (rightfully and crime-free) are determined. Still, the punter is kept in the dark. Amazing!!!
ITV Racing in the UK have recently started displaying the bookies overround percentage pre-race alongside horses odds, sitting at well above 20%, usually 30+. I'd bet more money on the fact that punters have no idea what that means than I ever have on a horse
Nowadays its simply the Betfair lay price plus 10%.Nothing more and nothing less. Youll see horses firm from 10/1 into 3/1 back out to 14/1 in low betfair liquidity markets.
Barney curley is an absolute legend
Speaks volumes to Barneys character that he could raise 300 people, all off whom he could trust..
Make no mistake nobody watching this programme could do the same ! I was more interested in the mercenary Sean Graham ! What a killer eh ! Makes sure Barney knows not to place bets in his shops so that he gets no liabilities and then with the knowledge he cant lose in the coup, sets about trying to do as much damage as possible to his rival bookmakers by extending the odds from 10-1 out to 20-1 via 14s and 16s The man took no hostages
Sean Graham had a great bit of info which he used to his own benefit. And getting 300 people that he could trust was amazing. I'd probably get about 50 quid on and then I'd have ran out of trustees!
@@paullancaster7066
40 more than me Paul.
After a tenner,I really,REALLY have to look hard!
@@milolee1725 😱😂👍
Don’t think Sean Graham knew the name of the horse though, Barney just said he’d be plotting something soon…..don’t think Graham would do that.
@@gavinblack450 Don't forget Barney owed Sean Graham money, I wouldn't be surprised if he was in on it too. Barney would never admit to it because it would have been the only part of the scheme which would have been illegal.
The single pound notes is a howl🤣💀
The horse still has to jump the fences and not get brought down by a falling horse or get hampered by a riderless one, everything is in the bookies favour and yet they still cry like babies when someone like Barney turns them over, anyone who has sympathy for the bookies is either a bookie or a family member, I actually went to see the racecourse many years after the coup just to see where it all happened and yes it’s a well out of the way place very rural in those days and you could see why Barney chose it
You know the bookies rob the punters and have stole billions over the years. Barney only did what they all do
He also robs the punters too, if they back one of his horses but dont know hes 'running it down the field', then hes more culpable. Bookmakers rob you through prices, not cheating like Curley did
@@Loganwolfen He also robs punters in another way. He runs down the form of his smokey to get the best possible handicap [ not to mention betting odds ] for a targeted race. So that the general betting public, which evaluates things based on a combination of form and fluctuating prices, are given to other starters in the race specifically other than his smokey. The rigged form and rigged betting market falsely shows that no one wants his smokey, so thus they invariably do their money on these other far more likely runners.
"betting shop roulette machines" and somehow thats fair -
@@trevoryoung5145 yeah you lose your money a lot faster on them things.
They should be banned
Shady Irish caananites.
Was at Bellewstown two weeks ago. The actual phone box is now a attraction on the golf course. Cool to get a photo beside it.
Barney legend RIP
This was like a long John silver film where the loveable rogue comes good ,and I loved long John silver
If you knew Barney was involved and you lost a few bob, it was only a matter of time before you got it back. You just had to hold your nerve.
"The horse improved for the application of money"
Sean Graham was in on it, he extended the odds, the rest followed suit blindly and got caught. I'm sure curly most likely paid him a percentage of the winnings
He paid him the 12 grand he owed him
Don’t think he was in on it, he just told him not to use his shops when he pulled off whatever he was pulling off, the horse drifted naturally on the day as no racecourse punters were interested.
@@gavinblack450I have a few bridges I’d like to sell you!
An interesting story about betting coup that win so much money
Still happens today. I remember a race last year with a 1-3 favourite and a newcomer who was 14/1 on first show. Just before the off the newcomer went to 8/1. The newcomer won. The two horses had different trainers but the same owner. Becareful with your money.
Wouldn't take much money to move an unraced horse from 14 to 8
It happens all the time, the best time to back a horse is just before the off in a betting shop especially first time outers, watch the market then get on.
The stuff dreams are made of
The new Barney is Charles Byrnes.
top man barney
Barney one of the very few to make decent money betting..
An impossibility nowadays with mobile phones!
Straight out of a Dick Francis novel wonderful betting coup to match The Druid s Lodge Confederacy truly great punter generous caring man x I love betting coups landed and a bit of skulduggery. x
Legend Barney and this wasnt the first RIP BOSS
what about the start of the documentary?
Anybody know the breeding of Yellow Sam? My usual search of pedigrees says there is no record of such a horse.
My Hero Barney
Top man barney
To actually tell sean Graham that if you keep quiet i wont hit your shops
And then for Sean Graham to play a huge part in getting a big price. He chalked up 20/1 & as the other bookie said, “We all followed Sean Graham”
I get the feeling from Barney that life to him was a pain in the @rse. Did he ever smile?
That's because he used to be a jesuit priest
great crack RIP barney
"This horse wouldn't win a duck race"....interesting.
Legend
Barney's a legend to all punters
Never won again?sounds like he used a ringer God Bless him he did great things for charity RIP Barney
This is pretty much impossible to do now because the authorities will just take your horse out the race to protect their paymasters the bookies
Great story. Barney was some schemer
hahahaha
The stuff of LEGEND 🐎
The bloke who bookies feared
Who was the jockey on the favourite lol
The greatest interview ever when he told the truth on at the races with those 2 Idiots Luke Harvey and John McCririck.
A gambles a gambles
Barny would have given Napolian a run 4 his money .
Napoleon wasn't in the same division
Well I hope he enjoyed the car😂😂😂😊
All's fair in love and war
Its a great story, but anything could have happened, unseated rider, fell, ran out, all sorts of things could have happened, and even last week races 2 and 3 at Newcastle or L:ingfield were won by horses 100-1 and the 125-1.
Agreed David,but you ever heard of fate,timing,the stars aligning,etc etc?
It was meant to be and it now lives in folklore.
It was meant to be.
That’s why it’s a gamble. All he could do was have the horse ready. As Barney said himself, you don’t know if somebody else is planning a coup in the same race, whether he’ll fall. Crazy game, but that’s why this coup became the stuff of legend.
Barney did a famous switch of horses at Windsor. And got away with it.
oh barney i mind 20 years ago i bet 20 pound on this horse of his it was 14/1 it came up on the screen in bookies sorry cashier says that horse betting odds is paused now its not 14/1 i says i come bk half hour it was now 4/5 odds i never backed it bad price it won with a distance he was a bent trainer bookies hated him simple they were simply terrified of him
GOD BLESS ALL HORSES. PEOPLE STINK, !
WTF?????
rip another robin hood
Such a load of balloney
He's lucky the guy in phone booth wasn't thrown out and phone calls made
It’s all well and good having a coup but cheating by running the horse down the field many times is just criminal on the public who might have backed him in the races he wasn’t ever trying in. It is disgusting that this curly is praised for his cheating.
Whos Bringing the Horse to France....
*What was Lester Like as a person, did he sign autographs, was he popular with the other jockeys and trainers, in the USA there are jockeys with 5500 to 8000 wins, are these American Legends better, was Lester tight with money, did he ever buy a Rolls Royce, was his wife happy, so many unanswered questions, rumours are circulating he was not a pleasant or nice guy to know. In fact, hated amongst fellow Jockeys.*
Still a legend in the saddle 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@@darrenremington6422 When fellows jockeys and trainers won't speak to you 'somethings up'. He rang trainers and owners up to ask to ride their well fancied mounts. and the dismounted jockey who lost the ride never forgot or forgave him. The book is in preparation about the hidden life of Piggot, read it when it is published. I prefer Barney Curley to Piggot.
@@SherwoodArrow l know where you are coming from, but it still does not take away he was a brilliant jockey, as was pat eddery, taken way too soon by the demon drink 🙏🙏🙏
Horse Racings Golden Rule ( Said Too This One) Seasons Ago On Epsom Downs( By Old School Crew) ( Bet Too Lose And Win If You Can) No more Said👏Pipers Son One ☝️ Just Watched( Ernie Johnson On Rheingold In Thee Epsom Derby) Pipped By You Know Who☝️😂👏👏👏
@@williammitchell9974 *The betting odds returns are fixed, how can the winner of a 10 to 28 horse race come in at 6-4, William, here's some good advice: Before every race watch the horses parade in the parade ring, study the jockeys' care & attention and intensity, compare him to the other jockeys, look for the carefree "I am NOT going to win Jocks and scrub them from your selections", you will end up with two "Somethings is going down today on this horse bets, pick the best, or back both. Watch the jockeys, follow them out as they enter the course to lead out, watch the riders, some flog the horse during the first 50 yards to the START-stalls. Your man is super-careful, I have seen this system produce 5 winners and two 2nds in an 8-card race at York. Respects BOB 14--12-22.*
Barney was a legend
You mean another fixed race
Laugh, Irish bent the lot. I never ever bet on the Irish as you know they're nearly all fixed.
ABSOLUTELY, IRISH RACING IS CRAP.
Never won at Cheltenham then
@@thomasjoyce3229 yep, and on irish horses as well, but will not bet solely on irish racing.
Not a fair game.
This sport is the most corrupt GTF
All utter bollocks
What’s utter bollox?
love barney
Excellent video
Kıng Barney curley.
The bookmakers golden ticket is the culture of punters in which their subconscious and conscious mind is focused on the betting and not on the readiness of the animal.
Uneducated
Desperate
Coupled with information overload
These are the winning ingredients for bookmakers.
Study the animal not the form of the animal. The value lies in the ability to be patient and to find a window in which the horse you identify has a 70% probability to run in the money within 3 runs of identifying it.
You Wait! You Win!
The bookies weakness is incorrect pricing. Dont be price driven be outcome driven.
Full of admiration for this man , anyone who thinks he did wrong just think about how much the bookmakers rips punters off for . He did what anyone would do if they could awesome Barney