Yellow Sam betting coup

Bellewstown Race Course, where the coup took place.

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

It happened at Bellewstown racecourse on 26 June 1975, and was orchestrated by Bernard Joseph (Barney) Curley, an Irish professional gambler, philanthropist behind a charity for impoverished children in Zambia[1] (which he set up after his son's death in 1995),[2] former trainer,[3] former Jesuit seminarian,[1] failed pub owner,[1] former pop group manager,[1] 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.[4][5]

Barney Curley again made headlines when four horses linked to him won on 22 January 2014, and were estimated to have cost bookmakers "something in the region of £2million",[2][3] reportedly just the latest of many successes since the Yellow Sam coup.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Indo2014b was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Indo2014a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference RTÉ2014a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Bellewstown Races website – History Archived 18 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 22 September 2007.
  5. ^ Hyland, F (2006); Taken for a Ride: Betting Coups And Scandal, Gill & Macmillan (ISBN 978-0-7171-4016-9).