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Barney Curley RIP
Barney Curley RIP
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Many will disagree but those coups in recent years were great fun to watch unfold when you knew Barney was involved you knew it wouldn't be like the fake invented action we've seen recently.
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Only seeing this thread, know his brother Cathal, great dog man, same as his brother trying to get bets on with Ladbrokes shops a pantomime. Never met Barney, a loveable rogue possibly best ye can say and shrewd. RIP.
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Very very clever man
Came to our local in athenry Fleeced everyone of us For his charity Organised putters And within a year We got it all back Very very clever man |
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Ask any true racing/gambling fan for a short list of characters in the game they would like to meet and Barney would be on most of them. Not necessarily on the punters side, but loved by many and his charitable work in Africa is testamant to the benevolent side of him, as are glowing tributes in the media from those who knew him.
In this day of electronic communication it's incredible to think that a simple old fashioned telephone box was instrumental in one of the most audacious and profitable betting coups in Irish racing. RIP Barney, you will forever be part of racing and gambling folklore. |
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He was the master of the coup. I don't think anyone was so audacious.. He took the bookies for millions every few years via shops through a network. Very clever.
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Barney in full flow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUU0AlrNSt4 |
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That is very sad news indeed, may he r.i.p.
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RIP
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posy Robert Cooper smirking in the background as Barney was roasting the other two - priceless
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you could listen to him all day, what a legend, had the pleasure of meeting him once
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Racing's ultimate Jekyll and Hyde. Gave plenty to charity, but how much of those gains came from fleecing the average punter?
Like everyone else initially I found the Harvey interview amusing, but the more I look at it now the more I think it depicts Curley as a horrible piece of work. I certainly wouldn't put it out as a tribute. |
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The coups "paid the bills". He did not care about anything else or other punters etc. T
The 2010 one was the best ive seen and I doubt it'll happen again. The jumper (3rd or 4th leg I can't remember) let him down but he wasn't too bothered.. |
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Racing will be a lot duller without him that is for sure.
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Marksman - McCririck was hopeless at many things and that extends to bookmaking. He went bust as a bookmaker and couldn't pay his debts to his clients. Barney saved his bacon by covering those debts, otherwise McCririck would have been warned off for a considerable period and may not have become the racecourse pundit we knew and loved (actually I thought he was a nasty opinionated misogynist).
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I didn't know about Barney saving his bacon that is interesting
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https://www.racingtv.com/news/the-final-gamble-barney-curley-s-role-in-2014-coup
There was 5 that day |
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aah right dealer thanks..that was very audacious and I doubt will be repeated
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Sorry to hear of Barney's passing.
A tough, clever and nice human being. You have to be tough and clever if you're going to take on the bookmakers and beat them. The work he did for the people of Zambia has been amazing and will continue for many years to come. The great thing about DAFA (Direct Aid For Africa) was that you knew that EVERY penny of every donation was spent on the care and education of the Zambian people who most needed it. Barney made sure of that. He's gone physically but he lives on in the hearts and minds of the the many people that he has helped and is helping. |
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First prices offered with bet 365 the night before punts were
20/1, 16/1, 12/1, 7/1, 10/3, 50p lucky31 came to £123k The betfair graphs on here for each race were the most one sided markets you will ever see. Any prices were taken. |
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My own feelings on Barney.
Flawed Genius yes.................most are. Punters Pal.......Not really. Charity Work.....2nd to none Bookie Basher......as good as they get Unfair to Luke & Big Mc in that interview, probably said what are a lot of people were thinking.not all mind Saw the future of someone I find an annoying oik in Luke........100% Overall we all know the racing game and its pitfalls..............I think is overall ledger has been well greened up, take care Barney RIP |
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If you want to help someone out then good for you, that's your business.
It lacks class to hold it over someone and call them out on TV because you've had a bad day, imo |
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R.I.P.
i use to enjoy backing the ones he trained for patsy byrne |
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Very interesting dealer. That was his retirement fund !
It would have been 10's of millions if they all went in. Unreal. I doubt we'll see the likes of it again. |
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They did all go in Punts - only the reporting of the gamble was incorrect
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Here's Big Mac interviewing him
Copy/Paste: https://twitter.com/roar1968/status/1396529151797043204 |
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pablo, Patsy Byrne was just as shrewd with the dogs. I knew a lovely old chap who got the nod with the dogs when the stablehands didn't have a clue. Byrne and Curley almost certainly went to the same school of subterfuge.
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With regard to the interview with Luke Harvey and Big Mac, I agree with what Barney said: Each of Cristoforo's 4 consecutive wins prior to the Folkestone run where on the flat on good to firm going. Before that he was 10th on good to soft. Before that, there had been 3 wins on standard a novice hurdle win on good to firm, but only one win on soft (flat).
Furthermore, his Folkestone run came after a 179 day lay off. I imagine that he was only put in odds on in the forecasts as a precaution, because of Barney's reputation. Cristoforo went on to win 2 more races (on good and good to soft). |
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Correction; His subsequent wins were on Good to Firm and GOOD.
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I think if Curley had a flaw as a punter, it was a need to justify himself, and for the world to acknowledge how clever he was.
Compare him with Albert Davison. Emerald Sunset and Great Things were similar plots to Yellow Sam, and probably landed similar sums, but nobody will ever really know. His across-the-card doubles were similar to Curley's multiples. And when Davison finally did get warned off, there was no anguished declaration of innocence or railing against the unfairness of it all. If it ever bothered him that he had such a poor reputation in the eyes of the great and the good, he never showed it. Instead he just took advantage of the assumption that he was out of the game, and expanded his already bulging roster of trainers. I'm not getting at Curley personally here. Nil nisi bonum, and all that. And any normal human being would like to be acknowledged for their shrewdness and/or integrity. Just pointing out that it didn't really help his image (or his punting). |
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Spoke to him one day and told him how the bookies had him over with a first show one day think it was at Exeter horse opened 7/2 on course and the first show in the betting shop was 2/1
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curley's flaw was he thought he was a punters pal and ripping off the bookmakers when really he was ripping off the punter
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Agree Gazo - any of these 'coup' types are obviously in it purely for themselves (and a few mates) no friend of anyone else, especially not the punters.
Any backers of the countless ones that were being given earlier 'tender' rides would be pretty clear on that. |
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I don't think he ever considered himself as the punters pal imho
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didnt he try to set up a punters organisation or something years ago,not sure about the exact details but remember not many joining him
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He was as be-nt a trainer as there has ever been , his gambles were the stuff of legend but his total regard for running a horse on it's merits were plain for all to see.
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Quite surprised so much lauding of Curley on this thread.
Curley has helped put a lot of measures in place to stop punters betting with bookmakers and being able to have a bet period. Next time you feel like having a tickle and can’t get a bet on, think of Curley who has taught the bookmakers everything about stopping punters from betting. A bent trainer whose only interest in horse racing, was about himself. His charity work should be applauded, however I don’t know how his charity actually worked to know how much good he actually did, apart from him standing with a lot of children. |
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'Charity' always makes me think of the guilty people who try to assuage their consciences by doing it and shouting about it - e.g. Tories banging on about their great charity work, while screwing people over every single day...
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GAZO24 May 21 14:53Joined: 10 Aug 02 | Topic/replies: 6,010 | Blogger: GAZO's blog
didnt he try to set up a punters organisation or something years ago,not sure about the exact details but remember not many joining him Yes. I've been racking my brains trying to remember the name of this wheeze of Curley's and how it worked. Was it something about punters sending him money, which he'd use to protect them, but which he'd return later in the form of interest on a bond? I've almost certainly got the details wrong, but I remember discussing it with a punter called Cardiff Chris at Wolverhampton one afternoon twenty-odd years ago, and deciding that it had a strong whiff of Direct Aid For Curley about it. |
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I seemed to remember backing his horses blindly towards the end of the season he had backed himself to have 20 winners (I think it was 20) in a season. He stood to win £250k and just made it.
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Anyway RIP a real character. Death was a bit out of the blue anybody know what happened?
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