Interviewed in December, 2016, veteran professional gambler Barney Curley said he did not think he would ever have another bet but, for decades, the son of County Fermanagh was the scourge of the bookmaking fraternity on both sides of the Irish Sea. Indeed, in 1975, at the age of 37, Curley orchestrated what has become one of the most famous betting coups in British and Irish horse racing history.

Down on his luck after a series of adverse results, Curley turned to Curragh trainer Liam Brennan, with a view to ‘landing a touch’ and restoring his fortunes. Brennan identified a suitable candidate in the form of Yellow Sam, whose overall form was poor, having finished no better than eighth in nine starts, albeit on unfavourably soft ground, but had improved, according to his trainer. Yellow Sam was duly entered at Bellewstown on June 26, 1975 and, that day, Curley employed runners to place bets, between £50 and £300, at betting shops, large and small, in major towns across the country.

Bellewstown is a small, provincial racecourse in Co. Meath which, at the time, was serviced by a single public telephone, which was the only means by which betting shops could convey betting intelligence back to the course and influence starting prices. Curley dispatched his trusted friend Benny O’Hanlon, a thickset, tough-looking man, to occupy the telephone 25 minutes before the ‘off’ and not to surrender it, to anyone, under any circumstances. O’Hanlon played his part perfectly, carrying on a conversation with a fictitious hospital about his equally fictitious dying aunt until the race was underway and any damage was done.

All told, Curley wagered just over £15,000 on Yellow Sam and, with bookmakers unable to contact their representatives at Bellewstown and ‘lay off’ their liability, managed to protect a generous starting price of 20/1. Yellow Sam duly obliged, with a minimum of fuss, netting Curley in excess of £300,000, or the equivalent of £2.47 million, adjusted for inflation at 5.0% a year, on average, although no single betting shop faced a liability of over £6,000.

Curley originally trained as a Jesuit priest, until contracting tuberculosis, from which he took some time to recover; although no longer the force of old, at least in gambling terms, Curley focuses his attention on Direct Aid for Africa, the charity he founded in 1996, which has raised millions of pounds for children in Africa, mainly Zambia.

What became known as the ‘Trodmore Hoax’ was one of the greatest betting scams of all time, ingenious in its conception and almost, almost perfect in its execution. In late July, 1898, a correspondent who signed himself ‘G. Martin, St. Ives, Cornwall’ contacted ‘The Sportsman’ with comprehensive details of a forthcoming race meeting to be held by the Trodmore Hunt Club, in Trodmore, Cornwall on Bank Holiday Monday, August 1.

His correspondence, on headed notepaper and bearing a Trodmore postmark, informed the editors that further information would be supplied by the Clerk of the Course, based at the Fox and Hounds Hotel, Trodmore, in due course. Everything appeared to be in order and the full, six-race card duly appeared in the Monday edition of ‘The Sportsman’. In the absence of the regular West Country correspondent, Mr. Martin suggested that, for a small fee, he could cover the meeting, exclusively, for the newspaper and wire the results at the end of the day. That he did and they appeared in the Tuesday edition of ‘The Sportsman’.

Of particular interest to the bookmaking fraternity was the winner of the fourth race, the unheralded but evidently well-backed Reaper, who was returned at 5/1. Reaper had been subject to a flurry of cash bets in public houses across London and the following day his supporters returned to collect their winnings. The ‘exclusivity agreement’ with ‘The Sportsman’ meant that the Trodmore results did not appear in the rival sporting daily ‘The Sporting Life’; some bookmakers paid out, but others awaited confirmation in the latter publication.

Under pressure from disgruntled readers, the editors of ‘The Sporting Life’ chose not to take the ‘official’ results from Mr. Martin, but simply copied them directly from ‘The Sportsman’. However, in so doing, they misprinted the starting price of Reaper as 5/2, rather than 5/1, leading to further investigation by those bookmakers who hadn’t paid out and, more importantly, those that had. It transpired that Reaper, Trodmore Hunt Club and even Trodmore itself were all entirely fictitious and that bets on the ‘winner’ were placed by an army of accomplices of the aforementioned ‘Mr. Martin’ – later dubbed the ‘Trodmore Syndicate’ – much to the embarrasment of the newspapers and bookmakers involved. The enormity of the hoax was lessened, to some extent, by a simple printing error, but still cost bookmakers an estimated £100,000, or over £13 million by modern standards.

Horse racing is a sport that has been in our sports culture for donkey’s years (pun intended), nevertheless, it is something that is often used as a topic, for quiz nights, gatherings etc. So, we thought it would be good if we gave you the facts that you need to know, in terms of all the most obvious ones, so you can take over your next trivia night by storm! Make sure to check out the list that we have compiled for you, so you can really get in there, with the knowledge you need, to look like a horse racing professional and know how to bet like one too!

The first ever winner at Kentucky Derby

The first ever winner to take the Kentucky Derby race by storm, was the Aristides horse. Winning in 1875, he beat 14 other horses at a 1.5-mile race, for just $1000 prize money! Of course, something to add is, money back in the 1800’s was valued far greater than today’s comparisons. $1000 dollars back in the day, was equivalent to near enough a million dollars today we might add. There is something extra that you may have not known!

Saratoga holds a Racing Hall of Fame

In Saratoga Springs, New York there is an annual racing Hall of Fame that takes place, where many horses will be acknowledged, in addition to the jockeys, trainers and other historical figures that take part within the world of horse racing. You should definitely pay attention to this event, as it is another great way of learning all about the trainers that are present within the industry now and previously!

Oldest trainer to win the Kentucky Derby

The oldest trainer to ever win the Kentucky Derby, is a gentleman named Art Sherman. This guy was able to take the California Chrome in 2014, at 77 years old. Now how about that!

13 horses in total have won the Triple Crown

Justify is of the last Triple Crown Winner, taking it in the year 2018. The one before that was the very well-known American Pharaoh. In 2015, the American Pharaoh ended a 35-year pause/break from Triple Crown winners, as no horse managed to claim all three prestigious races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes) for the win until 2015! This fact should definitely prove fruitful to all trivia wannabes.

The weight of a Thoroughbred

The weight of a typical Thoroughbred usually makes or exceeds by just a little over 1000 pounds. There are horses that weigh more of course, being that this horse is a medium build. But this mass is considered the optimum for running distances with great endurance, speed and stamina. Usually when the horse weighs more than this, this tends to slow the horse’s performance by quite a bit, which is not what jockeys need, to zoom past their competitors now, is it?

The Breeders Cup is Equivalent to the Super bowl

Yes, you heard that right. The Breeders Cup is so popular in the horse racing world, that it pretty much equates to the Super bowl in sports value. The Breeders Cup offers one lucky champion, the opportunity to reel in a total of $28 million in winnings.

Triple Crown races have a minimum age to compete

You heard that one right. Horses that want to enter the Triple Crown will need to be three years old, or higher. Essentially these races are the most superior of all races around the world and horses usually have just one shot to claim that gold crown!

There’s never been a better time for online betting customers. There are a wide range of bookmakers from which to choose, a huge variety of sports covered and hundreds of available markets for the biggest events. You can also choose to bet pre-event or alternatively In-Play, while Cash Out and Bet Builder have recently arrived to offer more flexibility.

However, all this betting choice can often be confusing. What are the best type of bets to place in order to land a profit? It’s important to understand how to bet online in an effective manner so that you are constantly placing value bets on the road to a long-term profit, even if you can’t guarantee a winner every time.

Register a Bookmaker Account and Claim a Bonus

In order to place online bets, you will need to have a registered betting account with at least one bookmaker. Every time you sign up with a bookie, there’s the chance to claim a new customer bonus and that can be a great way of getting started with an operator.

You also need to understand how betting odds work. You can choose to view your odds in fractional or decimal format. For example, you could back Manchester United at:

• 2/1 which are fractional odds
• 3.0 which are decimal odds

There is no difference between the two and the payout would be the same with both bets. If you placed £10 on the Red Devils and they won, you would get a profit of £20 and an overall return of £30 (£20 profit + £10 stake).

How to Win Money from Betting

Every day, there are millions of sports bets being placed all over the world. Some of them are settled as winners and others settled as losers. On a long-term basis, the bookmakers win against the punters more than they lose and we need to bet in a disciplined way if you want to make money from sports betting.

The first step is to bet on sports where you already have a strong knowledge. This will help you understand what is likely to happen in an event based on previous occurrences. You might even have some data to hand which is going to help you.

You also need to establish the prices that are available and whether the odds reflect the probability of an outcome happening. If a team is trading at evens and you think they have a better than 50% chance of winning, then you might think they’re the value bet.