Bernard Joseph Curley (5 October 1939 – 23 May 2021) was a racehorse trainer, gambler and founder of the

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

n charity DAFA from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Biography

Bernard Joseph (Barney) Curley was born one of six children to Kathleen and Charlie Curley. He attended Mungret College with the intent of becoming a Jesuit priest, but several years into his training contracted TB and was hospitalised for nine months. He then owned a bookmaker's shop in Belfast (which went bust) and a pub before going into music management, serving as manager of the act Frankie McBride and the Polka Dots who had a hit on the British singles chart with the song ''Five Little Fingers''.? However he decided on a career in thoroughbred horse racing. As a trainer he had stables in

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

and later in the Newmarket area between 1985 and 2012. Curley was known as a shrewd operator and was suspected of running "coups" against Irish bookmakers. In particular (and his most successful) the 1975 Yellow Sam betting coup in Britain and Ireland which netted him IR£300,000. Following this success he made a point not to pursue further scams against bookmakers. In 1988 he made an extended television appearance on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

discussion programme '' After Dark'', alongside among others John McCririck, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll and General Sir Cecil "Monkey" Blacker. In 1995, his 18-year-old son, Charlie, died in a car crash. The following year, following a visit encouraged by a friend, he went to

, and, troubled by the illness and poverty he witnessed, Curley founded the charity Direct Aid For Africa (DAFA) to support the underprivileged. He helped develop the careers of several leading

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

s, including

Frankie Dettori Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), is an Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times (1994, 1995 and 2004) and rode the winners of 287 ...

and

Tom Queally Tom Queally (born 8 October 1984) is an Irish flat racing jockey based in Britain. He rode Frankel in his unbeaten 14-race career. Background Born Thomas P. Queally in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland, Queally is the son of trainer Declan Q ...

Death

Barney Curley died peacefully at his home, a stud farm near Newmarket, on 23 May 2021, aged 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curley, Barney 1939 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from County Fermanagh Irish racehorse trainers People educated at Mungret College