Yellow sam 40 years on at bellewstown

The Yellow Sam Bar was opned 12 months ago and is a central part of the facilities at Bellewstown Racecourse for the 40th anniversary of that 1975 Barney Curley betting coup that will be celebrated at the hillside track over the two days of next week's racing action.

Apart from the racing, the Droichead Arts Centre in partnership with Bellewstown Races will present the premiere of Yellow Sam - the greatest gamble in racing history - by Colm Maher, directed by Paul Hayes and performed by Padraic McIntyre and Gerard Adlum

Yellow Sam - the play - like Yellow sam the racehorse that had never won a rce before winning at Bellewstown - is fast paced. It's a comedy inspired by the true story of Barney Curley’s Bellewstown coup.

Wed 26th and Thurs 27th August 2015 | Bellewstown Racecourse | Show times are 3pm and after last race (7pm approx) on 26th and 27tgh August.

Michael Furlong was the jockey selected to ride the Barney Curley-owned Yellow Sam which was available at 20/1 in the lead up to the race due to the poor form.
Jockey Michael Furlong was an amateur at the time and had been booked for the ride well in advance by trainer Liam Brennan.

The betting coup returned some Ir£300,000 (at the time) for the connections.

Speaking last year at the official opening of the Yellow Sam Bar, Furlong said he remembered the race well, but said that he had no idea about what was going on at the time, only finding out about it the next day in what was the racing paper at the time, the Sporting Life racing paper.