Barney Curley is one of the most famous gamblers in Irish horse racing, renowned for winning the sum of £300,000 on a single horse, Yellow Sam, in 1975. The sum won was the equivalent of £2.5 million today and became known as the Yellow Sam betting coup.

In 2010, he claimed £3.9 million and in January 2014, he is estimated to have won around £2 million on a similar operation.

In his 70s now, he tends to keep himself to himself.

But to discover more about the man and his methods, we spoke to autobiography co-writer Nick Townsend about the Fermanagh native.

"As a boy he decided he wanted to be a Jesuit priest and trained for four years, enjoyed it in many ways but then he got TB which was then a killer. He survived but decided he couldn't last the pace," said Townsend.

From there, Curley became involved in showbands but then he turned into a professional gambler and was determined to prove the doubters wrong. And based on his most famous coups in 1975 and more recent years, any doubts about his abilities have been dispelled. But how does he do it?

"He would try and get on £50,000 on a particular horse but that's not him going down the bookies and putting £50,000 on because they wouldn't take it. But with assistance he can put in that sort of amount. He'd look at it like a businessman. One day he might lose, but he doesn't let it get to him and accepts that on the basis that he assumes that he'll win further down the line."

The 2010 betting coup involved four horses, three of which were trained by Curley and only one of which had ever won a race. Yet he managed to get three horses to win at decent prices, a very difficult act to pull off.

With the help of research and also assistance, in the form of ordinary punters putting on bets for him at low stakes, Curley managed to win £3.9 million. And if the fourth horse, Sommersturm, had also won, he would have netted £20 million.