Wanted: Wings to go with a father's prayers

Cheltenham Festival: A man of the cloth is seeking Graphic evidence of his other calling on St Patrick's Day; Andrew Longmore travels to Athlone to meet a priest for whom horses are a passion

AT two in the morning, between mouthfuls of tea and chips, Father Shay Casey is still waxing lyrical about the beauty of the horse. He has had nothing more tongue-loosening than a glass of orange juice all evening, so these are not the words of the demon drink, merely the simple tribute of a man brought up to know horses in a way parents know their children. And now Father Casey is coming to Cheltenham, bringing with him a symbol of Irishness called Graphic Equaliser, who has already transformed the lives of his 89-year-old aunt and 76-year-old mother, quite apart from the parlous financial fortunes of assorted students, lecturers, cleaners and clerks at the Athlone Technical Institute where Father Casey is chaplain. Athlone, the geographical heart of rural Ireland, is rapidly becoming a one-horse town.

If Graphic Equaliser understood how much was invested in his strong frame, he would freeze from fright long before the tape snapped up for the start of the Champion Hurdle, his destiny on St Patrick's Day. For he and Father Casey are in danger of becoming the sentimental totem of the Irish challenge over the three-day Festival. Father Casey's sweaters are of roughly the same vintage, and in much the same state of disrepair, as those of Tom Foley, the trainer of the much loved Danoli. His name, not easily incorporated into the Catholic litany, has already gained a passing mention in the Athlone Institute chapel on the morning of big races. Once, indeed, by the bishop, who had been sent a tape of an interview with Father Casey and a letter questioning the moral rectitude of encouraging such practices as horse-racing and betting, and responded by delivering a handsome endorsement of the horse in his own creed for Ash Wednesday.

"I was asked by a lady from the BBC how come a man of the cloth was involved in betting and racing," Father Casey says. "You would never be asked that in Ireland. Priests owning horses or greyhounds are nothing unusual. The priest would ride round his parish, still does in some places, and he would hunt.

"When Commanche Court pulled out of the Ladbroke Hurdle, my 89-year-old aunt was on the phone telling me the news. 'I don't want to wish ill of any horse', she said. 'But have you seen that he's out.' She gets all the English papers now, watches Teletext to see what's going on and, 10 minutes before the start of the race, was on the phone again wondering whether the going would suit him because she'd had a few bob on him each way. There can't be much harm in that, can there?"

No one, least of all the bookmakers, should be fooled by this blarney. Graphic Equaliser is owned by the BRASK syndicate (Brendan, Richie, Alan, Shay and Ken, all lecturers at the Athlone Institute) and is trained by Arthur Moore, whose raids on Cheltenham have been even more deadly for being so silently executed. A reluctant pedlar of small talk to humans, Moore is fluent in the language of the horse and one of the few to whose knowledge on the subject Father Casey would bow. "Arthur doesn't say a lot but when he does, it's best to listen. Sometimes in the morning, when he'll be putting on their rugs or something, he'll stop for a second or two and talk about the horse, the conformation or the balance. It's wonderful to hear him." When Conor O'Dwyer was retained to ride Grimes for JP McManus in the Champion, Moore was able to whistle up Paul Carberry, his nephew, from the family tree as a deputy.

Given another calling, Casey himself might have turned to the time-honoured ways of the Irish farmer-trainer after a boyhood spent with his nine brothers and sisters on a farm in Longford, north of Athlone. Instead, like his brother Sean, he trained for the priesthood with the St Patrick's Missionaries, studying in Wicklow and Cork before being posted to Kenya and Zambia. He still owns 200 acres back in Longford, farming sheep and cattle, breeding his own horses and having a good enough eye for horseflesh to be a judge at local agricultural shows. In Athlone, he runs a voluntary all-night helpline staffed by students. Much of his own time now is spent counselling. At weekends, he escapes back to his farm and his family.

"You know, when you spend 18 hours a day sometimes listening to tales of human frailty and courage, then you're up at night helping a mother with her foal or you watch a foal and its mother galloping through the field, it clears your head. I'm not actually a great lover of horse- racing, I just love horses. What I do love about racing is a story like Norton's Coin and Sirrell Griffiths. Sirrell driving the horsebox down to Cheltenham, winning the Gold Cup and having to get back to his farm to milk the cows.

"The night we won the Ladbroke, one of my brothers suddenly stopped and said, 'Jeez, I've just remembered, I'll have to get someone to feed the cattle tonight.' That's the heart of Irish racing and when you've got a good horse, it doesn't matter who you are, you want to take it to Cheltenham because that's the best stage."

Casey has owned horses before, mainly point-to-pointers, but Graphic Equaliser, a son of Accordion, like the Champion second favourite, Dato Star, is the first purchase of the Brask syndicate. They were offered three times the price of pounds 20,000 after three months and a couple of bumper wins, but wondered whether Father Casey's connections were working their hardest on the day Graphic Equaliser won by the length of Athlone high street only to be disqualified for trespassing inside the course markers. He was bumped, says Father Casey. With each victory, the Pied Piper's army has grown. At Navan in December 1996, Graphic Equaliser carried the fate of Christmas on his square shoulders.

"I've never experienced pressure like it," recalls Father Casey. "It was the end of term and Christmas was cancelled if he lost because all the students were penniless. My heart nearly stopped." Graphic Equaliser did not. Father Casey was feted long into the night and found a bottle of champagne and a card in his room on his return to Athlone.

The decision to run in the Champion, a year too early in the eyes of some good judges, means lighter hearts at Cheltenham. Wings will need to go with the prayers for Graphic Equaliser to become a champion, though Father Casey is undaunted by the long odds. "I have a funny old feeling about this. My father was born on St Patrick's Day and he was buried last St Patrick's Day. He was with me when we bought the horse. I wouldn't be knocked back if we won." A line, though, might have to be appended to the message already pinned to the door of the Institute Chapel. "1.05pm Mass is cancelled." Until further notice.