The flying grey made it to the Stena Sea Cat in Holyhead in the nick of time.

Boarding gates were re-opened allowing the VIP horsebox to swing aboard with the sweat and relief of a chaser crossing the finish by a short head. The pressures of racing translate easily to life on the road for Desert Orchid and team.

The splatter of mud-like markings tattooed on the 18-year-old racehorse are reminiscent of the national hunt winner as he pulls up post race, blowing the air and pounding the turf. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Whitbread Gold Cup, four

King George VI chases and the Irish Grand National in 1990. It was the Stena Sea

Cat in 1997.

Taking up a two-week residency at the national stud, Operation Desert Orchid has come to our shores to raise funds for the Cherry Orchard Equestrian Centre in Ballyfermot and the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre in Cumbria, England.

Posing to perfection, he stiffens while cameras click, veins squiggling along his crest and neck, tail slapping his sides and ears sharp like knives pointing somewhere vaguely towards Kildare's monastic tower in the distance. He plays up to any tourist or fan fortunate enough to be within clapping distance, demands a cuddle and then nudges them away. Typically male, but then nobility takes its guise in strange shapes and forms, and with Desert Orchid the calamity of media adoration has always been a jostle and a joke.

He'd shake hands and sign autographs if he could. "Oooh, he's a professional," croons Carrie Humble, founder of the thoroughbred centre in

Kendall. Having previously worked in theatre in New York and California, she knows a brat when she sees one and travels with Dessie for the duration of this visit. "He just grows four inches when he comes out of the box," she explains.

Theatre experience has taught Ms Humble that behind the glamour of hoof oil and stage make-up, sports and entertainment industries have one thing in common:

the "also rans". Desert Orchid has proved a winner in both fields, but of all the options available to ex-racehorses, few take high-profile retirement as a superstar on the racing circuit. Grand National winner Hello Dandy was a less fortunate case but now resides at Humble's rehabilitation yard in Cumbria. In association with the Racing Club of Ireland, Operation Desert Orchid hopes to raise £50,000 to be shared with the Cherry Orchard project, a brave initiative to recruit Dublin's urban cowboys into mainstream racing.

Back at the Friarsmoor yard in England, the hectic circuit life of plugs and potholes brings Desert Orchid on about one appearance a week. Mostly at racecourses or at shows in connection with equestrian charities, he performs exhibition gallops, photo-calls and leads parades - or simply poses.

He has his own fan club and cult following in the same league as Lassie and

Mr Ed baseball caps and T-shirts, birthday cards and Christmas presents. His shoes sell at £100 a go. "People follow him all around England," says handler Jim Stone, while Terry Wogan had him in an outdoor television studio for the launch of owner, Richard Burridge's book The Grey Horse. This year's itinerary includes a pit-stop at Mooney's filling station in Collins Avenue, Co

Waterford. Not just for the gas of it, Dessie is the rented mascot behind

Mooney's sponsorship for Waterford Show this Sunday where he also puts in a morning appearance. Michael Mooney and others long-involved with horses know that Desert Orchid is not a species of flower, but workers at the petrol station such as Elaine Lannigan echo the reaction of many when speaking of the legend as

"a horse - or something".

Why not Garfield the cat? What is it about horses like Red Rum, Danoli and

Desert Orchid? What is it that makes children believe Dessie's handler when he says the horse is "an angel that came down from heaven?"

Seeing is believing. "He's the Queen Mother's personal favourite and Princess

Anne has ridden him," waxes a proud Jim. He has also graced the lawns of Windsor

Castle - not a surprising feat for a horse that even passes manure with a certain finesse.

Desert Orchid will be at Quinn's seed merchants in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow at 11 a.m. today and at Wexford races this afternoon; at the Curragh races tomorrow afternoon and at Waterford Show from noon on Sunday before moving on to Mooney's filling station at 5 p.m.