Casey hoping to rule supreme in Hennessy despite bad break
In fact he's too familiar with it, having just spent twelve weeks recovering from a double leg fracture at Wexford when his mount, Mountain Snow, fell on top of him, after falling at the first fence in a handicap hurdle.
"It looked very nasty at the time," he concedes. "But luckily the hospital in Wexford is directly opposite the race track, so I was brought over there very quickly. One of the first things I did was ring (surgeon) Paddy Kenny who had looked after me when I broke my wrist. I told him what had happened and he told me to get straight to Blanchardstown and that he'd operate the following morning."
Mr Kenny pinned the two breaks the following morning and "there was a few screws put in just to hold it together," Casey says blithely.
"The first month was the hardest because I couldn't get up off the bed or the couch just lying there with a couple of pillows under the leg. The furthest I could get was to the bathroom and the boredom was really getting to me."
For an injured jockey, however, the quickest route to madness is the thought that someone else is benefiting from your misfortune.
"Obviously you're going to miss winners and rides, but you just have to accept it and I think I prepared myself well enough from that moment. I wanted to be racing and riding winners, but this sort of thing is part and parcel of the game and there was no point beating myself up.
"For the last two weeks, I've been back riding out and getting myself going again. I ride out for Charlie (Swan) a couple of mornings and over with Willie (Mullins) another couple. I schooled the other morning for Arthur Moore, so I am as well as I could be in the circumstances."
Last Tuesday he returned to Blanchardstown Hospital for x-rays and was cleared to return to the plate last Thursday where he had two rides for Charlie Swan (Ground Ball and Teeming Rain), getting his return off to a flying start with two second places.
"Maybe I'll be a little tentative, but I think it will just be a matter of getting on with. The last couple of weeks maybe I've been getting a little anxious as my return gets closer and maybe even trying to push it a bit, but whatever the doctor said would be the determining factor."
So, what of Rule Supreme, his mount in the Hennessy Cognac at Leopardstown tomorrow, who has just one win this season (a hurdle in Clonmel in November) after a stellar campaign last year when he took major prizes at Cheltenham and in France, despite a jumping style which could best be described as inconsistent.
The horse does not have a lot of scope, and while he has a huge engine, getting over the bigger obstacles always presents difficulties as it will again at Leopardstown.
"Rule Supreme has been a very lucky horse for me and I've won a couple of big races on him. The victory at Cheltenham was a little bit of a surprise, especially as he was a 25/1 shot in the SunAlliance. Willie had two runners in the race and Ruby Walsh chose Mossy Green ahead of my fella.
"In the race itself I was struggling for a lot of the way because they went a very fast pace and I was making plenty of niggly mistakes. But, from the time I got to the top of the hill, he came back on the bridle for me and I felt at that stage if I got the last three jumps half right, then I was in with a chance."
Casey says that winning at Cheltenham is something you never get used to, despite the fact that he's racked up a fair few festival winners. "I always tell people going to Cheltenham that whatever else they do, they should stand around the winners' enclosure when there is an Irish winner, because there's nothing else like it in racing. For a jockey it is a huge lift, it's like the tingle you get down your spine when you're on a big dipper."
This term, Rule Supreme has had a couple of runs, the two most notable being a third place under a driving Ruby Walsh finish to Baracouda in the Long Walk hurdle at Windsor when he was only three quarters of a length in arrears at the finish, and then at Leopardstown in the Lexus Chase when he fell at the last while challenging Best Mate for second behind Beef or Salmon. But Casey is convinced there's more to come.
"I rode him out last week and he felt in good shape. Certainly Beef or Salmon is going to be a big challenge, but it is a different day, a different race and you never know what can happen.
"I cannot accept this is a one-horse race and we will map out a programme beforehand to suit our horse best. I think a nice gallop will suit, nothing too fast or too slow, but the main thing is to get him into a jumping rhythm so that if he does make a mistake then his doesn't lose too much ground."
Coming into such a big race so early into his rehabilitation is not something Casey thinks will be a problem and he has come back from injury before and just got on with his job of work. Having rides in Clonmel last Thursday and Naas today, he feels he'll be right back in the swing by tomorrow.
"I could do without any more injuries now. You always want to make the big festivals in Cheltenham, Punchestown, Aintree, Fairyhouse, Galway and Killarney, so the main thing now is to stay in one piece and ride some winners, instead of watching other people doing it."
