Mick O'Farrell, who has died aged 71, was known in bars and on racecourses throughout the land as "the mad captain", an Irish army rank that his instinctive insubordination ensured he never rose beyond. But his career included stints as an athlete, film-maker, race horse and greyhound trainer and writer as well as his time as a soldier.
Born in Abbeyside, Co Waterford, O'Farrell entered the Curragh Military Academy in 1949 and was posted to the 3rd Battalion ("the Bloods") at the Curragh in 1956. This was the HQ of the army, and the leading Irish bloodstock centre. "You just couldn't avoid getting sucked into the racing game," he recalled. "Everywhere you went _ the topic of conversation was invariably the same - what'll win the big race?" Army life had other compensations: he won the Mulcahy Trophy for the best army athlete for five successive years
As a cheap alternative to horses, he kept 18 greyhounds at the barracks, employing a private as his kennelman. They were impounded by the Military Police and he was told that they would be shot. Fortunately, one of the dogs was part-owned by the government chief whip, who was related to the CO. The greyhounds were reprieved.
After internment was introduced in 1957, the Bloods found themselves chasing escaped IRA prisoners across the Kildare countryside. More pleasant were the film appearances that Ireland's beneficent tax laws ensured became part of the army's life. Mick played a German officer in The Blue Max (1966), but soon tired of stomping up and down, shouting "Achtung! Achtung!"
More promising was John Boorman's Excalibur (1981), in which his riding skills earned him the part of Sir Tarquin. Shooting was dogged by bad weather, with resultant rising costs. One day, an hour's sunshine was predicted - enough to film a key fight. The cameras were no sooner rolling than Mick's Jack Russell bitch locked her jaws around Sir Lancelot's ankle. By the time the actor had shaken her off, it was raining again. Boorman ordered both Mick and Minnie off the set, but soon saw the humour of the situation, and allowed Mick, minus dog, to return.
Mick's movie experience led to his appointment as assistant director on Maurice O'Callaghan's Broken Harvest (1994). But his interest in racing continued. With Nicky Dee, he pioneered the system of interval training, a topic he wrote about in the Irish Field. Their greatest success was Minnehoma, bought by Mar tin Pipe for Freddie Starr, which won the Grand National in 1994.
The first of his memoirs Tough At The Bottom, appeared in 1999. Two other books followed: Health And Fitness For The Couch Potato (2000) and Skint, The Diary Of A Failed Punter (2002).
In 1995, faced with a legion of creditors, O'Farrell took a "holiday" in Gibraltar. Walking along the quay, he heard a familiar voice enquiring "I wonder is it very deep in they-ah?" Margaret Thatcher was peering down into the water. "What if", he wondered, "I suddenly struck a blow for old Ireland and unceremoniously applied my boot to the seat of her pants, upending her headfirst into the sea?"
The security men would beat him to a pulp, but he might have statues erected in his honour across the globe. Ballads celebrating the deed would be sung, and he would never again have to put his hand in his pocket in a bar. The moment had passed. The Iron Lady straightened up and nodded imperiously to him as she went by. He claimed to have nightmares over the incident.
Mick is survived by his sisters Etta, Lulu and Kathleen.
· Michael O'Farrell, soldier, trainer and writer, born May 6 1931; died March 20 2003
