Alexander Butler took his second victory of the weekend when triumphing in the ninth leg of the TRM/Horseware National Grand Prix League at Ballivor Horse Show. Butler followed up an impressive victory in Friday night’s Jumping in the City Grand Prix in Cork when once again coming out in front with Vimminka in Sunday’s €4,000 class, kindly sponsored by the Ballivor Horse Show committee.
Butler commented, “Vimminka hasn’t jumped in the last month due to a little injury but I always had the Jumping in the City in mind. I actually thought it was going to be a week too soon but the night that was in it she was just on form. Going to Ballivor then I was fairly confident, once she has one show she is up and running.”
Talking on his winning round Butler said, “There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the jump-off but there were three distances and I left a stride out in all of them. I did pretty much the same as Eddie (Moloney) but I think I managed to be a little bit tighter in a few places which shaved a bit off for me.”
Owned by the Ladycastle Syndicate, the 13-year-old Nabab de Reve-sired Vimminka is a reliable performer for Butler. The pair have an impressive string of results to their name including numerous National Grand Prix wins as well as a victory in the 2014 Premier Series Grand Prix Final at Coilog. Vimminka is also one of the mounts that contributed to Butler’s two consecutive Autumn Grand Prix League championship titles.
Drawn at the latter stages of the jump-off, Butler knew exactly what had to be done and a precise round saw him come home in 35.30 to clinch the win. Butler relegated long-time leader Eddie Moloney to the runner-up position in the process.
Moloney, paired with Douglas Hill, had set the time to beat at 35.64. The Co. Kilkenny rider is just back in action after an injury and is showing an immediate return to form, also finishing in the top ten at Jumping in the City.
Damien Griffin had shown Moloney where the shortcuts were as the previous rider in the ring aboard Tabby but had to settle for eventual third place in the line-up when the clock showed 36.66. Local rider Gerard Clarke proved fractionally slower than this with the Simba-sired Rafiki logging a time of 36.87.