Alexander Butler followed up his recent win in the Balmoral Grand Prix with a second CSI 2* Grand Prix win in Mullingar with Harold McGahern's Will Wimble on Monday.

The second round in the TRM/Horseware Premier Series proved a tough competition over Alan Wade's track that saw eight clear rounds in the first round with a further one, Robert Harrison and Cruise Touch, scrapping in as the ninth competitor with the fastest four faults.

Robert Harrison and Declan Egan were the first two riders in the second round and both finished with a fence on the floor.

It was not until the third rider into the ring in the second round, Peter Smyth recorded a double clear as he left all the poles in the cups on Corrib House in a time of 51.60 to go into provisional first place.  
Smyth did not last long in the lead however, as Edward Doyle came in on Samgemjee and went flying into the lead with a much quicker time of 43.78.  Doyle is yet to win a Premier Series Grand Prix and for quite some time it appeared that yesterday would be his debut win in the Series only to be pipped on the line by the eventual winner, Alexander Butler.
 
Both Mark Murphy and Joan Greene did manage to beat the time set by Edward Doyle however, as both incurred faults, they were forced to settle for places down the line in fourth and fifth.  Stephen Moore also incurred four faults with the experienced Merlins Magic and slotted into sixth place as a result.
 
Alexander Butler was then the penultimate rider into the ring with Will Wimble and having the advantage of getting to watch Edward Doyle, Butler knew exactly the job at hand and the Kildare based rider made absolutely no mistake.  Turning tight back to the fourth fence in the second round and again back to the fifth fence, Butler appeared to have the win within his grasps before galloping to the last and stopped the clock in 42.30 to go into pole position with one rider left to go.
 
Sven Hadley is a formidable opponent in any jump off and he looked to be up on the clock with Adelgonde Z when clipping the back rail on the fifth fence.  The pair went on to have one more fence on the floor despite having a faster time in 41.22.
 
So, Alexander Butler records a second big Grand Prix win in a matter of weeks with Will Wimble and look to be on top form once more this season and following the class he spoke to Irishsport.tv about today's win; ''I'm delighted with the win and the horse, he's won two Grand Prix in a couple of weeks now which is great.  To win here in Mullingar is something that I've wanted to do for that last few years, since it turned International.
 
''Will Wimble jumped fantastic, Edward Doyle was just before me so I could see what he had to do to go into the lead.  I think where I made up the time was after the verticle (Fence 4) and turning back to the oxer at fence 5.  I was tight back to both of them because I can trust him at the front rail every time, he is so careful, and I just tried to keep it as tight as possible coming home but I knew he wouldn't have a fence down.''
 
Butler was also successful earlier in the day when winning the other International class on the schedule with No More Talk.
 
Alexander Butler and Edward Doyle now hold a joint lead in the TRM/Horseware Premier Series after two rounds on 15 points with Paddy O'Donnell in third place on 10 points.
 
The next round takes place at Cavan Equestrian Centre on June 23rd.