Florida shines on golden day for Mullins Florida Pearl capped a tremendous season by taking the €160,000 Heineken Gold Cup to bring his career haul to eight Grade 1 victories.Barry Geraghty`s mount gave favourite backers their only anxious moment when getting in close to the fourth last fence, but he galloped on strongly from that point and shrugged off the challenge of Native Upmanship before the last to score by three lengths.Alexander Banquet could never quite get on terms, and stayed on to finish a further 12 lengths adrift in third.'He seems to be getting more settled in his races. I hadn`t been particularly pleased with him at home since Aintree, and wasn`t that confident coming here,' said trainer Willie Mullins, who also outlined his thoughts on next season.'I would like to start him off a little bit later next season, and am thinking of missing out both the race in Down Royal and the Hennessy at Leopardstown. The Durkan, King George, Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Martell at Aintree will be histargets. Alexander Banquet will be aimed at the Ericsson and the Hennessy, with the Grand National also on the agenda.'Mullins was completing a big race double as Davenport Milenium earlier ended the unbeaten record of Like-A-Butterfly in the Menolly Homes Champion Novice Hurdle. Ruby Walsh sent the six-year-old gelding past the evens favourite on the approach to the final flight, and quickly settled the issue scoring by eight lengths from Thari with Like-A-Butterfly weakening to finish a further length back in third.'I am delighted with that performance, and have always thought a lot of him. He went off the boil a bit on heavy ground, and that`s it now for this season. He will probably go novice chasing next season,' said Mullins.
