Ben Button (white face) leads away from the last© Photo Healy Racing
After winning the second on Ted Veale Ruby Walsh doubled-up aboard Ben Button in the feature BoyleSports Handicap Hurdle.
Successful at Galway on Sunday, the Willie Mullins trained gelding was expected to win again this evening under a four pound winners penalty (officially went up fourteen pounds).
Sent off the 2/5 favourite, the son of Double Eclipse raced in mid-division in the early stages, before improving to chase the leaders from the fifth.
He came with his challenge on the outer after two out, and gained a narrow lead before the last, keeping on well under pressure on the run-in to score by a length. Lasoscar (14/1) finished second under David Mullins for Liam Cusack, while Hunters Call (9/1) was three parts of a length back in third for Paddy Kennedy and John Neilan.
Walsh said afterwards: "I'd suppose the stiffness of the track helped him but he needed to jump as well as he jumped the last couple to hang in there.
"On the book it should have been a bit easier but we can't complain.
"In Galway he was the one horse with soft ground form. They capitulated in Galway.
"You see that even more so in the long distance races on the Flat. One or two will keep going and something ends up winning a furlong. It's only because the rest of them have stopped.
"The winning distance isn't always reflective of the horse's superiority. That's only my opinion - you could debate it every which way."
STEWARDS REPORT
A.W. Short, rider of Winter Lion trained by Matthew J. Smith, reported to the Clerk of Scales that his mount jumped big early on.
Additional reporting by Eamonn Murphy
