Beroni supplies Mullins with another big handicap win.

Byline: Brian Fleming

FOR the second consecutive Sunday, Willie Mullins trained an easy winner of a valuable Irish handicap when Beroni ran out a convincing winner of an incident-packed Troytown Handicap Chase.

The Troytown, won by Mullins for the first time, was run without a sponsor, underlining the difficulty facing Irish racecourses during the recession, but Kilkenny-based owners Padraig and Margaret O'Rourke weren't complaining after the seven-year-old landed the EUR52,080 winner's purse.

"We brought him home to Stoneyford for the summer and Paul McEnery looked after him during the time he spent at our place," said Margaret O'Rourke.

"When Michael O'Brien decided to retire, we wanted to send him to Willie, and it's fantastic to win such a prestigious race."

The well-backed winner - supported in to 7-1 from 10-1 - was held up in rear and travelled well in the hands of Paul Townend.

The winning rider, also enjoying his first Troytown victory, hardly moved a muscle as the gelding forged clear to score by four lengths from Casey Supreme.

Hold The Pin was a further eight lengths adrift in third, with the Philip Redmond-trained Florida Express fourth.

Of the three 6-1 co-favourites, Treacle could manage only sixth of the ten finishers, Paddy Pub fell at the first, while Operation Houdini, who was in sixth and looking to hold every chance, blundered and unseated Niall Madden four fences from home.

Mullins, successful with impressive winner Our Monty in the Cork Grand National seven days previously, will consider several options for Beroni. They include the Grand National, for which the gelding was introduced into the market at 33-1 by Ladbrokes and 50-1 by William Hill.

Mullins said: "He jumped fantastically and obviously stays that trip and more, which opens up plenty more options over fences.

"He'll go up a fair bit in the weights, but we may look at the Thyestes Chase for his next target, as Padraig [O'Rourke] is a director at Gowran Park. The Welsh National could also be on our agenda." Rest of Navan, page 18 Result Troytown Handicap Chase 1 Beroni..........................7-1 2 Casey Supreme ..........12-1 3 Hold The Pin ............14-1 4 Florida Express ..........25-1 Owner Margaret O'Rourke Trainer Willie Mullins Jockey Paul Townend Groom Roman Shkurko Breeder Deins Cusack Distances 4l, 8l, 13l

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Winning owner Margaret O'Rourke leads in Beroni after his impressive success