ALEXANDER Butler retained his Autumn League Champion status for the second year running when he and Will Wimble saw off stiff competition from 56 starters to win the final leg of the league on Friday night in Cavan.

Butler was five points behind leader Peter Smyth coming into the league but with points and a half on offer, it was all still to play for.

Some 24 combinations made it through to the jump-off. Butler had the disadvantage of being second to go, despite this he still set the pace with a blistering clear featuring tight turns and superb accuracy for which his mount has become known. They recorded a time of 32.45 and waited to see would any of the remaining 22 catch them.

Daryl Walker came closest as 16th to go when he and Alfurist stopped the clock at 32.85 which would slot them into the runner-up spot. Greg Broderick and MHS Going Global came close in 33.11 but this would only be good enough for third place.

Smyth was last to go riding Admiran Casio. A win here would have secured him the league title but a tight right-hand turn into the third fence did not pay off; he collected four faults here and handed Butler the win and the final league title of 2014.