Oliver doubles up with Jack

Andy Oliver doubled up at Dundalk tonight when Jack Red Cloud battled on gamely to land the Michael Cooney Memorial Maiden.

Ben Coen took the mount on the 9/1 shot and he was soon in front on the Sioux Nation gelding.

He led after a couple of furlongs but had to dig deep when almost joined by Local Girl over a furlong from home, sticking on well in the closing stages to record a length-and-a-quarter win.

“That's great and he did it well,” said Oliver.

“He had a very nice run first time at Leopardstown and we expected him to improve but I was the most stunned man at Punchestown on his next run.

“When I watched it again the ground was very chopped on the inside and he just wasn't going. It was a similar thing at Down Royal, he just didn't handle the ground but we had no opportunity and this was the place to come as he qualified for this race.

“We were reasonably hopeful, you can never be confident, and we just said to Ben to keep it as straight-forward as he could.

“When the horse was relaxed he decided to take it over after the first two furlongs and he made it all from there. It was a nice simple run and the horse did well.

“He wants good ground, obviously it's unlikely to dry up on the turf so he'll probably come back here.”