"He's a lovely big horse. He won his maiden here before Christmas and had a nice break so I thought he might need it but he did it very straight-forward," said trainer Andy Oliver after favourite Financial Conduct convincingly landed the McGeoughs Bar & Restaurant Handicap at Dundalk. Alcander was still in there pitching inside the last but close home the Shane Foley-ridden Financial Conduct proved much the strongest to triumph by a length and three parts.

"Shane gave him a lovely ride and was very impressed with him, as was I. I thought he got there plenty soon enough, he's still green and has plenty to learn but he's a lovely big straight-forward horse. Hopefully he'll keep progressing," Oliver elaborated.

"There are another couple of nice races here for him and then we'll see about the grass.

"He's a lovely big striding good ground horse. Although he's big and strong enough that hopefully ground shouldn't inconvenience him.

"We'll see what comes up during the season for him."

(GC & EM)