Pat Smullen's bid to retain his Jockeys' Championship has begun well, registering a double for his boss Dermot Weld on the second day of the Flat season, at Dundalk tonight.

The double began with Ma Ani in the Mullen's Traditional Fast Food Fillies Maiden half an hour before Signal Fire justfied favouritism in the Dundalk Democrat Maiden.

Smullen raced Ma Ani, a daughter of El Prado, prominently, eventually getting to the front inside the final furlong for a comfortable length and a half success.

Weld himself was absent but Smullen did report "Ma Ani showed a little bit of temperament in the parade ring beforehand but did it well on the track and didn't have a hard race to win. She is a decent filly and it rode like a good race."

Signal Fire's success half an hour later came in similarly confortably easy style, although the son of Mizzen Mast did make all the running for his length and a half win.