Connell looking forward to Listowel Barry Connell has enjoyed plenty of success at Listowel and is looking forward to this year's Harvest Festival which begins tomorrow. He told journalist Dave Keena about his fondness for the track and gave an update on a couple of his intended runners at the north Kerry venue.  "I've always loved Listowel, it's full of racing people and there's a great buzz down there. It's the harvest festival, you get a lot of farmers at it who are very knowledgeable about racing. "Everyone wants to win at the festival meetings but when you go to Listowel, everyone is so knowledgeable and they really appreciate the horses there. When you go to Galway, there's a lot more going on, a lot more people come down for the bank holiday that maybe aren't necessarily racing people. "The key to success with any of the tracks and you see it with Ballinrobe, Roscommon, a lot of the country tracks, is to involve the town and involve the community and Listowel does that very well. There's something on every night in the town and it's a huge economic boost to them. "My first winner with the (trainer's) licence was at Listowel five years ago and when I was riding, I think I rode more winners at Listowel than anywhere else.  "It's a very fair track, the best horse normally wins there, and it's very competitive so you need to bring your A-game." "Hashtag Pretender was second in Killarney first time out. He's a very good jumper and is in a 0-130 novice chase on Sunday. We would be very upbeat on his chance and he'll probably end up favourite. He jumps brilliant and, as long as the ground wouldn't get too soft, he'll definitely run. "We have an older horse called Salvador Ziggy who runs in the Kerry National. He's coming along, he's had a break for a while but is in good nick. "He'll need the run but we're hoping he could go on and maybe be very competitive in a Munster National or a Troytown, something like that, or a Paddy Power."
