Loughrea N Roll improves to get off the mark in Listowel Joseph O'Brien's Loughrea N Roll got favourite backers off to a winning start in the SIS Irish EBF Maiden on day three of the Listowel Harvest Festival. He went off at a nicely backed 10/11 to build on the promise of an opening third at the Curragh last month. Leopardstown barrier trial winner All Talk made the running over this extended seven-furlongs but was passed by Churchill Bond racing to the final furlong. At this stage, Speakers Corner and Loughrea N Roll were jostling for position in third and fourth. Loughrea N Roll got the daylight he needed inside the final furlong and ran through to claim Churchill Bond in the closing stages. He kept on well to beat a staying-on Speakers Corner (7/1) by half a length. Joey Sheridan said: "There was a good rush to the first bend and I didn't want to be in a battle so early being three-wide and took back. The course is riding quite tight, so you'd love how professional he was. "He had to quicken to get out but if I came around rivals, I would have had to give away a lot of ground. It is easy when you are riding a classy horse like him and there is plenty of improvement to come. "It was probably a Group-maiden in which he finished third at the Curragh the last day and had the form in the book. "The ground is quite sticky and dead, but my lad was classy and quickened well on it." Additional reporting by Tom Weekes
