Fernao stepped up on two previous good placed efforts when getting off the mark at the third time of asking in the concluding Oliver Broderick Maiden at Listowel.

Slowly away on his racecourse debut at Limerick in April, the Frankel colt finished off his race in a manner that suggested he had more to offer. Although a beaten favourite at Killarney last time, there was again plenty of positives to take from that performance.

On this occasion, the Willie McCreery trained colt did everything right, breaking much better to hold a prominent position tracking the leaders.

Moving ominously well leaving the back straight, the Ballylinch Stud owned winner headed long time leader Maggie And Me before going clear inside the final furlong.

"I'm delighted with that and he is a work in progress. He is a lovely little horse but isn't the sharpest. He learned from the last day and is learning in every bit of work he does but was sharper on the pace and travelled much better today.

"He is a lovely horse and I like the way he is learning and improving.

"He is very well bred but needs to continue learning his trade and will go for handicaps now. He only came to me late-on last year and I'm delighted to have a winner for Ballylinch."

He added "I must say the track have done a wonderful job with watering. The winning trainer will always say that, but tracks are making huge efforts to put some cushion in and we are set for another week of this sunshine."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes