Group 2 placed Marshman (GB) (Harry Angel {Ire}) is expected to mark his seasonal return in Chantilly's G3 Prix Sigy over 5 1/2 furlongs Apr. 17. Victorious in his first two starts, including an 8 1/2-length score at Thirsk last August, the Karl Burke trainee finished runner-up in York's G2 Gimcrack S. before checking in fifth behind Blackbeard (Ire) in the G1 Middle Park S. at Newmarket in September.
“He came out of the [Middle Park] lame in front,” explained Nick Bradley, managing director of owner Nick Bradley Racing.
“He was suffering with sore shins throughout his 2-year-old campaign, which is just something that can happen with 2-year-olds, particularly ones which come from the breeze-ups. So, when he went downhill in the Middle Park, I expected him to hang but he hung more than I thought he would. He was keen at the beginning of the race as well and everything went wrong, but we still managed to finish [fifth] in a Group 1.”
According to Bradley, the sophomore is approaching his first official work of the season.
“He's been back in since December time,” Bradley continued. “Karl was raving about the horses in general and Marshman was kind of top of the pile. He has not done any serious work as yet though.”
Bradley added that Marshman will be targeted at many of the top sprints this season.
“We're not going to be drawn into stepping him up in trip for the Guineas or anything like that, we very much see him as a sprinter. I find a lot of those breeze-up horses run over a shorter distance than their pedigrees suggest due to the way they have been trained early in their careers. But, hopefully, we are going to win the [Sigy] then we can look at races like the G2 Sandy Lane [Haydock], G1 Commonwealth Cup [Royal Ascot] and the G1 July Cup [Newmarket]. Those sorts of races will be his targets and the aim is to win as many group races as we can.”
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