Bradley outlines sprint aspirations for Marshman

French starting point for Middle Park fifth.

Marshman will be campaigned as a sprinter when he returns to the track to kick-off his three-year-old campaign – with a trip to France for Chantilly’s Prix Sigy highlighted as the speedster’s early-season target.

A relatively inexpensive GBP 38,000 breeze-up buy, the Karl Burke-trained son of Harry Angel created a deep impression in his first two outings before going down by less than two lengths to the well-regarded Noble Style when sent off the 9-4 favourite for the Gimcrack at York.

That signalled a trip to Newmarket for a tilt at the Group One Middle Park Stakes and although popular with punters once again when sent off the 15-8 favourite, he proved far too keen before hanging under pressure as Aidan O’Brien’s Blackbeard recorded an impressive victory.

He plugged on for fifth but returned lame from his run on the Rowley Mile in what was to be his final outing of the campaign.

“He came out of the Newmarket race lame in front,” explained Nick Bradley, managing director of owner Nick Bradley Racing.

“He was suffering with sore shins throughout his two-year-old campaign, which is just something that can happen with two-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 fourth in a Group One.”

Trainer Karl Burke could have a smart sprinter on his hands in Marshman
Trainer Karl Burke could have a smart sprinter on his hands in Marshman (Mike Egerton/PA)

Now connections have resisted the temptation to take in a 2000 Guineas trial in the early stages of the campaign and have set their sights on all of the major sprinting prizes throughout the season – starting with the Chantilly Group Three on April 17.

“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.

“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.

“He is probably going to start over in France in the Sigy. It’s a Group Three over five and a half furlongs and that will be his target at the moment.

“Our aim last year was to make him a stallion and he was second in the Gimcrack when he looked to have it won. That itself would have been enough.

“But hopefully we are going to win the Group Three in France then we can look at races like the Sandy Lane (Haydock), Commonwealth Cup (Royal Ascot) and the 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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