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Marsha wins Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye

03 October 2016

The Club's homebred filly, Marsha, enjoyed her finest hour on Arc day at Chantilly last Sunday when winning one of the season's sprinting features, the Prix de l'Abbaye. A large group of Club Members were present to see the best horse in the string win her biggest race to date, having achieved two Listed successes already this season.

The win came as a slight surprise to Members and Marsha's trainer, Sir Mark Prescott, who thought she had a little to find on form. She was again taking on horses that had beaten her both in the Group 2 King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood and the Prix Petite Couvert, run on Arc Trials day last month. After running below-par in the latter race, Sir Mark freshened up the daughter of Acclamation, which was obvious to all in the paddock prior to the race as she bounced around the parade ring purposefully. This was an impressive performance considering this was her seventh race of the season. She produced a career best, defeating dual Nunthorpe winner, Mecca's Angel, as well as fellow Group 1 victors Goldream and Profitable.

This was an incredible result for the Club's Breeding Programme, who had bred both Marsha's dam, Marlinka, and her grand-dam, Baralinka. We hope that Marsha can continue to race on next season before hopefully joining the Breeding Programme herself once her racing career is over. Our congratulations go to both Sir Mark Prescott and Luke Morris, for whom it was a second Group 1 success, having also won the race back in 2010. This win was the Club's seventh at the highest level, from three individual horses. They were all fillies and were all homebred.