Marsha a Group 1 sprint star for Acclamation

MARSHA (IRE) - 2013 bay filly

Rathbarry Stud’s veteran stallion Acclamation (by Royal Applause) was among the best runners for his sire and, despite not winning at the highest level on the track, he has sired three Group 1 stars. Leading sire Dark Angel is one of them, Group 1 sire Equiano is another, and the third is last year’s Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp heroine Marsha.

The Sir Mark Prescott-trained bay went into that race as a Group 3-placed dual stakes winner ad she earned a Timeform rating of 121 after her three-quarter-length defeat of Washington DC at Chantilly.

She put up an even better performance on that firm’s figures when she defied her Group 1 penalty to beat that same colt by a neck in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes on her seasonal reappearance at Newmarket.

She went into today’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes with a Timeform rating of 127, and although she likely did not run up to that same level, she finished an honourable third to Lady Aurelia and Profitable.

Marsha defies the Group 1 penalty in some style to down favourite Washington DC in the Palace House Stakes at @NewmarketRace. pic.twitter.com/HRZouEAJ0k

— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) May 6, 2017

Marsha is owned and bred by the Elite Racing Club, she is a half-sister to the eight-time winner Judicial (by Iffraaj) and she is the second foal out of the French listed scorer Marlinka (by Marju). That mare, a half-sister to several multiple winners, is out of Baralinka (by Barathea), which makes her a half-sister to the excellent miler Soviet Song (by Marju).

This means that Marsha is out of a three-parts sister to Soviet Song, the Timeform 126-rated star who won the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, Group 1 Matron Stakes, Group 1 Fillies’ Mile, and two editions of the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes.

Soviet Song has had some well-documented misfortune at stud so far but her winning full-sister Sister Act is the dam of Ribbons (by Manduro), the prolific filly who won the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville and the Group 2 Blandford Stakes at the Curragh. The races in which that James Fanshawe-trained chestnut was placed included the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera and Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes, and both she and Soviet Song were also bred by Elite Racing Club.

Kazatzka (by Groom Dancer), a placed half-sister to Baralinka, Sister Act and Soviet Song, has also done her part for the family as her daughter Miss Marjurie (by Marju) won the Group 3 Pinnacle Stakes and finished third in the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks, both over 12 furlongs at Haydock.

They also have an unraced half-sister called Kalinova (by Red Ransom) and her offspring include Stars Above Me (by Exceed And Excel) who won over six furlongs in England as a two-year-old and later added a five and a half-furlong listed contest at Saratoga.

Kalinka (by Soviet Star), the third dam of Marsha, is out of the Listed Lupe Stakes and Listed Rockfel Stakes heroine Tralthee (by Tromos), a mare whose siblings include Epanoui (by Val De l’Orne), and what makes that one significant is that she is the dam of the the US Grade 3 winners Ask Anita (by Wolf Power) and Club Champ (by Shimatoree).

Marsha is one of the best sprinters in training and it is to be hoped that she will have as successful a career at stud as she has been having on the track.