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UK-based trainer Karl Burke understands the benefits of travelling horses over to France and reaped further reward when Marshman won the Prix Sigy (G3) at Chantilly on Monday.
UK-based trainer Karl Burke understands the benefits of travelling horses over to France and reaped further reward when Marshman won the 5½f Prix Sigy (G3) at Chantilly on Monday.
In the last twelve months, Burke has sent fourteen runners to France and collected over 200,000 euros worth of prize money (three wins and two placings).
Jockey Clifford Lee suffered an awkward start as Marshman hung left coming out of the stalls. He quickly corrected the three-year-old and took the lead. Marshman favoured the left again with one-and-a-half furlongs to go but drew clear at the one-furlong marker, keeping the fast-finishing Donnacha O'Brien-trained Wodao at bay. Vicious Harry was the best of the French horses in third.
Burke was delighted with Marshman's performance, "We've always thought of him as a very good horse and his ratings tell you he is but, although ours have been running okay the last couple of weeks, we had a very disappointing end of February and March and it was a little bit frustrating," said Burke.
"He was one of our first big guns to run so for himself to go and do it like that is great. He'll definitely come on for the run and he's having a good, healthy blow now, so it's very exciting and it sets him up nicely. He definitely got tired a furlong out, but he had the class to do it."
Karl Burke used the Prix Sigy (G2) as a stepping stone for Commonwealth Cup (G1) success previously. In 2016, Quiet Reflection had to fight hard to win the Prix Sigy (G2) by a head before an impressive three-and-three-quarter length victory in the Commonwealth Cup (G1) at Royal Ascot. The filly would go on to win the Sprint Cup (G1) at Haydock against older horses in the same season.