‘Easy decision’ to run Marsha in Breeders’ Cup

Elite Racing manager Dan Downie says it was an easy decision to put Marsha forward for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

The talented filly managed to earn her spot for the big race at Del Mar after she won by a nose in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York.

Marsha was last seen finishing as the runner-up to Battaash in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Chantilly and that performance from the four-year-old was enough to encourage Downie and company to send their charge Stateside.

“The plan is to head to America,” Downie told Press Association Sport. “It was always an option after York given that was a win-and-you’re-in race.

“We’d had it in the back of our minds but a lot depended on what happened in Chantilly and yet again she ran another tremendous race behind Battaash.

“It was an easy decision in the end. If she’d disappointed then we’d wouldn’t be going, but I’ve been to see her since she returned from France and she looks tremendous.”