Marsha heading over to Ireland
The three-year-old picked up a brace of Listed wins before not being beaten far in the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood last Friday
MARSHA is likely to have her attentions turned towards a shot at the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh as opposed to being supplemented for the Nunthorpe Stakes at York.
Connections have decided against running the Sir Mark Prescott-trained three-year-old in the Group One prize at the Knavesmire on August 19, in favour of taking her on a trip to Ireland for the Group Two contest on September 11.
Although tasting defeat on her first two starts of the season, the daughter of Acclamation has since found her form after being dropped back to the minimum trip, having collected a brace of Listed wins before finishing a close-up fifth in the King George Stakes at Goodwood on Friday.
Dan Downie, spokesman for owners Elite Racing Club, said: "Marsha is in good form and is absolutely fine after Goodwood. If you ran the race a few times over you would have got several different results.
"She will now probably go back to Ireland on September 11 for the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh and not the Nunthorpe.
"If she had won at Goodwood on Friday then it (Nunthorpe) is something we would have had to seriously consider.
"The race in Ireland is worth a lot of money, though, so we are going there instead."
While another venture into Pattern-race company lies in store for Marsha, plans remain in place for the James Fanshawe-trained Zest to have at least one more outing in a handicap before her sights are raised.
The three-year-old daughter of Duke Of Marmalade, who is related to Group One winners Soviet Song and Ribbons, opened her account for the season at Nottingham last week on her first try at a mile and a quarter.
Downie added: "It was good to see Zest win. She had a Guineas entry at the beginning of the year as we thought she was quite smart.
"She never really looked like doing it this year over a mile and we did think she would need a bit further. Her pedigree suggested that.
"There are no fancy plans yet, she will run in another handicap before we look at anything bigger.
"Ribbons took a similar route running in handicaps before going into Listed races. She has always been promising and we've always like her, but we will step her up in class when the time is right."
