Marshman made a smart start to his campaign with a front-running victory in the Prix Sigy at Chantilly.
Impressive in winning his first two starts at Ayr and Thirsk last summer, the Nick Bradley Racing-owned colt went on to fill the runner-up spot in the Gimcrack Stakes at York before rounding off his juvenile year by finishing fifth when favourite for the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.
Karl Burke’s charge was a warm order to make a successful reappearance at Group Three level in France and dominated from the outset in the hands of Clifford Lee.
Wodao, trained by Donnacha O’Brien, did his best to bridge the gap in the latter stages of the five-and-a-half-furlong contest but Marshman was well on top at the line, prompting Paddy Power to trim his odds for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot to 9/1 from 16/1.
Bradley confirmed the son of Harry Angel is likely to have one more run before heading to the showpiece meeting in Berkshire.
He said: “The season starts here really for us, so it’s nice to get off to a good start.
“Karl has been pretty positive all spring. He’s put the odd average piece of work in, but other than that he couldn’t have been any better.
“I thought he was a certainty today and he won like one. He got a little bit lonely at the end and the only danger was if he got tired on the ground, but we got away with it.
“We’ll look at the Sandy Lane at Haydock or the Duke of York Stakes next and then we’ll head for the Commonwealth Cup.”
