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Grand National festival

So far so good as Marsha stretches her legs on main track

Marsha: saddled up, mounted and ready for exercise
Marsha: saddled up, mounted and ready for exerciseCredit: William Butler

Sir Mark Prescott will saddle his first runner at the Breeders' Cup when Marsha contests the Turf Sprint on Saturday. Here, in the second of his daily diary instalments, his assistant William Butler provides an update on preparations . . .

I landed in San Diego at 7.30pm, got to the hotel at 9pm, had dinner and got absolutely no sleep because the body clock is the wrong way round.

I couldn't wait to get up to see Marsha to make sure she was okay. When I got to the barn I was very pleased – she looks great and is eating and drinking. I think all the international horses look very well. So far so good.

Del Mar isn't too big and is more relaxed than I anticipated. At the bigger tracks like Santa Anita it can get very busy and a bit chaotic with all the horses training at the same time. It's just right here. You can pick your slot on the track and keep it as relaxed.

It's been spitting with rain. The American guys are saying what terrible weather it is, but it's 18C or 19C, like a typical English summer's day. It's not red-hot like last week, so it's perfect for the horses. The bit of warm weather has made the horses all gloss up.

We gave Marsha a leg stretch today, a jog round the main track with a pony this morning, just to get her out, get her used to her surroundings and get that first day over and done with. She looked fine, was nice and fresh and behaved well.

We'll step it up a bit tomorrow and give her a gentle canter; overall I'm very pleased. The team have done a very good job and she looks to have got over the trip over well.

She'll probably stick to the dirt track now to canter. It's a foreign surface to her but I feel the turf can be very firm here, so we'll leave that for raceday.


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