Marsha is reported to be at the top of her game as she bids to become the first horse for 23 years to complete back-to-back victories in the Qatar Prix de l'Abbaye when she bursts out of the stalls in the five-furlong dash at Chantilly on Sunday.
The mighty Lochsong took Europe's sprint crown in 1993 and 1994 and Marsha goes to France on the back of a heart-stopping win over American speedster Lady Aurelia in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August.
The daughter of Acclamation, trained by Sir Mark Prescott, will be cheered on by 200 members of the Elite Racing Club, who own and bred the filly.
"We're very much looking forward to it. We're very happy with her and she appears to be in as good a form as she was before York," said Elite's racing manager Dan Downie.
"The ground should be fine. If they get the rain it might be a bit slower than last year.
"I'd say she's in a similar place to where she was a year go. Her coat is starting to go, but it did last year so you wouldn't be worried about that. We're generally happy with her.
"She emulated Lochsong in the Palace House (by defying a 7lb penalty) so let's hope she can do so again."
Marsha's regular partner Luke Morris is not too worried about the prospect of testing ground.
"She's in good form and I'm looking forward to it," he told At The Races.
"She's probably better on better ground, to be honest, but she ran reasonably well at Goodwood on it and that track suits her well so I'd be hopeful of a big run.
"Obviously Battaash and Signs Of Blessing are both well suited to very soft ground so if it does go very soft it will play to their strengths more than ours, but she has handled it before.
"Hopefully it won't inconvenience her too much."
Battaash was only fourth in the Nunthorpe but appeared to lose the race in the preliminaries.
Charlie Hills' three-year-old previously had Marsha back in third place when chalking up an impressive hat-trick of summer successes culminating in the King George Stakes at Goodwood.
"It's up to him a bit. Obviously he didn't show his best in any sense at York. (He was) disappointing with his attitude, so I hope he does it a bit better mentally," said Angus Gold, racing manager to owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum.
"Charlie has been very happy with him. We know the ability is there. Let's hope he can get back to where he was in the summer."
Profitable had split the pair when runner-up in that Group Two sprint and his trainer Clive Cox believes last year's King's Stand Stakes scorer should not be underestimated.
"He's very well indeed and we are looking forward to it," the Lambourn handler told At The Races.
"The forecast will keep it wetter rather than holding ground, but I've no concerns about an easy surface for him.
"(On) his standard of performance, he is a proven Group One horse. He should be competitive, his performances at Ascot are what we hang on to. There's no doubting his ability.
"He's had time between races this year and I'm really looking forward to it."
Connections of the Richard Fahey-trained Queen Kindly feel the drop back to the minimum distance should work in her favour, judged on her latest run in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, where she only lost her way in the last of the six furlongs.
"We're very hopeful. We thought she ran a little bit keen at Haydock and the ground was very heavy. We're hoping it won't be quite so heavy at Chantilly," said Bruce Raymond, racing manager to owner Jaber Abdullah.
"She's got plenty of speed so the drop back to five will be no problem."
The UK raiding party is completed by David Griffiths' Duke Of Firenze, who ran a fine race to finish sixth 12 months ago, and the David O'Meara-trained three-year-old Fashion Queen.
Aidan O'Brien's Alphabet is the sole Irish challenger, while the main French hopes are last season's Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Signs Of Blessing and the two-year-old Rimini, who beat Godolphin's Sound And Silence in a Group Three over this course and distance four weeks ago.
