Martial, a massive chestnut horse, was bred by Captain A. D. Rogers' Airlie Stud in Ireland.
His damsire Court Martial defeated Dante in the 1945 2000 Guineas and was twice the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland.
As a yearling, Martial was sent to the September sales in Dublin, where he was bought for 2,400 guineas by the trainer Paddy Prendergast on behalf of the American financier Reginald N.
[1] As a two-year-old, Martial showed promise when winning a race at the Curragh and then traveling to England to contest the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.
In the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse, Martial, ridden by the Australian jockey Ron Hutchinson, started an 18/1 outsider in a field of seventeen runners.