Speedy Sioux Nation Filly Adds Group 2 To Impressive Record

Matilda Picotte (3f Sioux Nation - Hallie’s Comet, by One Cool Cat) was not for catching as she made all to run out a decisive winner of the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Newmarket.

Kieran Cotter’s stable star impressed last time out in the Group 3 Sceptre Fillies’ Stakes at Doncaster and was the sole filly to line up on Friday. She blazed a trail out in front under Oisin Murphy and had her rivals in trouble from two furlongs out. Ridden approaching the final furlong, she kept on strongly to score by two lengths and three quarters, with the same gap back to the third horse.

“This the pinnacle,” Kieran Cotter later said. “She has just got better and better, and maybe we've got a handle on her style of running better. She’s a Group 1 filly in waiting.” On future plans, Cotter added, “There is the Breeders' Cup, but we will go home and have a think about it.”

It was later revealed that Matilda Picotte will be offered at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale, where she will boast an impressive CV. The first crop daughter of Sioux Nation is now a three-time Stakes winner and has placed at Group level on seven occasions, including when finishing third in the Group 1 1,000 Guineas. Furthermore, the three-year-old has finished out of the first four just once from 13 starts.

Bred by Dr Tan’s Mighty Universe, Matilda Picotte is one of eight Group winners from two crops by Sioux Nation.