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Matron Stakes preview: "We definitely haven’t seen the best of her"
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Fri 11 Sep 2026
Blue Bolt bids to extend her faultless campaign in the Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes at Leopardstown.
The daughter of Blue Point has not looked back since making a successful start to her season in a Listed event at Goodwood, landing the Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot before seeing off Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Precise in both the Falmouth at Newmarket and the Prix Rothschild at Deauville.
With Aidan O’Brien fielding both Precise and the Newmarket Guineas winner True Love on Saturday, Blue Bolt’s connections admit she will have to be at her best if she is to continue her domination of the division.
Barry Mahon, racing manager for owners Juddmonte, said: “She’s had a nice break since France, which is good. She’s in good form and Andrew (Balding) says she’s working well.
“The track shouldn’t be a problem and the ground hopefully won’t be a problem. I think Colin (Keane) was keen on this race from a long way back, so hopefully she can turn up again.
“As you would expect on such a big weekend it’s a strong field. Aidan O’Brien’s two fillies are both talented, Paddy Twomey’s (City Of Memphis) looks a good filly and there are one or two others in there, so it’s a strong renewal.
“We’re happy with our filly, she’s unbeaten this year and seems to be getting the job done, so hopefully she can continue.”
O’Brien has managed to keep Precise and True Love apart since Royal Ascot, but they renew rivalry once more.
“We’ve been very happy with Precise and True Love since Deauville,” said the Ballydoyle handler.
“I think True Love is speed and with Precise we definitely haven’t seen the best of her I’d say. She doesn’t lie down easily and does get the trip well.”
Last year’s Matron heroine Fallen Angel has not hit the same heights so far this term, failing to hit the target in the Middleton Stakes at York or on her return from a break in the Dick Hern at Haydock, but connections feel she is a better horse at this time of the year.
Richard Brown, racing adviser to owners Wathnan, said: “She won three Group Ones on the bounce for us last year and owes us nothing. She’ll be off to stud at the end of the year.
“We ran her in the Middleton in the spring and she ran fine. We were obviously a bit disappointed getting beat in a Listed race last time, but she had been off for a while and was probably a little bit ring-rusty and needed it.
“She does come to herself in the autumn, there’s no doubt about that, and she won this last year, so we’ll see how she goes.
“We looked after her in the summer as we didn’t want to run her on rattling ground, so she’s a fresh filly going into the autumn. As you’d expect it looks an absolutely top-notch race, but we know she enjoys the track and we look forward to running her.”
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