Matilda, a bay racehorse with her groom in a loosebox

Matilda, a bay filly, by Comus out of Juliana by Gohanna, was bred by the Hon. Edward Petre at Stapleton Park, Yorkshire in 1824. She was the first of sixteen St. Leger winners for the trainer John Scott. In 1826 she won sweepstakes at York and Doncaster and, in 1827, with James Robinson up, she beat Mameluke by half a length in the St. Leger. In the running of this race it was said that no handsomer little filly than Matilda or finer and more dashing colt than Mameluke ever met together on any racecourse. The outcome of the race was immensely popular in the North as Mameluke had won the Derby and represented the South in the rivalry between the two which was then at its peak. The race was even immortalised by the future Professor of Poetry at Oxford, Sir Francis Doyle, in epic verse running to some three hundred lines.

Matilda was 'of very fidgety disposition' and after her win in the St. Leger was 'most uncertain in her running'. Although she was placed in her first three races of 1828, whilst running for the Cup at Northallerton she bolted clean out of the course and did not start again.