EXACTLY one-third of the 27 runners for first-season sire Sioux Nation had won by close of business on Monday. One of the nine is Lakota Sioux, and her name alone is interesting.

The Lakota are a Native American people, also known as the Teton Sioux, and they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people. So a little research had gone into finding a suitable name for this Fethard Bloodstock Ltd-bred two-year-old who is trained by Charlie and Mark Johnston. She was purchased last year for just £15,000 (€16,800) at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale held in Newmarket.

Lakota Sioux is now the sixth winning offspring of the Group 3 Prix Allez France winner Shemiyla, an Aga Khan-bred and raced daughter of Dalakhani (Darshaan). Even though at sale time she was a half-sister to five winners, and from the first crop of the precocious Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy), the Johnston’s were able to secure Lakota Sioux for a modest enough sum, and they even did so in a private transaction.

Aga Khan

One of the winning siblings to Lakota Sioux was the French listed winner Sheraz (Sea The Stars), and he had won four races by then in the colours of His Highness, the Aga Khan. Sold to Australia towards the end of last year, Sheraz joined Chris Waller and in April of this year was runner-up in the Group 1 Sydney Cup at Randwick. What would he add to Lakota Sioux’s value should he go one better – and he is only a five-year-old?

The seventh foal from Shemiyla, who was herself sold carrying the three-time winner Surrey Gold (Golden Horn) for €100,000 in 2017, Lakota Sioux is the sixth to run and to win. She is followed by a yearling colt by Blue Point (Shamardal). If Lakota Sioux goes on to win a stakes race, she would be following in the hoof prints of her own first three dams.

Shemiyla is out of the listed winner Shemala (Danehill), and though she had just a pair of winning offspring, she is grandam of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Shakeel (Dalakhani). Shemala, meanwhile, is one of three stakes-winning daughters of the classic winner Shemaka (Nishapour), winner of the 1993 Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks.

Already in possession of a solid pedigree, and now a winner with the potential to go further, Lakota Sioux looks to have been especially well chosen as a yearling by Mark and Charlie Johnston.