Bayadère (mare)

Bayadère (born 1859 at Tournai-sur-Dive, Orne, died 1872) was France's most famous trotting mare of the 19th century. The daughter of The Norfolk Phœnomenon and a mare also named Bayadère, she lost her mother at birth, then was bred and trained for trotting by her Norman owners, Mr. Lefèvre-Montfort and Mr. Tiercelin.

Accumulating earnings considered prodigious for her time, she was beaten only once or twice in trotting races. She has the distinction of having first competed in mounted trotting, then in show jumping at the canter, with less success. Bayadère became a brood mare after her racing career, known for her playful temperament and tendency to jump over obstacles in her path. She died tragically at the age of 13, after impaling herself on the fence of her meadow while trying to cross it.

Sources 
Bayadère's contemporary sources are mainly compiled by hippologist and stud farm inspector Charles Du Haÿs (1818-1898), notably in his 1864 work Les trotteurs, origines, performances et produits. Horse historian Jean-Pierre Reynaldo devotes a section to Bayadère in his reference work Le Trotteur français (2007).

History 
Bayadère was born in 1859 at Mr. Tiercelin's kennel in Tournai-sur-Dive, Orne, Normandy. Her mother, also named Bayadère, died giving birth to her. The filly was bred in Pont-l'Évêque, then trained in Orne by her owners, Mr. Lefèvre-Montfort and Mr. Tiercelin.

Sources differ as to the number of races won and earnings of Bayadère. According to journalist Louis Cauchois (1912) and Jean-Pierre Reynaldo (2007 and 2015), Bayadère's total trotting winnings exceeded 50,000 francs, a sum considered "prodigious" in her days. In her 1908 book Le cheval de demi-sang, races françaises, Alfred Gallier cites 41 races won for 53,700 francs in earnings. In 1865, owner-breeder Alexandre Gaume, a contemporary of Bayadère, reported 32 victories in 33 races.

Armand Goubaux and Gustave Barrier's De l'extérieur du cheval (1884, translated into English in 1892 as The exterior of the Horse) mentions 22 victories for the years 1862 and 1863, as does journalist Albert de Saint-Albin, who reports earnings of 27,000 francs for Bayadère in those two years, in his 1890 book Les courses de chevaux en France. According to Reynaldo, in three years of competition, Bayadère won twenty-one trotting races throughout France. 

Two defeats are mentioned in Fernand Laffon's Le monde des courses (1896).

Trotting career 

According to Reynaldo, Bayadère contested her first trotting race over a distance of 4,000 m on 29 July 1862, at Caen, which she won with a kilometer reduction of 1'46, excellent for a mare of her age. At the same meeting, she took part in another race, over 5,000 m, and beat Yelva, a 4-year-old mare considered the best of her time. With these two victories on the same day, Bayadère earned her owners 2,000 francs twice over. She went on a competition tour, racing at Le Pin-au-Haras, Falaise and Avranches. There, she beats her speed record, with a kilometer reduction of 1'45''.

She remains unbeaten in her first 20 races, ridden by jockey Ludovic Bellet. According to Charles Du Haÿs, her earnings in 1863 alone amounted to 19,000 francs. Bayadère repeated the feat of winning two races on the same day. In 1864, according to Charles Du Haÿs for the magazine La vie à la campagne, she won 10 of 11 races (still ridden by Bellet), with earnings of 14,700 francs. 

Bayadère was beaten once, by Électeur, at Caen on 2 August 1864 (other sources incorrectly describe her as "unbeaten"). However, she weighed 68 kg, and Électeur 65 kg. This defeat caused quite a stir. Bayadère usually finished her races several hundred meters ahead of her rivals. On 15 August 1864, in Deauville, she easily beat her three rivals over 4,000m.

She raced not only in Normandy, but also at racecourses in the north and south of France. She sets her speed record at 1'42. Her average time over 4,000 m is 7' to 7'15. According to Alexandre Gaume, she has carried up to 96 kg in mounted trotting.

Steeplechase career 
Faced with a lack of trotting competition, her owner M. Lefèvre-Montfort trained her in steeplechase racing until 1867. However, Bayadère was not as talented in this discipline as in mounted trotting: "Why should this heroic trotter, excluded by her victories from all trotting struggles, be condemned to leave her marvellous specialty to chase the fortunes of steeplechases, where she brings the same heart, but not the same superiority?"

- Louis d'Osseville, De l'influence du cheval de demi-sang anglo-normand sur l'amélioration générale (On the influence of the Anglo-Norman half-blood horse on general improvement)An anecdote from one of his steeplechase races, at Caen in 1866, is recounted: Bayadère missed crossing the bench, fell and her rider, the young Lavignée, was thrown off; the mare continued her race without a rider. She then jumped the ropes and entered the trotting track, where she completed two laps (4,000 meters) at racing trot, to the enthusiastic cheers of spectators shouting "Bravo! Bayadère at the trot!

Bayadère won two races during her steeplechase career.

Broodmare 
From 1868, Bayadère became a broodmare, giving birth to a foal or filly by Conquérant each year in 1869 (Roquelaure), 1870 (Galathée) and 1871 (Orpheline). The mare died tragically in 1872, then in her 4th gestation, when she impaled herself on a fence she was trying to climb over. The magazine Sport universel illustré incriminates her obstacle course training as the cause of her death, as Bayadère was in the habit of attempting to jump fences in her pasture. Jean-Pierre Reynaldo, on the other hand, points to the mare's playful nature.

Description 
Bayadère is a bay or bay-brown mare. According to Charles Du Haÿs, her size is "barely approaching average". She is reputed to have had perfect tendons, joints and breathing.

According to Charles Tiercelin, son of one of Bayadère's two owners, she is rarely confined to the stall, the door remaining open to allow her to roam freely in the farmyard. Her box companion is a cat, and she only agrees to stay in the box if the cat is with her. 

According to Charles Tiercelin, the mare's character is said to be very gentle, although she is alert and lively. She is also playful, and enjoys jumping over roadside embankments when out for a walk. She also appreciates being petted, and Charles Tiercelin, as a child, testifies that he used to enjoy riding Bayadère by leaning on her head to scratch her back. 

Bayadère is one of the rare examples of trotter-galopeurs, racehorses that competed at both trot and canter.

Origins 

Bayadère is a daughter of The Norfolk Phœnomenon. The latter sired other trotting horses of the time, including Électeur and Yelva.

Bayadère's dam, born to her owner M. Lefèvre-Montfort in the Pays d'Auge, is also called Bayadère. She ran in trotting races, although she was injured by a crop. Bayadère is her only filly, dying after her first foaling.

Bayadère-mère's sire is a Thoroughbred named Ramsay, and her dam is a Norfolk Trotter mare named Marquise, born around 1835. According to Albert de Saint-Albin, Marquise was one of England's finest trotting mares. She is presumed to be a daughter of Old Phenomenon (also known as The Norfolk Phenomenon). Apart from Bayadère, Marquise had three other offspring in France: Ouvrier, Talma and Fridoline. The thoroughbred Ramsay was a racehorse unbeaten in four races.

Bayadère's origins are mainly marked by the Norfolk Trotter, which accounts for three-quarters of her pedigree. Her other origins are Thoroughbred.

Descent 
Although Bayadère's foal and two fillies all run on racecourses and perform honorably, none has the qualities of their dam. As Mr Tiercelin died in 1870, Bayadère's offspring ran under the sole name of Mr Lefèvre-Montfort. Roquelaure achieves a kilometer reduction of 1'50, Galathée 1'49, and Orpheline 1'53. Galathée races, among others, in 1873.

Bayadère's two fillies became breeders in their turn, but none of their descendants achieved a kilometer reduction of less than 1'37. By 1917, Galathée's descendants appeared to be extinct in the trotter lines. On the other hand, Orpheline's descendants were maintained that same year by Madame Edeline, the only breeder at the time to own descendants of Bayadère, who trotted at around 1'40".

Recognition and tributes 
Commenting on Bayadère's performance in 1863, Charles Du Haÿs declared that France had succeeded in establishing a national trotting breed through its dams. Stud inspector Éphrem Houël cited Bayadère as one of the trotters capable of competing with the best English and Russian horses of her days.

Horse historian Jean-Pierre Reynaldo calls her the "first star of French trotting" and France's most famous trotting mare in the 19th century, at a time when horses' careers were short and the media almost non-existent. She was named after the Prix Bayadère, a trial prize for fillies.

References

Bibliography 

 
 
 
 

Horse races
Individual mares