Museum Treasure of the Month - April
Kincsem, Elijah Madden up.
Bronze sculpture by Isidore Bonheur (1827-1901)
Gift: The Friends of the National Horseracing Museum
Kincsem won all 54 races of her career that lasted from 1876 to 1879. George Lambton, the trainer of Sansovino, said she was the best horse that he had ever seen. Bonheur also seems to have been inspired by his subject.
Kincsem was born in Hungary and raced mostly in Hungary, Austria and Germany. She won her only race in England, the 1878 Goodwood Cup. Elijah Madden, who was born in Manchester, rode her for the first three years and 42 races. The Yorkshireman, Robert Hesp, trained Kincsem for Ernö Blaskovich.
Isidore Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France and came from a family of artists and sculptors. Bonheur specialized in small figure and animal groups and was renowned for his studies of the horse. He was a member of a group of animal sculptors of the late Nineteenth Century that became known as ‘Les Animaliers’.
This magnificent bronze features in the current Thoroughbred: State of the Art exhibition here at the Museum