Kincsem (; Hungarian for "My Precious" or "My Treasure"; March 17, 1874 – March 16, 1887) was a Hungarian Thoroughbred racehorse who has the longest undefeated record of any racehorse after winning all of her 54 races. The next closest in this regard is Black Caviar, who won all her 25 races. Foaled in Kisbér, Hungary in 1874, Kincsem is a national icon and widely considered one of the top racehorses of the 19th century.
Over four seasons, Kincsem won against female and male competitors at various race tracks across Europe, including multiple Classic race victories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She raced frequently in Germany, winning the Grosser Preis von Baden three times. In her four-year-old campaign, she traveled to England to win the Goodwood Cup, then won the Grand Prix de Deauville in France. In total, Kincsem defeated 85 different horses who had won over 400 races. She defeated 17 classic winners, including four consecutive Deutsches Derby winners (Double Zero, Pirat, Oroszvár, Künstlerin), three consecutive Prei der Diana winners (Chére Amie, Altona, Illona), a Poule d'Essai winner (Fontainebleau), Prix de Diane winner (Mondaine), etc...
As a broodmare, Kincsem produced just five foals, four of whom survived. Nevertheless, two of her foals became Classic winners and her daughters also proved to be outstanding broodmares. Her line has had a lasting influence on the breed, with modern descendants including English Classic winners Polygamy and Camelot.
Background Kincsem was bred at the stud of Ernő Blaskovich at Tápiószentmárton, in The Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Her sire, Cambuscan, was bred by Queen Victoria and in 1864 went on to win the July Stakes and place in the St. Leger Stakes. He was sold to Hungarian interests and was brought to stand at the Hungarian National Stud in the Kisbér District in 1873. Cambuscan was by Newminster, while his dam, The Arrow, was by Slane. Kincsem was out of the Hungarian mare Waternymph, a daughter of the English horse Cotswold. Kincsem's third dam, Seaweed was also by Slane, making Kincsem inbred to him in the third and fourth generations (3x4).ASB – Kincsem (HUN) Retrieved on 2009-8-7
At that time, there were thieves in Hungary called betyars who stole cattle and horses. One night they tried to steal horses from an open summer stable of Blaskovich that had only a crossbar through the door. They made a noise, so stable staff chased them away and the horses, including Waternymph, were saved. This legend was later distorted and attributed to Kincsem, who in the new version was allegedly stolen by wandering Gypsies and later returned to her owner.Turf and Sport Digest, September, 1949
Another distorted legend says that Kincsem was once offered for sale as part of a package deal with six other yearlings for 7000 gulden but she were rejected by the buyer, Baron Alex Orczy. In fact, according to a newspaper article about the auction, Kincsem was not on the list. Blaskovich later wrote that he didn't want to sell her because she had an unusually long, easy galloping stride and he loved her very much for her calm and very affectionate nature. In November 1875, Blaskovich sent her to Göd, seventy kilometers away, where trainer Robert Hesp opened a new stable that year. Kincsem arrived there “on the hoof” and the journey took two days. Englishman Robert Hesp trained her throughout her career and she was ridden by other Englishmen Elijah Madden (42 wins), Archie Wainwright (9 wins) and Tom Busby (3 wins).
Kincsem was a liver chestnut without any white markings who stood high at maturity. Several descriptions were written during her life. The first was written even before her first race, in the spring of 1876, when the editors of the racing newspaper Sportblatt visited the leading stables and described Kincsem as the best two-year-old in Austria-Hungary. Sportblatt from 8 April 1876: "The chestnut mare by Cambuscan from the Waternymph looks most like a racehorse. She is over and over full of quality, long and deep, stands on dry, strong, flawless legs and shows herself to great advantage in a fast gallop. We think we are not mistaken in expressing the view that [she] is destined to play an excellent role on the racetrack." During her stay in England, newspapers described her movement as admirable - long, flat, spacious, and it was said that there was no horse with a better stride at Newmarket. A few weeks later in France, a journalist under the pseudonym Freemann wrote in the newspaper Le Jockey: "It is rare to see a more complete type of racehorse than Kincsem, when she appeared on the track with her tall figure, magnificent lines, excellence, strength, lightness, with a figure as perfect as a gallop, and we understood why Captain Matchell, one of the greatest connoisseurs in the world, offered £10,000 to her owner, who refused it." Another journalist, Robert Milton, wrote in Le Figaro: "Mr. Blaskovich's mare is the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life. All the breeders admire her and her victory was met with great applause." Nevertheless, American novelist Brainerd Kellogg Beckwith (not a contemporary of Kincsem) wrote his own description in his 1967 book "Step and Go Together": "She was as long as a boat and as lean as a hungry leopard ... she had a U-neck and mule ears ... she was lazy, gangly, shiftless ... she was a daisy-eating, scenery-loving, sleepy-eyed and slightly pot-bellied hussy."...
Kincsem was noted for her quirky personality, though some details may have become exaggerated over time. For example, a legend claims that she always traveled with a cat and might not move if separated from it. A painting shows her with a cat that some sources name Csalogány (nightingale). Contemporary sources make no mention of the cat but many articles of Sportblatt refer to her traveling with a horse named Csalogany. During Kincsem's extensive travels, all her hay and grain came from Blaskovich's stud farm (then an unusual arrangement), and she refused to eat anything else. She was also particular about the quality of the water she drank. On one occasion at Baden-Baden, the water ran out and she refused to drink for two days until a suitable substitute was found at what was subsequently known as Kincsem's Well.
Racing career 1876: Two-year-old season
Another legend, used in the Hungarian movie Kincsem, speculates that Kincsem started her career in Germany because Blaskovich was ashamed of her, but the real reason was a summer break on Austrian and Hungarian racetracks. During the three-month break, Austrian and Hungarian stables traveled to German racetracks with their best horses, particularly the two-year-olds who did not have races in Austria-Hungary until September. Trainer Robert Hesp traveled to the Berlin with some of his horses and the first to start was Csalogany, who won easily at odds of 3–2. Kincsem made her debut three days later on 21 June and beat three German horses by 4 lengths as the 1/3 odds-on favourite.
The next stop was Hannover, where on 1 July Csalogany won the Zukunfts-Rennen by 1 length in front of the Austro-Hungarian colt Hamburg. On the next day, Kincsem won the Vergleichspreis also by 1 length with Hamburg in second. Third was a three-year-old, Double Zero, who would later win the Deutsches Derby. On 3 July, Csalogany added another victory and the expedition continued to Hamburg. On 9 July, Kincsem won the Hamburger Criterium by lengths ahead of the German filly Adelaide and colt Hamburg. Csalogany ran two races in three days in Hamburg, winning the Vergleichs-Rennen ahead of the filly Little Luder. She was subsequently beaten by the great four-year-old colt Basnas in Pokal and got a break.
Kincsem added three more victories in Germany, beating the Austro-Hungarian colt Blücher by lengths at the Royal Meeting in Bad Doberan and German filly Regimentstochter by 10 lengths in a match race in the Louisa Rennen in Frankfurt. Her sixth victory came on 31 August in the Zukunfts-Rennen (Zukunftspreis that time) in Baden Baden, where she beat her stablemate Criterium by 2 lengths.
The stable then returned to Hungary for the fall campaign. On 2 October, Kincsem showed her best two-year-old form when beating Little Luder in the Polgárok dija in Sopron by a huge margin. The Hungarian horseracing newspaper Vadász- és Versenylap reported that she won by 15 to 20 lengths. A description of Kincsem was published after the race in Sportblatt: "Despite the fact that this two-year-old filly measures , all her limbs are built perfectly proportionally and impress with their regularity and colossal strength, in which the durability peculiar to the filly ad oculos is demonstrated."
In her next start on 15 October, she met stablemate Csalogany in the Kétévesek versenye in Budapest. Elijah Madden, who had ridden both fillies before, chose to ride Kincsem. The field of ten was the biggest ever faced by Kincsem. Vadász- és Versenylap reported that Kincsem and Csalogany left the rest the field behind and fought from halfway head to head, with Kincsem holding off Csalogany by half a length. Little Luder was third. This race is associated with the legend that Kincsem had bad starts. The source of the legend was jockey Robert Smart, who told a story 34 years later that the horses were standing at the starting line but Kincsem stood behind them and grazing. According to Smart, the starter ignored her, let down the flag and she lost 40 meters. Smart probably mistook either the horse or the race involved, because the original race reports never described the bad starts of Kincsem, and the report from this particular race says: "An excellent start, after which the field goes in a bunch...".
On 22 October, Kincsem stepped up in distance from sprints and won the Kladruber Preis at 1600m in Vienna, beating colts Der Landgraf and Hamburg by 5 lengths. She finished her two-year-old campaign on 29 October by winning the Kladruber Criterium at 1400m in Prague, cantering home lengths in front of Criterium.
Kincsem finished the year with ten victories from ten starts. She and Csalogany were the best two-year-old fillies of Austria-Hungary by earnings. The form of Csalogany subsequently fell and she subsequently won only one race, while traveling with Kincsem as a stable friend and lead horse for training. She was with Kincsem in Newmarket and in Goodwood when she prepared for the Goodwood Cup in 1878, and her Newmarket workouts with Kincsem were reported in Vadász- és Versenylap.
1877: three-year-old season
Over the winter, Kincsem was made the even-money favourite for the Nemzeti Dij (Hungarian 2000 Guineas) ahead of Csalogany, and was the 2/1 favourite for the Austrian Derby. She was not entered in the Deutsches Derby, in which the 6/1 favourite was Blücher, who had finished second behind her in the Erinnerungsrennen in Doberan.
Both the "world wonder fillies" of trainer Hesp opened the season on 27 April in Bratislava. In the Trial Stakes (Austro-Hungarian 2000 Guineas), Kincsem set the pace and beat Blücher "hands down" by one length in field of eight horses. However, Csalogany shockingly disappointed that day when she finished third behind Pfeil in the Staatspreis (State Prize) at odds of 2/10. Csalogany lost again two days later and both fillies went to Budapest.