Dancing Maid (29 April 1975 – 1982) was a French

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse and

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

. After winning one of her two races as a two-year-old she emerged as one of the best fillies in Europe in 1978, winning the

Prix Vanteaux The Prix Vanteaux is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,850 metres (about 1 mile and 1¼ furlongs) at Lon ...

Poule d'Essai des Pouliches The Poule d'Essai des Pouliches is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at ...

Prix Chloé The Prix Chloé is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Chantilly over a distance of 1,800 metres (about 1⅛ miles), and it is scheduled to take p ...

and

Prix Vermeille The Prix Vermeille is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), a ...

. She also finished a close second in the

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

Epsom Oaks The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards ...

and third in Europe's most prestigious all-aged race, the

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...

. She was retired from racing after one unsuccessful start as a four-year-old. She was not a success as a broodmare.

Background

Dancing Maid was a lightly built bay mare with a broad white blaze and three white

socks A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late ...

bred in France by her owner

Jacques Wertheimer Jacques Guy Wertheimer (18 August 1911 – 6 February 1996) was a prominent French businessman who inherited and ran the renowned House of Chanel perfume company. Wertheimer was born at the Les Forgettes villa in Deauville, to a Jewish family,

. She was from the second crop of foals sired by Lyphard, an American-bred stallion who raced in France, winning the

Prix Jacques Le Marois The Prix Jacques Le Marois is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbred colts and fillies aged three years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile ...

and

Prix de la Forêt The Prix de la Forêt is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1,400 metres (about 7 furlongs), and it i ...

in 1972. Lyphard went on to become a very successful breeding stallion in both Europe and North America, siring

Three Troikas Three Troikas (foaled 1976) was a French Thoroughbred champion racehorse who was owned, trained, and raced by three members of the famous Head family. The highlight of her career came in an impressive victory in the 1979 Prix de l'Arc de Triomp ...

Dancing Brave Dancing Brave (11 May 1983 – 2 August 1999) was an American-bred, British-trained thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from the autumn of 1985 until October 1986, he ran ten times and won eight races. Dancing Brave was the ou ...

and

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. Dancing Maid was the third foal of her dam, Morana and a granddaughter of Moira who finished fourth in the

Oaks Stakes The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2 ...

in 1962. Moira's dam Madrilene, was closely related to Mincio, who won the

Poule d'Essai des Poulains Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency. Classification Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ros ...

in 1960. Wertheimer sent the filly into training with Alec Head at Chantilly. She was ridden in all of her major races by her trainer's son

Freddy Head Freddy Head (born 19 June 1947, in Neuilly, France) is a retired champion jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing and currently a horse trainer. Known also as "Freddie", his grandfather was a jockey as was his father Alec Head who also became a succes ...

. Dancing Maid shared a breeder, owner, trainer and sire with another leading French filly of the same generation,

Reine de Saba Reine de Saba (7 May 1975 – 1988) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Bred and owned by Jacques Wertheimer and trained by Alec Head she raced for three seasons and won five of her twelve races. After showing promise as a j ...

Racing career

1977: two-year-old season

After finishing fourth over 1500 metres on her debut, Dancing Maid won a

maiden race In horse racing a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the se ...

over 1700 metres at

Longchamp Racecourse The Longchamp Racecourse (french: Hippodrome de Longchamp) is a 57 hectare horse-racing facility located on the Route des Tribunes at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France. It is used for flat racing and is noted for its variety of interlaced tr ...

in October, beating Gayka by half a

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

1978: three-year-old season

Dancing Maid began her three-year-old season in the Prix Vanteaux over 1900 metres at Longchamp on 16 April. Starting the 4.4/1 second favourite, she won by one and a half

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

from Reine Mere. The filly was then dropped back in distance for the

over 1600m two weeks later and was made the 11/10 favourite against nine opponents. She led from the start and was never seriously challenged, winning by five lengths from Fruhlingstag with A Thousand Stars in third. A month later, Dancing Maid was sent to England and moved up in distance for the 200th running of the Oaks Stakes over one and a half miles at

Epsom Downs Racecourse Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse on the hills associated with Epsom in Surrey, England which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. The "Downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course, which has a crowd capacity of 13 ...

. Starting favourite in a field of fifteen fillies she took the lead a quarter of a mile from the finish but was strongly challenged by

Fair Salinia Fair Salinia (18 March 1975 – 31 March 2004) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare best known for winning the classic Oaks Stakes in 1978. In a racing career which lasted from September 1977 until September 1978 she won four of he ...

. In a very close finish, Dancing Maid was caught in the final stride and beaten a short head by the British filly. On 12 July, Dancing Maid was dropped in class and distance to contest the Prix Chloé over 1800 metres at Évry Racecourse. Accompanied by her pacemaker Vallee des Fleurs she started at odds of 3/10 and won by half a length from Tintagel. On 17 September, Dancing Maid was made the 8/10 favourite for the Group One Prix Vermeille over 2400 metres at Longchamp, in which she was again matched against Fair Salinia. The field also included Calderina (

Prix de Malleret The Prix de Malleret is a Group 2 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and it is scheduled to ...

), Tempus Fugit ( Prix Penelope, Grand Prix de Vichy,

Prix de la Nonette The Prix de la Nonette is a Group 2 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 2,000 metres (about 1¼ miles), and it is scheduled to ...

), A Thousand Stars and Relfo (

Ribblesdale Stakes The Ribblesdale Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile 3 furlongs and 211 yards (2,406 metres), and it i ...

). Dancing Made tracked Fair Salinia, who set a strong pace but when the fillies turned into the straight Freddy Head found himself trapped on the inside rail with no room to make a challenge for the lead. Inside the final 200 metres a gap final appeared and Dancing Maid immediately accelerated, taking the lead in the final strides and winning by a length from Relfo with Amazer in third. Freddy Head elected to ride Dancing Maid in preference to the colt

Gay Mecene Gay Mecene (16 May 1975 – 24 December 1998) was an American-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. After winning his only race as a two-year-old in 1977, he developed into one of the best French-trained colts of his generatio ...

when the filly started third favourite for the

over the same course and distance on 1 October. She produced a strong run in the straight without ever looking likely to win and finished third of the eighteen runners behind the four-year-olds

Alleged In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

and

Trillion ''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English. * 1,000,000,000,0 ...

. Two weeks later, Dancing Maid was sent to England for a second time, but failed to reproduce her best form, finishing unplaced behind Swiss Maid in the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

1979: four-year-old season

Dancing Maid remained in training as a four-year-old but made only one appearance. On 29 April she started third favourite for the

Prix Ganay The Prix Ganay is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 2,100 metres (about 1 mile and 2½ furlongs) at Long ...

over 2100 metres at Loncgchamp but finished sixth of the eight runners behind Frere Basile.

Assessment

In 1977, the independent Timeform organisation awarded Dancing Maid a rating of 115, ten pounds below their top-rated two-year-old filly

Cherry Hinton Cherry Hinton is a suburban area of the city of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is around southeast of Cambridge city centre. History The rectangular parish of Cherry Hinton occupies the western corner of Flendish hundred on the so ...

and described her as being "likely to make a very smart 3-y-o". A year later, she was given a Timeform rating of 126, making her the second-best three-year-old filly of 1978 behind Swiss Maid. In the official International Classification she was rated the third best filly of her generation behind Swiss Maid and the

Prix de Diane The Prix de Diane, sometimes referred to as the French Oaks, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Chantilly over a distance of 2,100 met ...

winner

Breeding record

Dancing Maid was retired from racing to become a broodmare, but only produced one foal. Her daughter Dancing Vaguely a bay filly, foaled in Kentucky in 1981 and sired by

Vaguely Noble Vaguely Noble (1965–1989) was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United Kingdom and France. The colt is best known as the winner of the 1968 Group One Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe when he defeated the best horses from Engla ...

, was a stakes winner in France, winning the 1984 Prix Belle du Nuit. Dancing Maid died in 1982 and is buried in the equine cemetery at Hagyard Farm in Lexington.

Pedigree

References

{{reflist 1975 racehorse births 1982 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in France Racehorses trained in France Thoroughbred family 14-b