L'Abbesse de Jouarre

L'Abbesse de Jouarre was bred by James Snarry and was foaled in 1886[1] at Snarry's breeding and training facility at Musley Bank in Malton, North Yorkshire. James Snarry was the son of Sir Tatton Sykes's stud-groom.[2] L'Abbesse's sire, Trappist, was sired by the 1867 Epsom Derby winner and leading stallion Hermit and was "one of a little company of exceptionally speedy horses."[3] L'Abbesse's dam, Festive, was sired by Carnival and produced four full-siblings to L'Abbesse, the colts L'Abbé Morin and The Black Prince (who was gelded and sent to Germany)[4] and the fillies Travesty and Musley Maid.[5] Festive produced 14 foals between 1883 and her death in 1898.[6]

L'Abbesse de Jouarre was purchased in 1887 by Lord Randolph Churchill, the father of Winston Churchill, for £300 (the least expensive of Snarry's yearlings)[7] at the Doncaster sale.[8] L'Abbesse de Jouarre was named, at Lady Randolph's suggestion, after a play of the same name by French historian Ernest Renan.[8] Lady Randolph described L'Abbesse de Jouarre, nicknamed "Abscess on the Jaw"[7] during her racing career, as a small, "beautiful black mare" with a "heart bigger than her body".[8]

Lord Randolph Churchill owned L'Abbesse de Jouarre in partnership with the Earl of Dunraven during her racing career.

Lord Randolph and the Earl of Dunraven owned and raced L'Abbesse de Jouarre in partnership.[9] Churchill's racing colours were a pink shirt with brown sleeves and cap.[10] L'Abbesse de Jouarre earned the nickname "Abscess on the Jaw" during her racing career, owing to the difficulty the public and bookmakers had in pronouncing her name correctly,[11] leading her to be associated with the phonetically similar phrase. Her trainer Robert Sherwood referred to the horse as L'Abbesse to avoid the pronunciation issue.[11]

Lord Randolph Churchill retained an interest in L'Abbesse until June 1894, when illness and strained finances forced him to sell his share to the Earl of Dunraven.[20] L'Abbesse de Jouarre only produced three live foals during her breeding career; a colt and a filly to the cover of St. Simon, and a brown colt sired by Galopin named Cowl,[21] which was destroyed at a young age due to lameness.[22] L'Abbesse de Jouarre's 1893 filly foal, Festa, sired by St. Simon, was exported to Germany and became a broodmare in Baron Arthur von Weinberg's stud. Festa "became one of the most important mares in German breeding history",[23] producing the good racehorses Festina, Fels, Fabula, Faust and Furor, whose combined race earnings were almost 1,500,000 marks.[24] Her 1896 St. Simon colt, Desmond, was a successful racehorse as a two-year-old but did not succeed in the major three-year-old races. Desmond became one of the top ten leading sires in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the early 1900s, topping the list in 1913; he sired the 1913 Epsom Derby winner Aboyeur, and Grand Parade's dam.[25] L'Abbesse de Jouarre died on 6 March 1897[26] while trying to deliver a stillborn foal sired by Isinglass.[1]