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 owners, Mr. Lefèvre-Montfort and Mr. Tiercelin.

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 her pasture fence.

Bayadère's contemporary sources are mainly compiled by hippologist and stud farm inspector Charles Du Haÿs (1818–1898),[1] 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).

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" at the time.

[7] According to Reynaldo, in three years of competition, Bayadère won twenty-one trotting races throughout France.

[13] 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.

—Louis d'Osseville, De l'influence du cheval de demi-sang anglo-normand sur l'amélioration générale[24]An anecdote from one of the 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.

[3] In 1868, Bayadère became a broodmare,[25] giving birth to a foal or filly by Conquérant each year in 1869 (Roquelaure), 1870 (Galathée) and 1871 (Orpheline).

[8][25] 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.

[10] According to Charles Tiercelin, son of one of Bayadère's two owners, she was rarely confined to the stall, the door remaining open to allow her to roam freely in the farmyard.

[3][6] She appreciated being petted, and Charles Tiercelin, as a child, testified that he used to enjoy riding Bayadère by leaning on her head to scratch her back.

[8] Bayadère is a daughter of The Norfolk Phœnomenon who had sired other trotting horses including Électeur and Yelva.

[3] Commenting on Bayadère's performance in 1863, Charles Du Haÿs declared that France had succeeded in establishing a national trotting breed through its dams.

[15] Stud inspector Éphrem Houël cited Bayadère as one of the trotters capable of competing with the best English and Russian horses of her day.