August 1: Save the date

Newcomers to racing have often been confused by the fact that thoroughbred racehorses all have the same birthday.

Every foal born is given a ‘birthday’ of August 1 in the Southern Hemisphere (January 1 in the Northern Hemisphere), even if foals are late and are dropped in the first week of December.

Since before Federation, breeders, trainers and owners have abided by August 1 as the date that will differentiate between a horse’s age.

Long-time veterinary surgeon Glenn Robertson-Smith maintains that it is vital to have a collective date of August 1 when dealing with racehorses.

“That date is set so that mares will begin foaling from early August and in some cases, may still be going in December. But despite the disparity or distance of, say, August 3 and December 2, the December foal, while some five months behind the August foal, both will be categorised by the same age,” he explained.

“The breeding industry and the dates that work around it have proven by and large to be successful.

Sure, you are going to have those November/December foals at a disadvantage, but potential owners and trainers often look beyond a peculiar date, especially if they are going to give horses time before they come to the races,” he said.

Robertson-Smith pointed out that once a foal is born, it will stay with its mother for four or five months, until the foal is taken away with other foals to be weaned.

After this process, these horses become yearlings, where they are taught to be led and handled prior to going to sale.

After the yearling stage and until they all become two-years-old, they are usually sent to a horse breaker in order to be trained to be ridden for the first time.

After some weeks, most of the broken-in two-year-olds will go to a racing stable for some light education and a possible look at the barrier stalls.

This is a crucial time.

Trainers will sift through numbers and if they see a precocious colt or filly that is enjoying time in the stable, has a pedigree to run early, and are physically equipped for a real preparation, these horses will be chosen to be worked on. 

“The others will often be sent to the paddock to mature, perhaps due to their pedigree or bone structure,” said Robertson-Smith.

For the young horses that may not look to have a promising racing career, they are snapped up by people in other facets of the equine industry, such as equestrian.

The Melbourne Cup, the world’s finest handicap, has an interesting history with the ages of horses that perform in it.

The race is limited to three-year-olds and over, however three-year-olds rarely compete in the Melbourne Cup. There are two reasons for this: the Group 1 Victoria Derby for three-year-olds is just three days earlier, and the second is that many trainers believe that a 3200m race in November, where some of the combatants aren’t even three, would be too taxing. Skipton, all the way back in 1941, was the last three-year-old to win the Cup.

Four and five year old horses have the best record in the Cup, with a combined strike rate of 55.2% in the 163 runnings of the Melbourne Cup. 

6YOs have won 12 of the last 26 Melbourne Cups – including four years in a row between 2010 and 2013 - Americain (2010), Dunaden (2011), Green Moon (2012) and Fiorente (2013)

Only three 8YOs have won the Melbourne Cup: Catalogue (1938), Toryboy (1865) and Twilight Payment (2020), who won as a European 7YO, racing as an 8YO in Australia.

Older New Zealand stayers have been well represented in the Melbourne Cup, with 9YOs such as Kiwi, Magistrate and Battle Heights all coming over the ditch to compete in the most testing of races. 

Those three are among 22 9YOs to have lined up on the first Tuesday in November, since 1866.

Only seven 10 YOs have made it to the race, with Shadow King faring the best when finishing fourth in 1935.

The oldest horse to ever compete in a Melbourne Cup was in 1982 when Magistrate, aged 11, finished seventeenth.

However, Red Cadeaux finished second as an 8YO in, while Vintage Crop (1992 Cup winner) came third in the 1995 edition of the race, also as an 8YO.