Happy Birthday August 1 2022

What do Yves Saint Laurent, fashion icon, Jason Momoa, Game of Thrones and Australian horses have in common? That's right! They all have a birthday on August 1. So bring out the feedbag!

Everyone loves a celebration and maybe it's not New Year's Eve or your birthday but anything for an excuse to party so let's all celebrate August 1.

August 1 is the official horse’s birthday in Australia so Happy Birthday everyone. Breakout the champagne and the birthday cake for the people and for the horses maybe some party hats and a few carrots in the feed bag.

Now this date is a simplification as most of the horses have their birthdays after August 1 but in simple terms it's close enough.

Most horses start their racing career as a two-year-old and barring accidents some retire at two, others at three, four or five and so on. It is rare to have a horse race for almost 10 years and then had their career finished as a result of rules.

August 1 is also the date when a horse that’s 12 years old, turning 13 is no longer allowed to race. Looking on the Internet, the equivalent age in human years is about 43 years –  I think there are plenty of people out there who think they can still race pretty well at that age but rules are rules.

Let's face it. Very few people having a bet on South Australian racing would not have bet on Flow Meter over his nine year racing career and indeed it is this type of horse that makes racing truly great. Not quite sure if he fits with champions of the turf but a great campaigner whichever way it's told.

Flow Meter was actually born on 27 September 2009 so in theory he could race for another two months before his actual 13th birthday.  Click the link to see the results in full (needs a wide screen)

Flow Meter

Career Summary: 200 start for 20 wins and 53 placings gave him a 10% win strike rate and strike rate of 37% for the place and prizemoney of $794,560 that's almost $4K in prizemoney every start which is not too shabby.

Flow Meter is a great example of a horse that probably would have retired quite a few years earlier under the old system having won seven races by April 2015 leaving few restricted classes carrying probably big weights or open company which would have been too competitive.

Under the relatively new benchmark system he went on to win another 13 races, which almost certainly would not have occurred in the old system and so the benchmark handicapping system is truly vindicated in the case of this horse. He ran in 20 cup races: successful in two, the Penola Cup and the Strathalbyn Cup with his best run arguably a second in the listed Murray Bridge Cup. Surprisingly, except for a six-month spell he ran nearly every month for his whole racing career doing best in small fields. Jordan Frew, Ron Stewart,Jeffrey Maund and Sairyn Fawke shared most of the riding honors.

As for his benchmark rating, he did as most horses starting at zero ran a somewhat inauspicious fourth in a Gawler maiden November 2013 not racing as many middle distance campaigners do until four years of age. Most horses that race in their early two-year-old days rarely make it to half of Flow Meter’s age on the racetrack.

He managed to win at his sixth start and when in form seemed to run pretty consistently notching up wins and places over the next few years working up to a benchmark rating of 85 in May 2015 staying around that figure for some time before peaking at 90 in October 2016 at the ripe old age of seven, 3 years into his racing career.

After peaking at 90, the competition was getting somewhere near the maximum with his benchmark rating trending lower back to 85 for another win in a field of 5 before drifting all the way back to 74 for success in the Penola Cup. The rating went up a few benchmark points from that win but sure enough when the rating dropped back to 69 he was successful in two more races and then another five horse race field win at 73. He ran a series of placings around that figure but did not win again until the rating dropped to, you guessed it, 69 when successful in the Strathalbyn Cup at the ripe old age of 10 years and 4 months.

He was starting to get on a bit and didn’t win again until the rating dropped to 64 and put two wins together at almost 11.

At 12 years of age it took until the rating dropped to 56 to have a further win and another two wins at 59 and 61.

Byblos Boy is another retiree on August 1 who also hit his peak rating later in life at the ripe old age of 12.

Australia is a country with an ageing local population so it’s great to see a few of the horses still out there performing and winning right to end. For Flow Meter, 200 not out is a great score.