The first reported foal of 2026 appeared at 2:30 a.m. New Year's Day, when a filly by grade 1 winner Muth was born at Gainesway Farm in Lexington.
Had she arrived just a few hours earlier, her future prospects would have looked considerably different. The filly is the first reported foal for Muth.
Why so? What does it matter whether a racehorse is born Dec. 31 or Jan. 1? It's a bit like starting out at school. When you're born Aug. 31, you might end up being the youngest (and probably smallest) in the class, but on Sept. 1 you're likely to be the oldest in your year group and have a head start.
As the official birthday for horses in the Northern Hemisphere is Jan. 1, that decides which age category they fit in for their races. Had this filly been born New Year's Eve, rather than New Year's Day, she already would be technically a year old and therefore would have been deemed a 2-year-old come 2027. The disadvantages of having to compete against peers considerably more mature are obvious.
What are the ins and outs?
The gestation period for horses is around 11 months, which means there's a bit of a balancing act. The covering season—the point at which stallions are accessible for service at their studs—begins in the middle of February and continues until July. The National Hunt season runs alongside but, as jump horses tend to begin later in life, there is less time pressure and those sires tend to be available until a bit longer in the year.
Aiming for a January foal seems risky, so what are the benefits?
People tend to want horses who can run as 2-year-olds and so having a month or two's growing advantage on the competition can be a big deal in the early days. Some punters regard date of birth as a big pointer when assessing juvenile maidens. February seems to be the preferred time, as Frankel and Enable were both born then, but development, pedigree, and inherent ability will win out over time.
Racing's current European champion, Calandagan, is a late January foal, while Dancing Brave, one of the all-time greats, was born in May.
There are plenty of complications to this. If a mare is already pregnant, she obviously has to have her foal before she can be covered again. They need to be "in season" on their reproductive cycle and, given that a stallion will serve two or three mares a day, they need to be found a gap in his schedule.
Does it ever go wrong?
Oh yes. There was a huge story at the beginning of the century when it was discovered that the 2000 Richmond Stakes (G2) winner Endless Summer was technically a 3-year-old when he won Glorious Goodwood's juvenile-only race. It emerged the colt had actually been born Dec. 26, 1997, but an employee at Juddmonte had adjusted it to Jan. 2. In a thoroughly embarrassing situation, Endless Summer eventually was disqualified from a number of his early starts.
Usually it is decided, with well-bred foals that arrive before New Year's Day, that they are better off going to the Southern Hemisphere, where the dates of the seasons are different. Great House, a Galileo bred by Coolmore born Dec. 28, 2016, was sold after winning an older-horse maiden when effectively only 3 for Donnacha O'Brien and went on to have a good career in Australia, even running in a Melbourne Cup (G1).
This year's Australian-bred winner of the Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) and Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp (G1) Asfoora was born in August—how does that work? Henry Dwyer's magnificent mare is Australian and, of course, they do things upside down over there. Asfoora's next official birthday is Aug. 1 and the Southern Hemisphere covering period runs between September and December to coincide with their seasons.
Early-arriving Muth foal
This filly with a large white blaze is nicely bred, being out of the winning Tapit mare Marlinspike and a half sister to the multiple stakes winner Bullet, descending from 2000 Clark Handicap (G2) winner Surfside.
Muth stood his first season at Gainesway in Kentucky in 2025 and ought to be capable of producing precocious types, as he was a grade 1 winner at 2 in the 2023 American Pharoah Stakes (G1), before landing the Arkansas Derby (G1) at 3. He covered 185 mares last season and has been priced at $30,000 this year.
"I was really excited by the quality of Muth's first foal, born on New Year's Day," Gainesway general manager Brian Graves said. "She's very leggy with a beautiful long neck and sloping shoulder, plenty of hip, and correct. If this foal is an indication of what's to come, then the future is incredibly bright for this stallion."
