The Jockey Club today reported that 1,447 stallions covered 29,699 mares in North America during 2020, according to statistics compiled through Oct. 4, 2021. These breedings have resulted in 19,021 live foals of 2021 being reported to The Jockey Club on Live Foal Reports.
The Jockey Club estimates that the number of live foals reported so far is 85-90 percent complete. The reporting of live foals of 2021 is down 3.3 percent from last year at this time when The Jockey Club had received reports for 19,677 live foals of 2020.
As customary, a report listing the number of mares bred in 2021 will be released later this month.
In addition to the 19,021 live foals of 2021 reported through Oct. 4, The Jockey Club also received 2,195 No Foal Reports for the 2021 foaling season. Ultimately, the 2021 registered foal crop is projected to reach 19,200.
The number of stallions declined 6.8 percent from the 1,552 reported for 2019 at this time last year, while the number of mares bred declined 4.8 percent from the 31,198 reported for 2019.
ONTARIO is just one of three provinces/states to report an increase in live foals for 2021 along with Maryland and New Mexico. Through Oct. 4, Ontario reports 359 live foals, up 2.6 percent (350) from a year ago.
Kentucky annually leads all states and provinces in terms of Thoroughbred breeding activity. Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 55.5 percent of the mares reported bred in North America in 2020 and 60.6 percent of the live foals reported for 2021.
The 16,485 mares reported bred to 212 Kentucky stallions in 2020 have produced 11,535 live foals, a 2.7 percent decrease on the 11,851 Kentucky-sired live foals of 2020 reported at this time last year. The number of mares reported bred to Kentucky stallions in 2020 decreased 4.4 percent compared to the 17,240 reported for 2019 at this time last year.
The following table shows the top 10 states and provinces ranked by number of state/province-sired live foals of 2021 reported through October 4, 2021.
The statistics include 243 progeny of stallions standing in North America but foaled abroad, as reported by foreign stud book authorities at the time of publication.