North American Live Foal Numbers Dip 2.2% for 2022

The Jockey Club reported Oct. 12 that 1,303 stallions covered 29,065 mares in North America during 2021, according to statistics compiled through Oct. 6. These Thoroughbred breedings have resulted in 18,609 live foals of 2022 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% complete. The reporting of live foals of 2022 is down 2.2% from last year at this time when The Jockey Club had received reports for 19,021 live foals of 2021.

In addition to the 18,609 live foals of 2022 reported through Oct. 6, The Jockey Club also received 2,191 No Foal Reports for the 2022 foaling season. Ultimately, the 2022 registered foal crop is projected to reach 18,700.

The number of stallions in 2021 declined 10% from the 1,447 reported for 2020 at this time last year, while the number of mares bred declined 2.1% from the 29,699 reported for 2020.

The 2022 foal counts are available alphabetically by stallion name through the "Breeding Statistics" link on the 2022 Fact Book page on jockeyclub.com.

Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa's Maclean's Music   topped the sire rankings by number of 2022 foals at 183, which is more than four times the 42 foals he sired in 2021. The top runner this year by the 14-year-old son of Distorted Humor is multiple grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior  , who was named Eclipse champion male sprinter for 2021. Jackie's Warrior has won two grade 1s this year and earned $1,225,200 so far, raising his career earnings to $2,779,164. Maclean's Music also is the sire of 2017 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Cloud Computing  .

The number of stallions siring 100 foals or more dropped in 2022 to 39, down from 43 in 2021. Those siring more than 150 foals include McKinzie   (174), Into Mischief   (172), Munnings   (166), Authentic   (165), Vekoma   (161), Omaha Beach   (157), and Practical Joke   (155).

Gainesway's multiple grade 1 winner and multi-millionaire McKinzie led all first-crop sires by number of foals. Besides Spendthrift Farm's Authentic and Vekoma, who are second- and third-ranked, respectively, the other first-crop sires with more than 100 foals include Instagrand   (136), Improbable   (127), Thousand Words   (127), Complexity   (126), Global Campaign   (126), Volatile   (125), Game Winner   (121), War of Will   (115), and Tiz the Law   (101).

Kentucky annually leads all states and provinces in terms of Thoroughbred breeding activity. Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 57.8% of the mares reported bred in North America in 2021 and 61.6% of the live foals reported for 2022.

The 16,796 mares reported bred to 207 Kentucky stallions in 2021 have produced 11,460 live foals, a 0.7% decrease compared with the 11,535 Kentucky-sired live foals of 2021 reported at this time last year. The number of mares reported bred to Kentucky stallions in 2021 increased 1.9% compared with the 16,485 reported for 2020 at this time last year.

Among the 10 states and provinces with the most mares covered in 2021, four produced more live foals in 2022 than in 2021 as reported at this time last year: California, Ontario, Oklahoma, and Indiana.

The following table shows those 10 states and provinces sorted by the number of state/province-sired live foals of 2022 reported through Oct. 6.

The statistics include 181 progeny of stallions standing in North America but foaled abroad, as reported by foreign stud book authorities at the time of publication.

The report also includes 50 mares bred to 19 stallions in North America on Southern Hemisphere time; the majority of these mares have not foaled.

As is customary, a report listing the number of mares bred in 2022 will be released later this month.