Report of mares bred shows Mid-Atlantic decrease

Photo by Laurie Asseo.

by Frank Vespe

The Jockey Club today released Report of Mares Bred (RMB) statistics for the 2017 breeding season, showing a decline in both the number of active stallions in North America and the number of mares covered.

All told, based on RMBs received through October 17, 2017, The Jockey Club reports that 1,342 stallions covered 31,863 mares in North America during 2017. That was a 5.7 percent drop in the number of active stallions — from 1,423 to the same point in 2016 — and a similar 5.6 percent decrease in the number of mares bred, from 33,746.

Based upon historical reporting trends, The Jockey Club estimates an additional 2,000 to 3,000 mares will be reported as bred during the 2017 breeding season.

The statistics further indicate that the percentage of mares bred by large-book stallions — those that bred at least 125 mares — hit 29. 4 percent. That figure is substantially similar to what it has been the last couple of years but significantly higher than the 19.3 percent number of 2013.

Not one of those large-book stallions, however resided in the Mid-Atlantic.

Uncle Lino was the region’s busiest stallion, servicing 103 mares from his home at Northview-PA, according to the Report of Mares Bred. He was closely followed by another new stallion, Mosler, standing at Country Life Farm, who bred 102 mares. In third was Golden Lad, standing at Northview-Maryland. He bred 91 mares.

The top three stallions all share one characteristic: none has had a runner to date. Golden Lad entered stallion service in 2016, while Mosler and Uncle Lino joined their respective rosters this year.

The top regional sires with runners on the ground were Great Notion (87 mares bred), Fiber Sonde (76), and Jump Start (72).

Great Notion, standing at Northview-Maryland, is represented by Saturday’s Maryland Million Distaff winner Crabcakes, among many others. He had three other runners place in Maryland Million events Saturday. He is currently the second-leading sire in Maryland, trailing only the deceased Not for Love. He saw 43 mares in 2015 and 65 last year.

Fiber Sonde, standing at West Virginia’s Beau Ridge Farm, is currently third-leading sire in the Mountain State, behind Windsor Castle and Limehouse. Two of Fiber Sonde’s offspring won West Virginia Breeders Classics races, topped by the ultra-impressive filly Moonlit Song, easy winner of the Cavada. He saw 94 mares in 2015 and 65 last year.

Jump Start, who stands at Northview-PA, is by far the leading sire in the Mid-Atlantic thus far in 2017, with over $4.4 million in progeny earnings — about twice what his nearest competitor, the deceased Not for Love, has accrued. He saw 102 mares in 2015 and 75 last year.

Overall, the Report of Mares Bred indicates the Mid-Atlantic saw the number of mares bred in the region decline by 3.75 percent, from 1,840 a year ago at this time to 1,771 to date this year. The biggest drop in sheer numbers occurred in Maryland, where the number of mares bred declined from 913 a year ago to 768 this year. That represented a nearly 16 percent drop from 2016.

On the positive side, Pennsylvania saw a similar increase. There, the number of mares bred rose by a bit over 15 percent, to 563, from 413 a year ago. West Virginia also saw its numbers grow, with stallions there breeding 405 mares, up from 378 last year (7.14 percent).

New Jersey and Virginia, with much smaller stallion rosters, both saw their number shrink.

REGIONAL STALLIONS: MARES BRED

Source: Jockey Club Report of Mares Bred.