Jockey Club reports decline in foal crop

The Jockey Club reported Thursday that 3,638 stallions covered 61,262 mares

in North America during 2007, according to statistics compiled through September

4. These matings have resulted in 34,561 live foals of 2008 being reported to

The Jockey Club on Live Foal Reports received as of September 4.

As in past years, The Jockey Club estimates that the reporting of live foals,

at this point in time, is approximately 90 percent complete. The reporting of

live foals of 2008 is down 4.8 percent from last year at this time when The

Jockey Club had received reports for 36,317 live foals of 2007.

"The decline in live foals of 2008 reported to date corresponds to the

decline in mares bred during 2007," said Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club's vice

president of registration services. "These factors led us to revise our

registered foal crop projection for 2008 downward by 900 foals to 36,600."

In addition to the 34,561 live foals of 2008 reported through September 4,

The Jockey Club had also received 7,199 No Foal Reports for the 2008 foaling

season.

The number of stallions declined 6.3 percent from the 3,881 reported for 2006

at this time last year, while the number of mares bred decreased 3.7 percent

from the 63,629 reported for 2006.

The 2007 breeding statistics are available alphabetically by stallion name

through the Publications and Resources link on The Jockey Club homepage at

www.jockeyclub.com.

Iuliano emphasized that the breeding statistics are not a measurement of the

live foals born in each state or province, but rather a count of

state/province-sired live foals, regardless of where the foals were born. He

also stressed that the statistics should not be taken to represent the fertility

record of any one stallion.

Kentucky annually leads all states and provinces in terms of Thoroughbred

breeding activity. Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 35.8 percent of the

mares reported bred in North America in 2007 and 43.5 percent of the live foals

reported for 2008.

The 21,938 mares reported bred to 358 Kentucky stallions in 2007 have

produced 15,040 live foals, a 1.6 percent increase on the 14,801 Kentucky-sired

live foals of 2007 reported at this time last year. The number of mares reported

bred to Kentucky stallions in 2007 increased 2.3 percent against the 21,455

reported for 2006 at this time last year.

Among the 11 states and provinces in which stallions covered at least 1,000

mares in 2007, two produced more state/province-sired live foals in 2008 than in

2007 as reported at this time last year and nine produced fewer.

The 11 states and provinces, ranked by number of state/province-sired live

foals of 2008 reported through September 4, are:

Stallion Location		2007 Mares Bred		2007 Live Foals		2008 Live Foals		% Change
Kentucky		21,938		14,801		15,040		+1.6
Florida		6,489		4,063		3,593		-11.6
California		4,723		3,131		3,004		-4.1
Louisiana		4,217		2,016		2,009		-0.3
New York		2,067		1,316		1,098		-16.6
Texas		2,290		1,213		1,055		-13.0
New Mexico		1,952		997		911		-8.6
Maryland		1,439		966		811		-16.0
Ontario		1,455		783		768		-1.9
Oklahoma		1,684		601		704		+17.1
Pennsylvania		1,148		550		533		-3.1

The statistics include 525 progeny of stallions standing in North America but

foaled abroad, as reported by foreign stud book authorities at the time of

publication. In this category, 135 live foals by North American stallions were

reported from Korea (128 reported in 2007). Second was Venezuela, which reported

67 live foals (27 reported in 2007).

Remaining countries on the list, with 2007 returns in parentheses, are Japan,

54 (59); India, 48 (5); Mexico, 44 (36); Argentina, 39 (no report in 2007);

Philippines, 33 (13); Ireland, 21 (75); Saudi Arabia, 21 (20); Thailand, 18

(17); Trinidad, 12 (no report in 2007); France, 10 (2); Brazil, 9 (6); Chile, 5

(7); Great Britain, 4 (44); Ecuador, 2 (no report in 2007); Turkey, 2 (no report

in 2007); and Sweden, 1 (1).

The report also includes 105 mares bred to 31 stallions in North America on

Southern Hemisphere time. The majority of these mares have not foaled.