Report of Mares Bred in 2003: Steady As She Goes

The Jockey Club released the 2003 Report of Mares Bred on Thursday. The report, while not complete, shows less than a 1% decline in both the number of covering stallions and the number of mares bred over last year's figures.

The Jockey Club reported that 3,342 stallions covered 58,755 mares in North America during 2003, according to Reports of Mares Bred (RMBs) received as of Oct. 9, 2003.

The number of stallions declined 0.7% from the 3,364 reported at this time last year, while the number of mares bred dipped 0.6% from the 59,090 reported at this time in 2002.

The statistics include the number of mares bred to each stallion and represent approximately 90% of the mares bred in 2003. Historical trends indicate that The Jockey Club will likely receive an additional 800-1,000 RMBs from the 2003 breeding season.

"The returns to date are nearly on par with those reported last year at this time and support our earlier projection of 37,200 North American registered foals of 2004," said Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club's vice president of registration services. "However, comparing the figures against those of prior years is difficult when so many stallions have yet to be reported, despite the Aug. 1 deadline for submitting RMBs."

The number of stallions bred to 100 or more mares increased from 93 last year to 108 in 2003. Grand Slam again led all stallions with 197 mares bred, four more than first-year stallion Johannesburg.

Tale of the Cat, with 192 mares bred, was third on the list. The top three stallions stand at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky.

In all, there were 17 first-year stallions that covered at least 100 mares. The second highest number of mares covered by a first-year stallion was Buddha, who covered 164. Third on that list was Yonaguska with 150.

States in which a stallion covered at least 100 mares were Kentucky (81); Florida (17); California (5); Maryland (2); and New York (2). In addition, Snowbound covered 142 mares in total while standing half the breeding season in Washington (81 mares bred) and half in Arizona (61).

Sortable RMB listing: http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/marelistreport.asp

RMB statistics for all reported stallions in 2003 are available on The Jockey Club Web site at:
http://www.jockeyclub.com/information.asp?reportrequest=RMB