12 North American stallions service more than 200 mares each

Twelve North American Thoroughbred stallions serviced more than 200 mares in the 2021 breeding season, based on reports received through Oct. 18, The Jockey Club said in a news release.

In all, 1,016 stallions covered 27,829 mares in North America during 2021. That figure is down about 0.5 percent from 27,970 mares reported to have been bred at this point last year.

The Jockey Club estimates an additional 2,500 to 3,500 mares will be reported as bred during the 2021 breeding season.

Kentucky traditionally leads North America in Thoroughbred breeding activity. During 2021, Kentucky’s 200 reported stallions covered 16,727 mares, or 60.1 percent of all of the mares reported bred in North America. The number of mares bred to Kentucky stallions increased 2.0 percent from the 16,391 reported at this time last year.

Of the top 10 states and provinces by number of mares reported bred in 2021, stallions in Kentucky, California (up 4.4 percent), Ontario (up 13.0 percent) and Indiana (up 11.2 percent) covered more mares in 2021 than in 2020, as reported at this time last year.

Among the stallions with the most mares bred, Into Mischief and his sons Goldencents, Authentic, Practical Joke, Instagrand and Audible accounted for 1,275 mares bred.