According to “Reports of Mares Bred” or RMBs received through October 12 by The Jockey Club, North America’s Thoroughbred registry, 3,053 stallions covered 59,434 mares during 2006. The statistics include the number of mares bred to individual stallions and represent approximately 90 percent of Thoroughbred mares bred in 2006.
The number of stallions bred to 100 or more mares (126) was unchanged compared with figures from 2005. Of those 126 stallions, 94 stood in Kentucky and covered 16,222 or 27.3 percent of all mares reported bred.
Hill ‘n Dale Farms, in Lexington, Kentucky, stands three of four stallions that covered the most mares: Roman Ruler, who led all stallions in 2006 with 197 mares bred, El Corredor with 195, and Stormy Atlantic with 191. Giants Causeway, the Storm Cat son who stands for $300,000 at Ashford Stud, also covered 191 mares.
Roman Ruler, a Fusaichi Pegasus son who Eclipse winner Bob Baffert said is the fastest two-year-old that he’s ever trained, commanded a fee of $30,000 in 2006, his first year at stud. His half-brother El Corredor, by Mr. Greeley, was the leading sophomore sire in 2006 and also stood for $30,000, as did Stormy Atlantic, a 1994 Storm Cat son.
El Corredor-sired 2-year-olds (30) sold at public auction in 2006 for an average of $116,233, while Giant Causeway’s 2-year-old fillies (2) averaged $336,500, and his weanling colts (4) averaged $435,000.
North American owners and breeders register approximately 37,000 Thoroughbreds annually with The Jockey Club. To be eligible for registration, a foal must be the result of live cover between a stallion and mare, defined in the Jockey Club Rule Book as “the physical mounting of a broodmare by a stallion with intromission of the penis and ejaculation of semen into the reproductive tract.”
In addition, as outlined by the Rule Book, “a natural gestation must take place in, and delivery must be from, the body of the same broodmare in which the foal was conceived. Without limiting the above, any foal resulting from or produced by the processes of artificial insemination, embryo transfer or transplant, cloning or any other form of genetic manipulation not herein specified, shall not be eligible for registration.”
The Jockey Club was formed in 1894 and assumed responsibility for maintaining The American Stud Book two years later. The stud book ensures the correct pedigree and identification of every Thoroughbred and as such is essential to the integrity of Thoroughbred breeding and racing.