2017 Report of Mares Bred: The 100 Club

Into Mischief bred the most mares this year at 235.

With the 2017 northern hemisphere breeding season truly in the rear view mirror and getting farther away every day, on Wednesday The Jockey Club released its 2017 Report of Mares Bred for stallions standing in North America. 

Over 90 stallions bred more than 100 mares during the 2017 breeding season with a total of 1,342 stallions covering at least one mare, a drop of 5.7 percent from 2016 with 2,000 to 3,000 mares estimated to be covered this year according to The Jockey Club.

With a large amount of stallions hitting the triple digits, it seemed worthwhile to take a look at the list.

By The Numbers – Ninety-one stallions combined to breed 12,859 mares in 2017 with the 91 breeding no fewer than 101 mares each. Of those stallions, two stand in California, two in Florida, 82 in Kentucky, one in Maryland, three in New York, and one in Pennsylvania. Four stallions bred over 200 mares, 28 bred between 150 and 200 mares each and 28 stallions bred between 125 and 149.

Stud Fees – Tapit stood at a fee of $300,000 and bred 127 mares as the most expensive on the list with nine stallions breeding 100 or more mares at a six-figure fee. Five stallions made the list at a fee between $75,000 and $99,999 with six at a fee range of $50,000 and $74,000. Most of the 100+ Club stallions stand at a fee of $25,000 or less at 58 stallions with California’s Grazen (Benchmark) being the least expensive at $3,500. American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) was the only stallion on the list to stand for a private fee. Overall, the stud fees of all 90 stallions with published fees averaged $37,783 in 2017.

American Pharoah has bred 422 mares in his first two years at stud.

Farms – WinStar Farm had the most stallions breed 100 or more mares with 20 of its 22 stallions in 2017 breeding over 100 mares. Bodemeister (Empire Maker), who sired this year's Kentucky Derby winner was the busiest at 192 and Paynter (Awesome Again), the least busy of those 20 with 103, with the 20 stallions averaging 137 mares. Its two stallions who didn't breed 100 or more were Artie Schiller at 40 and Revolutionary at 61. The most expensive advertised fee of those 20 stallions in the "100 Club" was Pioneerof the Nile (Empire Maker) at $110,000 with 127 mares on his dance card.

WinStar had double the number of stallions on the list than runner-up Lane’s End, which had 10 (or 15 on the roster) breed over 100. Candy Ride (Ride the Rails) and Union Rags (Dixie Union) tied at 160 each with The Factor (War Front) rounding out their list at 105. The most expensive of those 10 stallions was Candy Ride at $60,000.

Twenty-three different farms had at least one stallion breed more than 100 mares with 10 farms having one stallion a piece.

Ages – The average age of stallions on the 100+ list was 9.3 years old. Twenty-four year-old Distorted Humor (Forty Niner) bred 110 mares to be the oldest stallion on the list with 3-year-old Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) breeding 145 as the youngest on the list. Fourteen stallions over 15 years old bred 100 mares (18-year-old Candy Ride breeding the most of any of them at 160) with 77 stallions 15 or under breeding over 100. Sixty-six of those 77 stallions were 10 or younger with four stallions are 20 or older.

Distorted Humor still enjoys being ridden during the off-season

Credentials – Breeders showed that a Grade 1 win on a stallion resume is a big deal if the Number of Mares Bred report is any indication with 71.4 percent (65 stallions) of the stallions on the list having at least one win at the level. Sixteen stallions on the list won a Grade 2 with four winning a Grade 3, two winning stakes races and three only winning maiden races. Sixteen of those Grade 1 winners won an American classic race (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes) with 21 of the horses on the list being champions in at least one country.

This could be more of an indication of what major stallion farms are willing to stand more so than how important a Grade 1 is to mare owners in such a competitive market. All but two of those Grade 1 winners (Champ Pegasus and Effinex) stood in Kentucky while the other racing levels see more representation from other states.

Of the three maiden winners to attract over 100 mares, one is an older leading sire who sired a Kentucky Derby winner (Malibu Moon), one sired this year’s Preakness Stakes winner (Maclean’s Music) and the third is the son of two Horse of the Year winners (Jess’s Dream).

Jess's Dream is out of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra

Most Popular Sire-of-Sires – A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew) and War Front (Danzig) tie as stallions with the most sires on the list with six apiece. War Front, who bred 106 mares himself this year, had sons in three different states combine to breed 709 mares (5.5 percent of all the mares bred to stallions on this list) while the A.P. Indy sons all stand in Kentucky and bred 785 mares (6.1 percent).

A.P. Indy’s lasting influence is felt greatly on this list with his 19 sons, grandsons and great-grandsons from his sireline breeding 2,634 mares (20.5 percent). To put that into perspective, the 24 sires from the Mr. Prospector (Raise a Native) sireline bred 3,537 (27.5 percent) and the 30 from Northern Dancer’s (Nearctic) sireline bred 4,351 (33.8 percent). Those two stallions were born 19 and 28 years, respectively, before A.P. Indy.

Damsire Lines – While A.P. Indy compares to those two as a sire-making stallion, he has nothing on them when it comes to broodmare sires. The only appearance A.P. Indy makes on the broodmare sire chart is as the damsire of Super Saver (Maria’s Mon), who bred 154 mares.

Mr. Prospector leads everyone in this category with 31 stallions having him or one of his descendants as a broodmare sire for 4,255 mares bred (33.1%). Northern Dancer’s 28 combine for 4,202 mares (32.7 percent) with 13 of those stallions having Mr. Prospector on the top of their pedigree and seven of the Mr. Prospectors coming from the Northern Dancer sireline.

Uncle Mo – For a nine-year-old stallion, Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) has quite a bit of representation on this list. The stallion himself bred 204 mares in 2017 with four of his sons breeding a combination of 546 mares. WinStar Farm’s Outwork was the most popular Uncle Mo son at stud with 168 mares, 15 more than champion and Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist with Northview’s Uncle Lino coming in with 103 mares, the least amount of Uncle Mo sons on the list but the most of any stallion standing in Pennsylvania by over 30 mares.

Outwork was the most popular Uncle Mo son this year.

In Reality – Man o’ War fans will be happy to know that In Reality (and Tiznow) are keeping the sire line alive with 400 mares going to stallions from the In Reality sire line. The three stallions to bring in those mares are Tiznow (Cee’s Tizzy) and his sons Gemologist and Tourist with Gemologist breeding the most mares at 142.

In Reality is also responsible for the broodmare sires of three stallions on the list in Paynter, Oxbow and Ghostzapper. All three stallions are by Awesome Again with Paynter and Oxbow out of full sisters (who are also full sisters to Tiznow) and Ghostzapper is out of blue hen mare Baby Zip (Relaunch). The three stallions combined for 424 mares with Oxbow leading the charge with 187 mares.

In all, In Reality-lined horses bred 824 mares with five of them existing thanks to the late California sire Cee’s Tizzy, who sired Tiznow and the dams of Oxbow and Paynter.

Tourist is tasked with carrying on the In Reality line.

Hail to Reason – Nearly 50 years after his birth, Hail to Reason's (Turn-to) sireline is alive through either the sire or damsire of eight stallions on the list thanks to Halo and Roberto.

More Than Ready and sons Daredevil and Verrazano account for 390 mares bred while Dynaformer son Temple City bred the most of any stallion from the sire line at 186. Hail to Reason’s line is also responsible for five damsires with the stallions out of their daughters combining to breed 788 mares. Uncle Mo bred the most mares of any of those stallions with 204, followed by Kitten’s Joy (El Prado) at 177 mares.

Final Numbers – In all, eight different sire lines are responsible for the 91 stallions who bred over 100 mares in the U.S. this year with 14 different damsire lines. Seven of the stallions responsible for the sire lines named by this blog are in both categories with Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer/Nearctic’s sire lines doubling up as both the sireline and broodmare sire’s sireline of 11 of the stallions on the list.

Stallion	2017 Stud Fee	Mares	State	Farm	Sire	Damsire
Into Mischief	$75,000	235	KY	Spendthrift	Harlan's Holiday	Tricky Creek
Dialed In	$15,000	231	KY	Darby Dan	Mineshaft	Storm Cat
American Pharoah	Private	214	KY	Coolmore	Pioneerof the Nile	Yankee Gentleman
Uncle Mo	$150,000	204	KY	Coolmore	Indian Charlie	Arch
Bodemeister	$25,000	192	KY	WinStar	Empire Maker	Storm Cat
Oxbow	$20,000	187	KY	Calumet	Awesome Again	Cee's Tizzy
Violence	$15,000	187	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Medaglia d'Oro	Gone West
Temple City	$10,000	186	KY	Spendthrift	Dynaformer	Danzig
Maclean's Music	$8,500	181	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Distorted Humor	Unbridled's Song
Flat Out	$7,000	178	KY	Spendthrift	Flatter	Cresta River
Munnings	$25,000	178	KY	Coolmore	Speightstown	Holy Bull
Kitten's Joy	$100,000	177	KY	Ramsey Farm	El Prado	Lear Fan
Speightster	$10,000	174	KY	WinStar	Speightstown	Danzig
Outwork	$15,000	168	KY	WinStar	Uncle Mo	Empire Maker
Vancouver	$15,000	166	KY	Coolmore	Medaglia d'Oro	Danehill
Tapiture	$7,500	165	KY	Darby Dan	Tapit	Olympio
Shackleford	$15,000	162	KY	Darby Dan	Forestry	Unbridled
Exaggerator	$30,000	162	KY	WinStar	Curlin	Vindication
Candy Ride	$60,000	160	KY	Lane's End	Ride the Rails	Candy Stripes
Union Rags	$50,000	160	KY	Lane's End	Dixie Union	Gone West
Verrazano	$17,500	159	KY	Coolmore	More Than Ready	Giant's Causeway
Hard Spun	$45,000	158	KY	Darley	Danzig	Turkoman
Liam's Map	$25,000	157	KY	Lane's End	Unbridled's Song	Trippi
Fed Biz	$10,000	157	KY	WinStar	Giant's Causeway	Wild Again
Frosted	$50,000	156	KY	Darley	Tapit	Deputy Minister
Kantharos	$15,000	155	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Lion Heart	Southern Halo
Super Saver	$50,000	154	KY	WinStar	Maria's Mon	A.P. Indy
Nyquist	$40,000	153	KY	Darley	Uncle Mo	Forestry
Air Force Blue	$25,000	153	KY	Coolmore	War Front	Maria's Mon
Honor Code	$40,000	153	KY	Lane's End	AP Indy	Storm Cat
Twirling Candy	$20,000	152	KY	Lane's End	Candy Ride	Chester House
Quality Road	$35,000	152	KY	Lane's End	Elusive Quality	Strawberry Road
Cairo Prince	$15,000	149	KY	Airdrie	Pioneerof the Nile	Holy Bull
Midshipman	$8,500	148	KY	Darley	Unbridled's Song	Avenue of Flags
Mineshaft	$25,000	147	KY	Lane's End	AP Indy	Mr Prospector
Upstart	$10,000	146	KY	Airdrie	Flatter	Touch Gold
Dominus	$7,500	145	KY	Spendthrift	Smart Strike	Lord at War
California Chrome	$40,000	145	KY	Taylor Made	Lucky Pulpit	Not For Love
Not This Time	$15,000	145	KY	Taylor Made	Giant's Causeway	Trippi
Shanghai Bobby	$25,000	144	KY	Coolmore	Harlan's Holiday	Orientate
Carpe Diem	$25,000	144	KY	WinStar	Giant's Causeway	Unbridled's Song
Curlin	$150,000	143	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Smart Strike	Deputy Minister
Constitution	$25,000	143	KY	WinStar	Tapit	Distorted Humor
Gemologist	$25,000	142	KY	WinStar	Tiznow	Mr. Prospector
Uncaptured	$6,000	140	FL	Ocala Stud	Lion Heart	Arch
Wicked Strong	$10,000	139	KY	Spendthrift	Hard Spun	Charismatic
Medaglia d'Oro	$150,000	138	KY	Darley	El Prado	Bailjumper
Will Take Charge	$30,000	137	KY	Three Chimneys	Unbridled's Song	Dehere
Goldencents	$15,000	135	KY	Spendthrift	Into Mischief	Banker's Gold
Ghostzapper	$75,000	134	KY	Adena	Awesome Again	Relaunch
Tourist	$12,500	134	KY	WinStar	Tiznow	Unbridled's Song
Malibu Moon	$75,000	132	KY	Spendthrift	AP Indy	Mr. Prospector
Street Sense	$45,000	130	KY	Darley	Street Cry	Dixieland Band
Empire Maker	$85,000	129	KY	Gainesway	Unbridled	El Gran Senor
Declaration of War	$35,000	128	KY	Coolmore	War Front	Rahy
Champ Pegasus	$4,000	128	CA	Barton TBs	Fusaichi Pegasus	Salt Lake
Runhappy	$25,000	127	KY	Claiborne	Super Saver	Broken Vow
Pioneerof the Nile	$110,000	127	KY	WinStar	Empire Maker	Lord at War
Tapit	$300,000	127	KY	Gainesway	Pulpit	Unbridled
Orb	$25,000	125	KY	Claiborne	Malibu Moon	Unbridled
Animal Kingdom	$30,000	124	KY	Darley	Leroidesanimaux	Acatenango
Tiznow	$60,000	124	KY	WinStar	Cee's Tizzy	Seattle Song
Jess's Dream	$5,000	122	FL	Ocala Stud	Curlin	Medaglia d'Oro
Laoban	$7,500	122	NY	Sequel	Uncle Mo	Speightstown
Bernardini	$100,000	121	KY	Darley	AP Indy	Quiet American
Flintshire	$20,000	121	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Dansili	Sadler's Wells
Overanalyze	$10,000	120	KY	WinStar	Dixie Union	Unaccounted For
Summer Front	$10,000	119	KY	Airdrie	War Front	El Prado
Commissioner	$7,500	119	KY	WinStar	AP Indy	Touch Gold
More Than Ready	$60,000	118	KY	WinStar	Southern Halo	Woodman
Palace Malice	$20,000	117	KY	Three Chimneys	Curlin	Royal Anthem
Mshawish	$20,000	117	KY	Taylor Made	Medaglia d'Oro	Thunder Gulch
Street Boss	$17,500	115	KY	Darley	Street Cry	Ogygian
Speightstown	$100,000	115	KY	WinStar	Gone West	Storm Cat
Daredevil	$7,500	113	KY	WinStar	More Than Ready	Forty Niner
Congrats	$20,000	113	KY	WinStar	AP Indy	Mr. Prospector
Tonalist	$30,000	113	KY	Lane's End	Tapit	Pleasant Colony
Noble Mission	$25,000	110	KY	Lane's End	Galileo	Danehill
Distorted Humor	$80,000	110	KY	WinStar	Forty Niner	Danzig
Effinex	$10,000	110	NY	Questroyal	Mineshaft	E Dubai
Flashback	$7,500	109	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Tapit	Mr. Greely
War Front	$250,000	106	KY	Claiborne	Danzig	Rubiano
The Factor	$25,000	105	KY	Lane's End	War Front	Miswaki
Bayern	$15,000	105	KY	Hill 'n' Dale	Offlee Wild	Thunder Gulch
Paynter	$20,000	103	KY	WinStar	Awesome Again	Cee's Tizzy
Uncle Lino	$4,000	103	PA	Northview	Uncle Mo	Orientate
War Dancer	$5,000	102	NY	Rockridge	War Front	Alydeed
Mosler	$4,000	102	MD	Country Life	War Front	Arch
Brody's Cause	$12,500	102	KY	Spendthrift	Giant's Causeway	Sahm
Grazen	$3,500	101	CA	Tommy Town	Benchmark	Rubiano
Sky Mesa	$15,000	101	KY	Three Chimneys	Pulpit	Storm Cat