Practical Joke was the busiest stallion in North America in 2024, The Jockey Club reported, as it released recent breeding and foal crop statistics that continued the prevailing trends in the industry. Based on Reports of Mares Bred received through Sept. 30, The Jockey Club reported that 771 stallions covered 25,301 mares in North America during the 2024 breeding season. Based on this, accounting for mares who did not get in foal or will not ultimately produce a foal, The Jockey Club is projecting a North American registered Thoroughbred foal crop of 17,300 to arrive in 2025. This represents 700 fewer foals than the 2024 foal crop estimate of 18,000, with that figure to be finalized in the coming weeks. The Jockey Club estimates an additional 2,500 to 3,500 mares will be reported as bred during the 2024 breeding season. The number of mares bred in North America has dropped over the last decade, leading to the oft-discussed shrinking foal crop. A decade ago, the Report of Mares Bred numbered 34,121 in 2014. After rising by just one mare in 2015, it has dropped every year since – including by more than 2,000 over the last five years. The 2020 Report of Mares Bred reported 27,602 mares – with that breeding season beginning before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. The following year, the number dropped to 27,189. It was 26,744 in 2022, 26,202 last year, and now, 25,301. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Kentucky traditionally leads North America in Thoroughbred breeding activity. During 2024, Kentucky’s 192 reported active stallions covered 16,543 mares, or 65 percent of all of the mares reported bred in North America. Kentucky was followed in activity by California with 1,491 mares covered, Florida with 1,276 mares, New York with 1,138 mares, and Louisiana with 648 mares. Practical Joke, who is based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, covered 277 mares in Kentucky in 2024 while standing for an advertised stud fee of $65,000. The son of five-time leading sire and emerging sire of sires Into Mischief has consistently been near the top of the Report of Mares bred since entering stud, and this is the second time he has led the country. He covered 220 mares in his first season at stud in 2018 to rank fourth in North America; then eighth on the 2019 list with 200 mares. After dropping out of the top 10 with 189 mares in 2020, he rebounded to lead the continent with 231 mares in 2021. Practical Joke ranked fourth in 2022 with 230 mares, and third last year with 252 mares bred. Those numbers only account for his mares bred in Kentucky; they do not account for the time he spent shuttling to Chile for the Southern Hemisphere season. Practical Joke, a multiple Grade 1 winner himself, is having a fine 2024 season, with Grade 1 winners Domestic Product and Ways and Means on the track, along with graded stakes winners Money Supply, Mufasa, Shidabhuti, and Skelly. He was 12th on the North American general sires list through Tuesday. Coolmore stallions took the top four spots on the Report of Mares Bred list, with Triple Crown winner Justify covering 263 mares, multiple Grade 1 winner Gunite covering 256 mares in his first season at stud, and two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal covering 209 mares in his second season. Golden Pal had the highest number of mares bred in 2023 with 293. After Ashford’s quartet, rounding out the top 10 stallions by mares bred were Elite Power (Juddmonte) with 203, Uncle Mo (Ashford) with 202, and Gun Runner (Three Chimneys), Pappacap (Walmac), Taiba (Spendthrift), and Vekoma (Spendthrift) with 200 each. Joining Gunite as first-year stallions in the top 10 are Elite Power, Pappacap, and Taiba. Gunite, Pappacap, and Taiba are all by Gun Runner. The busiest stallion outside of Kentucky was Americanrevolution, who covered 163 mares in his first season at Rockridge Stud in New York. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.