Foal crop in 2021 is forecast to drop 6 percent from 2020

The Jockey Club is projecting a 2021 registered North American Thoroughbred foal crop of 19,200, a decline of 6 percent from an estimated 20,500 in 2020.

The foal crop projection is computed by using Reports of Mares Bred received to date for the 2020 breeding season. The crop projection is typically announced in mid-August but The Jockey Club delayed publication of this year's estimate in order to provide farms that may have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic additional time to submit their Reports of Mares Bred.

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The prevailing trend has been a shrinking North American foal crop, but this year’s projected drop is larger than in prior years. For example, when the comparable projections for 2019 and 2020 were released, the 2020 foal crop projection of 20,500 was a drop of 1 percent from 20,800 for 2019.

The complete Report of Mares Bred, which include books numbers for individual stallions and the distribution of stallions and mares across states and provinces, will be released this fall.