Gun Runner edges Yaupon as most active stallion of 2022

Following his record-setting freshman crop of 2021, Horse of the Year Gun Runner was the busiest stallion in North America during 2022.

The Jockey Club released its 2022 Report of Mares Bred on Tuesday, detailing breeding activity across North America, including the number of mares covered by individual stallions. According to the breed organization's statistics, The Jockey Club reports that 925 stallions covered 27,163 mares in North America during 2022, according to reports received through Oct. 18. The Jockey Club estimates an additional 2,500 to 3,500 mares will be reported as having been bred in 2022.

Kentucky traditionally leads North America in Thoroughbred breeding activity. During 2022, Kentucky’s 196 reported stallions covered 16,689 mares, or 61 percent of all of the mares reported bred in North America.

Of the top 10 states and provinces by number of mares reported bred in 2022, stallions in New York and Indiana covered more mares in 2022 than in 2021, as reported at this time last year. The top 10 states and provinces by mares bred, in order, are Kentucky, California, Florida, New York, Louisiana, Maryland, Ontario, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

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Gun Runner, who stands at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., shattered the earnings record for a North American freshman sire in 2021, and also led the overall juvenile sire list. Off that success, he covered 248 reported mares in 2022. The stallion's popularity could continue along with his success; he is the sire, from that first crop, of Eclipse Award champion Echo Zulu, Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting, Grade 1 winners Cyberknife, Gunite, Society, and Taiba, and graded stakes winners Pappacap and Wicked Halo.

Yaupon, who stood his first season at Spendthrift Farm in 2022, covered 242 mares to check in second behind Gun Runner on the Report of Mares Bred. The son of emerging sire of sires Uncle Mo was a Grade 1-winning sprinter.

Rounding out the top 10 on the list are Mendelssohn (Coolmore's Ashford Stud) with 230 mares bred, Practical Joke (Ashford) with 227, Not This Time (Taylor Made Farm) with 225, Charlatan (Hill 'n' Dale) with 222, Rock Your World (Spendthrift) with 219, Mo Town (Ashford) with 218), Tiz the Law (Ashford), with 218, and Omaha Beach (Spendthrift) with 205.

Charlatan and Rock Your World are also first-year stallions.

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