Numbers talk, but sometimes the message they send can be mixed. Despite a racing program that has witnessed steady growth in purse distribution and average purse per race, and offers a respectable incentive program, Iowa’s breeding end of the business has trended in a different direction. Two years after slots arrived at Prairie Meadows in 1998, 74 Iowa-based stallions covered 903 mares in the 2000 breeding season. Illogically, when the state’s only horse racing track opened its expanded racino to great fanfare nine years later, fewer stallions (43) were covering significantly fewer mares (431). Fast forward to 2018, and the state’s breeding stats continued their decline, with The Jockey Club reporting that 114 mares paid court to a mere 13 in-state sires, and nearly one-third of those mares went to a single stallion. But what a stallion. During his racing days, Claiborne homebred Stroll had been a smart, Grade 1-winning turf performer before retiring to stand at his birth farm in 2005. There he remained, with the exception of a single season in Italy, compiling a reliably solid record year after year. Though never a home run hitter, he ranked 13th nationally among 2008 freshman sires, eventually netting five stakes winners and a Canadian champion from that debut crop, and went on to get runners who ran well both short and long, on dirt and grass, at age 2 and beyond. Still, as often happens, the son of Pulpit received less attention from Kentucky breeders with the passage of time. When Iowa lost its three-time leading sire Shore Breeze in 2016, several local breeders joined forces to search for another stallion to spearhead their in-state program. Stroll, despite being a bit older (then 17), filled the bill nicely. Impressed by his sire pedigree, race record, and attractive progeny stats, they negotiated to acquire him, and in 2017 the nearly black stallion traveled 700 miles to central Iowa to join the roster at Iowa State University’s horse farm (previously home to Shore Breeze). Stroll was welcomed with open arms. Whereas his final Kentucky crop had comprised just 13 foals from 16 mares bred, he received 39 and 35 mares, respectively, during his first two Iowa seasons. His Kentucky-sired progeny earnings in 2017 and 2018 gave him a commanding lead atop the general sire list both years in his new home state and put him far in front by winners as well. Stroll ranks as the leading sire by earnings throughout the entire 11-state Midwestern region (excluding Kentucky). At $2,000 live foal, he brings Iowa breeders plenty of bang for their buck. Second by 2018 earnings and winners was Maggie Moss’s Native Ruler, who had reigned as Iowa’s leading first-, second-, and third-crop sire of 2015, 2016, and 2017. The son of Elusive Quality had been a gem of consistency on the track, a short-fused talent who hit the board in 35 of 41 starts, won 10 sprint stakes at six different racetracks, banked $712,296, and routinely churned out 1:08-and-change six-furlong clockings. He retired in 2012 and currently stands at Abraham’s Equine Clinic near Cedar Rapids. While breeding in the state has been contracting, several prominent Thoroughbred operations continue carrying on with vigor – none more so than Madison County Thoroughbreds. An Iowa powerhouse for years, the farm is currently home to a pair of former leading sires in Woke Up Dreamin (2011) and Sing Baby Sing (2016), third- and fourth-ranked, respectively, by 2018 progeny earnings. Previous leaders Pikepass (2007-2008) and Wild Gold (2009-2010) also resided at the Macksburg facility. Woke Up Dreamin has been a force since his arrival in Iowa eight years ago. One of the nation’s top sprinters in 2005 for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Mike Pegram, the son of Holy Bull stood in Kentucky and Louisiana before finding his way to Iowa for the 2012 breeding season. No regional stallion roster would be complete without at least one good son of Unbridled’s Song. Sing Baby Sing fills that role in Iowa. The quality sprinter finished in the top four in 20 of 22 career starts, with victories including the 2008 Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland. He stood at Lane’s End Texas until relocating to Madison County Thoroughbreds for the 2017 season. Iowa’s only reported new stallion for 2019 is C’Mon Boys, who brings with him an impressive global pedigree. The 7-year-old English-bred son of European champion, classic winner, and leading French sire Dubawi is out of U.S. Grade 1 winner Sand Springs, and was himself an East Coast allowance winner in an abbreviated career. He enters stud at P & S Thoroughbreds near Fayette.