The Jockey Club rescinds stallion cap rule

The Jockey Club has rescinded a controversial rule that would have capped the number of mares bred by a single stallion at 140 during a single breeding season, only two years after approving it.

In a statement, Stuart Janney III, the chairman of The Jockey Club, said that the organization was rescinding the rule out of concern that the limitation “may divide the industry at a time when there are many important issues that need to be addressed with unity.”

“We are taking this action for the greater good of the entire industry,” the statement said.

The announcement that the rule would be rescinded came two days after two Kentucky state legislators introduced a bill that would have prohibited a Thoroughbred breed registrar from placing a cap on the number of registered foals. The bill was introduced by two Republican legislators with strong ties to the racing industry. Republicans currently have a veto-proof majority in both houses of the legislature.

The rule was first proposed in 2019. The Jockey Club, a private company that serves as the official registrar for all Thoroughbreds born in the U.S., canvassed Thoroughbred farms for a year before ultimately adopting the rule, citing its concern that large stud books would weaken the genetic diversity of the breed.

Within months of adopting the rule – which would have applied to any stallion born in 2020 or later – three farms challenged the rule in federal court, arguing that the cap suppressed competition and violated the due-process and equal-rights protections of business owners. The farms included some of the most powerful in the breeding industry – Coolmore, Spendthrift, and Three Chimneys.

The cap had case law in support of it. In 2009, the breed registrar for Standardbred horses adopted a nearly identical rule, and that rule survived multiple legal challenges.