Kentucky legislators seek to block The Jockey Club's stallion cap

Two Kentucky state legislators have introduced a bill seeking to stymie an effort by The Jockey Club to enforce a cap on the number of mares bred each year.

The bill would add language to the state’s racing-law framework that says “a registrar of Thoroughbreds shall not restrict the number of mares that can be bred to a stallion or otherwise refuse to register any foal based upon the number of mares bred to the stallion.” It also would require the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, a state agency, to “select and utilize” a registrar that complies with that language.

The bill was introduced by Sen. David Osbourne, a Republican representing Oldham County outside of Louisville, and Sen. Matthew Koch, a Republican who represents Bath, Bourbon, Nicholas, and part of Fayette County. Both houses of the Kentucky legislature are controlled by a veto-proof majority of Republican legislators.

The bill takes direct aim at a rule approved by The Jockey Club in 2020 that caps the number of registered foals from any stallion born that year at 140. The Jockey Club, a private company that serves as the official registrar of all foals born in the U.S., adopted the rule under concerns about the genetic diversity of the breed at a time when foal crops have plunged 26 percent over the past decade and the percentage of the 2019 foal crop represented by stallions covering 140 or more mares reached 27 percent.

In 2021, three farms that stand stallions covering 140 or more mares -- Coolmore, Spendthrift, and Three Chmineys -- sued The Jockey Club in federal court in Kentucky alleging that the cap suppressed competition and violated the due-process and equal-rights protections of business owners. A number of other farms in Central Kentucky have expressed support for the cap.

In 2009, the U.S. registrar for Standardbred horses passed a nearly identical measure, and the rule has survived multiple legal challenges.

The Kentucky bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture Committee. Koch is a member of the committee, which is chaired by Richard Heath, a Republican from far western Kentucky.

A spokesperson for The Jockey Club said on Wednesday morning that the company planned to issue a statement on the later in the day.