Tapwrit, winner of the 2017 Belmont Stakes, has been relocated for 2025 to the Indiana Stallion Station and adds to the recent influx of star power in the state. Tapwrit, by perennial leading sire Tapit, is believed to be the first winner of a Triple Crown race to stand in Indiana. The stallion, who also won the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby as a 3-year-old and was a stakes-winning juvenile, spent the first six seasons of his stud career at Gainesway in Kentucky. Through Jan. 2, Tapwrit was the sire of 89 career winners, including eight stakes winners, from his first three crops of racing age. His progeny in the continental United States is led by Victory Formation, winner of the 2023 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park. He also is the sire of multiple group stakes winners in Puerto Rico, including Group 1 winner Sola Bella. Among Indiana’s 2024 leading general sires by progeny earnings, regardless of progeny conception area, Tapwrit is second only to another Kentucky transplant, Metropolitan Handicap winner Mor Spirit. Mor Spirit stood his first season at Swifty Farms in Indiana in 2024 after formerly standing at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. Mor Spirit’s progeny earnings for 2024 were $5,289,682, while Tapwrit checked in at $3,143,023. No other stallion cracked seven figures. Iowa State stallions dominate Iowa State University stands a roster of well-bred and/or well-accomplished stallions, and they cover its herd of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse broodmares who are of service in its equine teaching program. However, the university stallions also are publicly available – and currently dominate the commercial landscape in Iowa. According to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, five individual stallions covered 39 mares in Iowa in 2024. Three of those stand at Iowa State, and they combined to cover 32 of those mares. Grade 1 winner Free Drop Billy tied with stablemate Timeline for the lead in the state with 11 mares and is poised to perhaps take the place of another former stablemate atop the state’s sire list. Grade 2 winner Anchor Down stood the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Iowa State before moving overseas. Although his first Iowa-conceived foals will not race until this season, Anchor Down’s progeny earnings in 2024, based on Kentucky-sired crops, were $1,921,618, leading the state regardless of progeny conception area. Free Drop Billy came to Iowa for 2024 after standing at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. He checks in second on his new state’s list at $1,296,078. Both sired 34 individual winners last season. Iowa-bred Jerome winner H. Allen Poindexter’s operation was again honored as Iowa’s outstanding breeder when the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association presented its 2023 honors in September. But runners bred by Poindexter are a threat no matter where they run. That was ably demonstrated again in 2024, and immediately after the turn of the calendar to 2025. Poindexter-bred runners in 2024 included graded stakes winners Brightwork and Skelly, both of whom he bred in Kentucky and sold as young horses. He is off the mark in 2025 with Cyclone State, winner of the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 4 at Aqueduct. Iowa-bred Cyclone State is out of Poindexter’s Iowa homebred Chanel’s Legacy, a graded-placed stakes winner. He sold Cyclone State, who now races for Gold Square LLC, George Messina, and Michael Lee, for $70,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. Ghaaleb continues Illinois reign Ghaaleb continues to reign at Wildwood Farm in Illinois, leading the state’s general sire list for the fourth consecutive year. Ghaaleb had a strong strike rate of 23 individual winners from 31 starters on the year for earnings of $1,168,215. He easily outdistanced runner-up Forest Attack, with 12 winners from 30 starters for $441,929. Ghaaleb’s top earner was W W Hotshot, a two-time stakes winner at Hawthorne. The gelding won five of his six starts in 2024, with four Beyer Speed Figures above 90. Ghaaleb was the leading freshman sire in Illinois in 2017 and has been a top 10 general sire in the state each year of his career. Newcomers in Ohio Ohio will welcome a relatively large group of four first-time stallions for 2025 – including a son of the state’s reigning leading sire -- headed to the rapidly growing operation at Buckeye Stallion Station. Founded in 2022, Buckeye Stallion Station quickly made a splash when welcoming Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red from Kentucky for the 2023 season. The farm will stand a roster of 10 stallions for 2025. The quartet of newcomers is led by Grade 2-placed Dominant Soul. His sire, Dominius, standing at Duncan Farms, arrived in Ohio from Kentucky for the 2022 season and leads the state by progeny earnings regardless of conception area, with $2,398,026 to $1,726,041 for National Flag of Blazing Meadows Farm. Buckeye also will debut Army Star, Beduin Fighter, and Fight With Honor. Ohio-breds score in open company Ohio-breds enjoyed an outstanding year in open company in 2024, with Grade 3 winner Jonathan’s Way and Grade 3-placed Who Dey leading the way. Jonathan’s Way was foaled by trainer Susan Anderson at her Point of View Farm outside Cincinnati – where she also bred his half-brother Startdfromdabottom, third in the 2023 Best of Ohio Sprint. Jonathan’s Way, sold as a weanling to Rigney Racing and trainer Phil Bauer, won the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes and was second in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club. Who Dey, named for the rally cry of the Cincinnati Bengals, races as a homebred for Steve and Theresa Belford’s Maccabee Farm in Mount Gilead. The colt is unbeaten in Ohio, most recently edging reigning statebred horse of the year Fair and Square in the Best of Ohio Endurance. Who Dey also is three times stakes-placed in Kentucky, including a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Matt Winn. His only finish outside of the top three came when he was fourth, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths by subsequent Preakness winner Seize the Grey, in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile.