Stallions Into Mischief, Dialed In lead list of mares bred

Off an outstanding season with their juveniles last year, Into Mischief and Dialed In were the two most active stallions in North America in 2017, The Jockey Club announced Wednesday.

Spendthrift Farm’s Into Mischief, who covered 235 mares, and Darby Dan Farm’s Dialed In, who bred 231, led the annual Report of Mares Bred. In total, The Jockey Club reported that 1,342 Thoroughbred stallions covered 31,863 mares in North America in 2017. The number of stallions declined 6 percent from the 1,423 reported at this time in 2016, and the number of mares bred decreased 6 percent from the 33,746 reported last year. Based upon historical reporting trends, The Jockey Club estimates an additional 2,000 to 3,000 mares will be reported as bred during the 2017 breeding season.

The number of stallions covering 125 or more mares decreased from 64 in 2016 to 60 in 2017.

At the epicenter of the North American Thoroughbred industry, Kentucky’s 229 active stallions covered 17,275 mares, or 54 percent of the mares bred. Kentucky was followed, in order, by California (2,356), Florida (2,073), New York (1,326), and Louisiana (1,235).

Into Mischief led the 2016 juvenile sire list by earnings, powered by dual Grade 1 winner Practical Joke and six other stakes winners. Practical Joke has trained on to add another Grade 1 to his résumé this season, and is expected to contest next week’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Into Mischief’s book in 2017 included Hall of Fame racemare Zenyatta. His advertised fee will rise to $100,000 from $75,000 for 2018, and Spendthrift says he is already booked full.

Dialed In edged Union Rags to be 2016 leading freshman sire by both earnings and individual winners, with three stakes winners, led by multiple graded stakes winner Gunnevera. This year the colt captured the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and is pointing toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Dialed In also has a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile hopeful in Grade 3 winner The Tabulator.

With the success, Dialed In’s fee is rising to $25,000 for 2018 from $15,000 this year.

Rounding out the top five behind Into Mischief and Dialed In were American Pharoah (Coolmore’s Ashford Stud) with 214 mares, Uncle Mo (Ashford) with 204, and Bodemeister (WinStar Farm) with 192.

Freshman sires Oxbow (Calumet Farm) and Violence (Hill ‘n’ Dale) each covered 187 mares. Temple City (Spendthrift) bred 186 mares, Maclean’s Music (Hill ‘n’ Dale) covered 181, and Flat Out (Spendthrift) and Munnings (Ashford) were tied in 10th with 178 mares each.

Three-time reigning leading sire Tapit covered 127 mares at Gainesway. The stallion’s book has been limited to 125 to 135 mares in recent years to prevent the market from being flooded with his stock. Tapit, who was represented by his third Belmont Stakes winner this year in Tapwrit, has stood for an advertised fee of $300,000 since 2015. His 2018 fee has not yet been announced.

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