Tapit stays most-expensive stallion in North America at $300,000

Tapit, North America's two-time reigning leading sire, will stand for a fee of $300,000 in 2017, again making him the most-expensive stallion on the continent.

The 15-year-old son of Pulpit stands at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky., and has maintained this $300,000 fee since 2015, covering books of 148 and 125 mares in the last two seasons, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred. He is followed atop North America's most-expensive sires by War Front, who will command a fee of $250,000 in 2017 at Claiborne Farm.

Tapit set a single-season progeny earnings record for a North American sire in 2014, when he led the general sires list with $16,813,536, outpacing perennial leading sire Giant's Causeway by more than $4 million. He shattered his own mark in 2015 with a bankroll of $18,327,691, leading Medaglia d'Oro by more than $5 million. With runners on the track this year including Belmont Stakes winner Creator and multiple Grade 1 winner Frosted, Tapit is again on pace to break his own earnings mark in 2016, with a bankroll of $18,025,795 through Nov. 9.

Gainesway stallion Empire Maker, in his second season since being repatriated from Japan, will stand for a fee of $85,000, down from $100,000 this year.

The Gainesway roster for 2017:
Afleet Alex, $10,000 – down from $12,500 in 2016
Birdstone, $5,000 – same as in 2016
Empire Maker, $85,000 – down from $100,000 in 2016
Hat Trick, $5,000 ¬– down from $7,500 in 2016
Karakontie, $15,000 – same as in 2016
Tapit, $300,000 – same as in 2016
Tapizar, $15,000 – same as in 2016
To Honor and Serve, $10,000 – down from $15,000 in 2016