Three busiest stallions this year are sons of Into Mischief

Goldencents was the busiest stallion in North America in 2021, as sons of Into Mischief took the top three spots on the leaderboard, according to the annual Report of Mares Bred, released by The Jockey Club on Monday morning.

The Jockey Club reported that 1,016 stallions covered 27,829 mares in North America this season, based on reports received through Oct. 18. The breed organization estimates an additional 2,500 to 3,500 mares will ultimately be reported as bred.

Kentucky traditionally leads the continent in Thoroughbred breeding activity, and this year was no exception. Kentucky’s 200 reported stallions covered 16,727 mares, or 60 percent of those reported bred. Rounding out the 10 states or provinces with the most mares bred were California, Florida, New York, Louisiana, Maryland, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Oklahoma. Of those, only stallions in Kentucky (2 percent rise), California (4 percent), Ontario (14 percent), and Indiana (11 percent) covered more mares in 2021 than in 2020.

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Goldencents covered 230 mares to edge out first-season stallion Authentic, with 229 mares, and Practical Joke with 223 mares. Goldencents and Authentic both stand Spendthrift Farm alongside Into Mischief, the two-time reigning leading sire in North America. Practical Joke stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud.

Goldencents has been a leading young sire throughout his career, beginning when he finished second by earnings and first by winners on the 2018 freshman sire list. He led the class by earnings as a second-crop sire and third-crop sire the next two years. He leads the fourth-crop sire list by earnings and is a top 20 general sire, having recently recorded his first Grade 1 winner, Going to Vegas.

Authentic became Into Mischief’s first classic winner when he took the 2020 Kentucky Derby. He went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and was voted Horse of the Year.

His sizeable first book includes proven producers such as Eltimaas, the dam of Eclipse Award champion Drefong; Steelin’, dam of Eclipse champion Shanghai Bobby; and Dawn Raid, dam of Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator.

Practical Joke sits third on the freshman sire list by earnings, led by Grade 3 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Wit.

Rounding out the top 10 stallions behind those three sons of Into Mischief were first-season stallion Vekoma (Spendthrift) with 222, Maclean’s Music (Hill ‘n’ Dale) with 221, Munnings (Ashford) with 217, Omaha Beach (Spendthrift) with 215, Into Mischief and first-season stallion McKinzie (Gainesway) tied with 214, and Mitole (Spendthrift) with 208.

The top 20 continues with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Ashford) with 204 mares, Mo Town (Ashford) with 204, Mendelssohn (Ashford) with 197, first-year stallion Instagrand (Taylor Made Farm) with 190, Audible (WinStar Farm) with 189, Uncle Mo (Ashford) with 189, Constitution (WinStar) with 188, first-year stallion Thousand Words (Spendthrift) with 184, Vino Rosso (Spendthrift) with 182), and first-year stallion Volatile (Three Chimneys) with 181.

Instagrand and Audible are both also sons of Into Mischief. He was also represented by the most active stallion outside of Kentucky, as first-season stallion Honest Mischief covered 127 mares at Sequel Stallions in New York.