As America’s Thoroughbred industry goes, so go our regional breeding centers. Iowa’s Thoroughbred business certainly reflects the larger whole, only with more dire numbers. It is currently in a state of painful contraction – and has been for years. While neighboring Illinois’s parallel struggle has been attributed, in large part, to a lack of racetrack casino revenues, Iowa is here to tell you that such gaming centers, while helpful, are no cure-all.

After finishing in the top 10 on Indiana’s general sire list each of the last two years, the third time was the charm for Unbridled Express, who broke through to take the Hoosier State’s sire title for the first time in 2019.

Unbridled Express, who stands at Swifty Farms in Seymour, Ind., sired 14 winners, including six repeat winners, from 29 starters for progeny earnings of $1,089,725 in 2019. He easily outdistanced his closest competitor on the list, Haffner Farm’s Notional, at $870,130.

Horse racing has a long and storied history in the Illinois, where it has enthralled the sporting public since the 1830s. But times have changed in recent decades, and not for the better.

In the high-stakes bloodstock game, a stallion’s fourth year at stud is considered a particularly risky time to breed to him. That marks the same season that his first foals come to the races as juveniles, and their performances can cause the value of his future offspring to either skyrocket or plummet. And thus, stud fees, the size and quality of books of mares, and commercial auction prices for a stallion’s stock will generally dip in his third and fourth years before establishing a future path.

Regally bred Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, an influential stallion who is the grandsire of Triple Crown winner and leading freshman sire American Pharoah, has died at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky. The farm said the stallion died on Saturday, “after a battle with a rare disease that compromised his immune system.” The son of Unbridled was 20.

Perennial leading sire Tapit led all North American stallions with 13 graded stakes winners in 2019. He is already off to a strong start toward defending his title in 2020, siring three stakes winners, two of those graded stakes winners at Fair Grounds, last Saturday.

Representatives for Ontario Racing’s Thoroughbred Improvement Program, which aims to increase the quality and value of Ontario-bred racehorses, say they are “extremely pleased” with the results of two incentive programs designed to bring mares and foals to the province.

Daily Racing Form's annual special edition takes an in-depth look at the past year's leading stallions standing in Kentucky, the epicenter of the North American bloodstock market, as well as surrounding states in the Midwest region.

Four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder delivered her third foal this week, and in a vote of major confidence for one of its young stallions, owner Spendthrift Farm said she will stay home for this season’s mating.

Beholder delivered a War Front filly at Spendthrift in Lexington, Ky. The Henny Hughes mare, who was campaigned throughout her career by Spendthrift, will be bred back to Bolt d’Oro.

A multiple Grade 1-winning juvenile by Medaglia d’Oro, Bolt d’Oro is preparing for his second season at stud after garnering a solid book in his first season at Spendthrift.

Grade 1 winner Boisterous, who has been standing in California, is moving back East, where he spent the majority of his racing career. Boisterous is moving to Diamond B Farm in Mohrsville, Pa., for 2020.

He represents another prominent acquisition for Diamond B, which acquired Flashback from Hill 'n' Dale Farm in 2019. Flashback went on to be represented on the track by Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Eclipse Award finalist British Idiom.