Bolt d’Oro, Good Magic, and Justify were familiar foes on the racetrack, and locked horns again atop a competitive freshman sire class of 2022, finishing as the top three, in that order, by earnings, and deadlocked by other metrics.

Forte

Violence – Queen Caroline, by Blame

Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm ($80,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase by Silver Hill Farm; $110,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Repole Stable and St. Elias)

Eclipse Award champion Forte, who debuts among the top choices on Daily Racing Form’s 2023 Derby Watch list, has a pedigree that combines speed with a globally prominent classic family.

The 2022 racing season continued to showcase the power of the partnership, with champions such as Flightline, Nest, Forte, and other major runners being campaigned in partnership. That theme of teaming up continues into a number of facets of the industry nationwide, including the Ohio stallion ranks.

At age 23, Stroll hasn’t slowed down at all. The Grade 1 winner and successful stallion continues to flourish as a leading sire in his adopted home state of Iowa, standing for Iowa State University’s equine program in Ames. But the big man now has a few new stablemates on campus to help carry the load.

The ranks of elite turf sires are in a period of major change, both in North America and Europe, with the loss of several titans in recent years. Emerging as a leader of the group is War Front, a stallion popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

The flagship of the Claiborne Farm roster, War Front is the leading living turf sire by earnings in North America, with several other stallions also emerging as horses to keep an eye on in the coming years.

At this point in his record-setting stud career, Into Mischief's rivals are not only his contemporaries - who he outdistanced again to claim his fourth straight North American sire title in 2022 while again breaking his own single-season earnings mark. He is starting to reach a position of comparison to some of the legends of the industry.

Bucking a national trend, Indiana was one of a few states that had an increase in mares bred in 2022, showing a response to a robust statebred program that has contributed major economic activity to the state.

According to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred released last fall, of the top 10 states and provinces by the number of mares reported bred in 2022, only New York and Indiana had more mares bred than the prior year. In Indiana, 39 stallions covered 496 reported mares, ranking the state eighth by number of mares bred. The prior year, 45 stallions covered 475 mares.

Ghaaleb claimed his second consecutive Illinois sire title, and third overall, in 2022, outdistancing his closest competitor while doing so.

Ghaaleb, who stands at Wildwood Farm, amassed progeny earnings of $1,382,315 on the season. That more than doubled the bankroll of his closest competitor, McCrosky Farm’s Forest Attack with $538,564.

North America’s leading sires are a diverse cast. The 10 earnings leaders on the general sires list for 2022 represent eight different farms, with stud fees ranging from $10,000 to $250,000. They range in age from 9 to 25, and in accomplishment from champion juveniles to horses unraced at 2 who became champions as older horses. Their progeny have had success on a variety of surfaces and in major events around the globe.

Two stallions on this list share something very important in common, though.

Sustained excellence has been a theme of Curlin’s career, first as a multi-time champion on the racetrack and now as one of North America’s established elite stallions.