Darley shuttler Medaglia d’Oro sired North America’s largest crop this year with a total of 163 live foals. The top five was rounded out by Giant’s Causeway (149), Candy Ride (137); Street Cry (134) and Tapit (131). Darley sire Street Cry topped the list in 2009 with 153 foals.
Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado) covered his first book at Darley’s Jonabell Stud this year after moving from Stonewall Farm. He sired 87 foals in 2009.
Interest in Medaglia d’Oro increased dramatically after an outstanding year sparked by Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. He stood for $60,000 at Stonewall Farm, however, his fee was ramped up to $100,000 at Darley.
Medaglia d’Oro is standing his first southern season at Darley Kelvinside for an $88,000 fee.
Figures from the Jockey Club project this year’s foal crop to be the smallest since the 1970s. The Jockey Club reported 27,233 live foals had been confirmed through to September 8. That’s 14.2% down compared to last year.
The Jockey Club estimates the final number of live foals for 2010 will be about 30,000, a number similar 1977.
The Jockey Club reports that 3,130 stallions covered 49,404 mares in 2009. The number of stallions declined 9% while the number of mares bred decreased 13.2%.
Kentucky is far and away the leading State with 47.5% of the live foals reported for 2010. Rounding out the Top 10 in order were Florida, California, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ontario, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
The statistics include 458 progeny of stallions standing in North America but foaled abroad. The top two countries in this category are Korea (101) and Ireland (68).