Kentucky bill takes aim at proposed Jockey Club stallion cap

A bill that aims to prohibit The Jockey Club's 2020 rule limiting the number of mares bred per stallion was introduced in the Kentucky House on Monday, with Speaker of the House of Representatives David Osborne and Representative Matt Koch sponsoring the legislation.

The bill, HB 496, outlines six action items, chief among them "to create a new section of KRS Chapter 230 to prohibit a thoroughbred registrar from restricting the number of mares bred to a stallion or refusing to register a foal based on the number of mares bred to the foal's stallion."

The Jockey Club adopted a new rule on May 7, 2020, that created a fundamental shift in the North American commercial thoroughbred breeding industry by limiting all stallions' annual books to a maximum of 140 mares. The 'stallion cap' becomes applicable to stallions born in 2020 (meaning colts that are two-year-olds this year) and later, and does not affect current active stallions.

A similar cap for standardbreds was put in place in 2011 by that breed's registrar, the United States Trotting Association, which actually began limiting stallion books in 2009.

The rule was created to address a declining and concerning degree of diversity within the Thoroughbred gene pool. Declining genetic diversity has been linked by one study to the trend since 1996 of stallions breeding books of well over 100 mares.

The percentage of mares bred to stallions with books of 140 or more grew from 9.5 per cent of all mares bred in 2007 to 27 per cent by 2019, according to The Jockey Club statistics.

The rule has not had universal support. Spendthrift Farm, Ashford Stud (under the name Bemak N.V.), and Three Chimneys filed a lawsuit against The Jockey Club and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (the KHRC was named as a defendant due to its official capacities with the regulator). The Jockey Club filed to dismiss that lawsuit in March 2021.

In an October 28 supplemental response to The Jockey Club's motion to dismiss, the farms state the 2021 report of mares bred show they will be significantly affected by the new rule and, therefore, have legal standing to challenge it.

The report shows these three farms stood 23 of 45 North American stallions that bred more than 140 mares in 2021 and 11 of the top 13 stallions by number of mares bred. These 23 stallions covered 4,397 mares in 2021, which is 26 per cent of all the mares bred in Kentucky.

If the 'stallion cap' was in place, the farms argue, it would be the equivalent of reducing the matings to these sires by 1,177 mares.

The bill also seeks to "direct the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to select and use a thoroughbred registrar; require the registrar to submit to Kentucky jurisdiction and comply with KRS Chapter 230; instruct the racing commission to promulgate administrative regulations relating to thoroughbred registrars; amend KRS 230.210 to remove the example of a thoroughbred registrar; and amend KRS 230.400 to allow the Kentucky thoroughbred development fund registrar to stamp a thoroughbred's certificate with the registrar's seal."

When reached at his New York office, The Jockey Club president and chief operating officer Jim Gagliano declined comment.

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