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Weatherbys Reports Breeding Stats for England, Ireland

Weatherbys Return of Mares just published.

Crystal Ocean, the 2019 Prince of Wales's Stakes winner, led all sires in the number of covers for The General Stud Book of England this year

Crystal Ocean, the 2019 Prince of Wales's Stakes winner, led all sires in the number of covers for The General Stud Book of England this year

Mathea Kelley

The Weatherbys Return of Mares to Sept. 30, just published, shows the number of live foals registered to date in The General Stud Book for England and Ireland totals 13,438; up from 13,275 in 2022 and 12,920 in 2021.

There are 4,356 foals registered in Great Britain, down from 4,518 in 2022, but up from 4,282 in 2021. Ireland continues to see gains with 9,082 registered, up from 8,757 in 2022 and 8,638 in 2021. This is year's total for the two countries combined is an increase of 163 foals compared to 2022 after an increase of 355 foals from 2021 to 2022. 

The total number of broodmares reported at stud in 2023 is 22,600, a decrease of 232 compared to last year after an increase of 112 between 2021 and 2022 (22,832 in 2022 and 22,720 in 2021). Of these, 2,456 were not covered of which 957 were in England and 1,499 in Ireland. There were 5,912 no returns and a total of 210 were barren.

The number of stallions increased by two in England to 113. The number of stallions standing in Ireland decreased by three to 184. 

The leading stallion on number of coverings in 2023 was Crystal Ocean, from the Coolmore National Hunt roster, at 335. Behind Crystal Ocean is Sioux Nation at 289, Vadamos at 273, and Affinisea at 268. 

  • In England, 4,356 foals were registered by Sept. 30, a decrease of 162 compared with 2022, comprising of 2,107 colts (48.37%) and 2,249 fillies (51.63%), compared with 2,248 colts (49.76%) and 2,270 fillies (50.24%) in 2022.
  • In Ireland 9,082 foals were registered by Sept. 30, an increase of 325 compared with 2022, comprising 4,665 colts (51.37%) and 4,417 fillies (48.63%), compared with 4,394 colts (50.18%) and 4,363 fillies (49.82%) in 2022.
  • 6,186 mares in England were covered in 2023 to date (82.62% of mares reported at stud) compared with 6,610 (82.32%) mares on Sept. 30, 2022.
  • 12,386 mares in Ireland were covered in 2023 to date (81.96% of mares reported at stud) compared with 11,398 (77%) mares on Sept. 30, 2022.
  • 18,572 total recorded coverings recorded in Great Britain and Ireland combined in 2023 compares with 18,008 on Sept. 30, 2022—a 3.13% increase.

FOALS

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

GB

4,302 (+2%)

4,255

(-1%)

4,466

(+5%)

4,597

(+3%)

4,674 (+2%)

4,726 (+1%)

4,655

(-1%)

4,236

(-9%)

4,282

(+1%)

4,518

(+6%)

4,356

(-4%)

IRE

7,051 (+2%)

7,440

(+6%)

8,205

(+10%)

8,792

(+7%)

9,044 (+3%)

8,987

(-0.5%)

8,788

(-2%)

8,542

(-3%)

8,638

(+1%)

8,757

(+1%)

9,082

(+4%)

TOTAL

11,353

11,695

12,671

13,389

13,718

13,713

13,443

12,778

12,920

13,275

13,438

This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.