A projected total of 10,190 foals will be born in USA and Canada this year, an increase of 700 on the previous year and the highest total since 2010, according to the United States Trotting Association.
The figures are based on an estimated 60 percent of matings resulting in registered foals.
In 2021 there were 16,983 mares bred, a jump of 302 from the previous year.
The highest number of mares bred in the last 15 years in North America was 21,764 in 2006, resulting in a foal crop of 13,151.
The foal registrations dipped to 7518 in 2015 but have been rising steadily ever since.
The conduct of ‘true’ sires stakes programs – as opposed to mare-based schemes – with huge prizemoney pools in many USA states and Canada provinces has been attributed as a major factor in the increase of foal numbers.
Ohio and Indiana, whose governing bodies have permitted slot machines at their racetracks, are the two leading states for breeding in North America in 2022. Ohio has a projected foal total of 1861 this year, while Indiana has 1704.
Pennsylvania is next with 1166 foals, followed by New York (656), Illinois (653), Kentucky (478), New Jersey (265), Michigan (257), Iowa (221), Delaware (190) and Minnesota (149).
There were 803 stallions registered in USA last year. Indiana had the highest number of stallions with 159, Ohio had 132, Pennsylvania 88, Illinois 72, Michigan 47, Iowa 39, Delaware and New York 37 each and Kentucky 30.
Interestingly, 4378 or 45 per cent of the 2019 crop of 9822 foals raced as two-year-olds in 2021, comprising 2548 pacers (26 per cent foals-to-starters) and 1830 trotters (19 per cent).
