Last week, The Jockey Club released its list of leading North American Thoroughbred breeders for 2020, proclaiming Calumet Farm as the top breeder for the second year in a row.
Sure enough, the historic Lexington, Ky., farm owned since 2012 by reclusive billionaire Brad Kelley was atop the list of individual breeders with more than $9.7 million in 2020 North American earnings by horses it bred. If you take partnerships into account, Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky. – second behind Calumet on the individual list – was the North American leader with $11.7 million in earnings.
I don't judge the quality of restaurants or decide where to eat by looking at who generates the most revenue. If I did, I'd wind up at McDonald's three meals a day. So it stands to reason that there must be another way to look at this year-end list, which includes statistics for the top 100 breeders by North American earnings. The data includes starters, starts, wins, seconds, thirds, earnings and black type stakes winners.
I took the liberty of adding a few statistical columns that provide some context to the leading breeders list, including average number of starts per starter, percentage of wins from starts, average earnings per start and percentage of black type winners from starters.
The list below (which excluded a handful of breeders with fewer than five starters each) ranks North American breeders by average earnings per start. Topping the list in this category is Knowles Bloodstock ($55,847 per start), which had just six starters but included Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou among them. Second is Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, whose $22,705 average was buoyed considerably by the $7,170,000 earned by probable Horse of the Year Authentic.
Ranked 74th on the list of leading breeders by average earnings per start is Calumet Farm, whose 479 runners averaged $3,776 per start. WinStar Farm, with 214 starters, ranks 19th nationally with $8,122 earnings per start – more than twice that of Calumet.
Another way of looking at excellence in breeding is black type winners. Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin and Barbara Banke's Stonestreet led the way with each breeding 13 North American stakes winners. WinStar and Calumet were next with 10 each.
If you look at the list by percentage of black type winners from starters (minimum five starters), Knowles Bloodstock again leads the way with 33.33% (2-of-6), followed by China Horse Club International Ltd, with 16.67% (4-of-24).
Stonestreet ranks ninth by percentage of stakes winners from starters, at 8.55%, with Godolphin 12th at 8.02%. WinStar Farm is 33rd at 4.67% and Calumet Farm is 62nd at 2.09%.
So who was the top North American breeder in 2020? If you go by quantity, it's Calumet, which had 75% more starters than runner-up WinStar Farm. In my opinion, quality trumps quantity.
Category leaders listed in bold/italics.
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