The Jockey Club recently released its list of leading Thoroughbred breeders for 2021, ranking the top 50 individual breeders by money won in North America. It also published a second list that includes breeding partnerships. Those lists can be viewed here.
High-volume breeder Calumet Farm got knocked off its perch atop the list the last two years, with Godolphin out-earning Calumet by nearly $2.4 million despite having less than one-third the number of starters. Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, WinStar Farm and Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Ramsey rounded out the top five by North American money won.
Calumet was represented by 549 individual starters, more than twice as many as the next largest-sized operation, that of the Ramseys, with 246 starters.
That's all well and good, but I think there are other ways to look at this list that might be more useful to the Thoroughbred breeder than seeing who won the most money.
The accompanying list ranks those same breeders (or at least breeders with five or more starters in 2021) by average earnings per start. (Note: The only top 50 breeder with fewer than five starters was Northern Farm, which won $2,080,000 with its two Japanese-bred starters, Breeders' Cup winners, Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine).
The two people topping the list, Angie Moore ($151,406 per start) and Gail Rice $97,318), each were carried by one major horse. Among her six starters, Moore bred probable Horse of the Year Knicks Go, whose victories in 2021 included the G1 Pegasus World Cup and G1 Breeders' Cup Classic. Rice bred seven starters, led by Medina Spirit, whose 2021 earnings of $3,520,000 include $1,860,000 from the G1 Kentucky Derby. Those earnings are in jeopardy because of the horse's failed drug test.
Third on the list by average earnings per start is the late Edward A. Cox Jr., who was also elevated by one big horse. Hot Rod Charlie's $2,127,500 in earnings made up the bulk of purse money won by Cox-bred runners in 2021. Same goes with St. George Stables, ranked fourth by average earnings per start. St. George bred multiple G1 winner Letruska, who earned $1,945,540 in North America in 2021.
Rounding out the top five on our list is Godolphin, which leads the list by number of stakes winners, 18. Godolphin benefits in average earnings per start and stakes winner through its global operation by only sending mostly proven horses from Europe to compete at the top level in North America.
The top five by average earnings per start also account for the highest average percentage of stakes winners from starters.
Other breeding operations that had a commendable percentage of stakes winners/starters are Sam-Son Farms (9.62%), Live Oak Stud (9.52%), G. Watts Humphrey Jr. (8.86%), Rustlewood Farm (8.82%), W. S. Farish (8.51%), Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings (8,39%) and Hinkle Farms (8.16%).
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