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Jockey Club’s 2021 Fact Book Available Online

The Jockey Club announced today that the 2021 edition of the Fact Book is available in the Resources section of its website at jockeyclub.com.

The online Fact Book is a statistical and informational guide to Thoroughbred breeding, racing and auction sales in North America and is updated quarterly. It also features a directory of Canadian, international, national, and state organizations.

Links to the Breeding Statistics report that is released by The Jockey Club each September and the Report of Mares Bred information that is published by The Jockey Club each October can be found in the Breeding section of the Fact Book.

Among the data included in the Fact Book are import/export and sales trends, all of which appear to have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Namely, when compared to 2019, imports decreased 23.3 percent, exports decreased 35.6 percent, and mean yearling price decreased 19.9 percent. The Fact Book's racing data, some of which was released as part of Equibase Company's year-end Thoroughbred economic indicators advisory last month, also indicates the impact of the pandemic on the industry.

The 2021 editions of State Fact Books, which feature detailed breeding, racing, and auction sales information specific to numerous states, Canadian provinces, and Puerto Rico, are also available on The Jockey Club website. The State Fact Books are updated monthly.

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Ryan Elected President Of Consignors And Commercial Breeders Association

The new officers and board members for the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association (CBA) were installed at its most recent meeting.

Allaire Ryan of Lane's End Farm will serve as president, Walker Hancock of Claiborne Farm has been named vice president and Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Farm will serve as treasurer. Outgoing president Gray Lyster will continue to serve the organization as past president.

The board consists of 15 members: eight from the Top 20 consignors and seven from other consignors and commercial breeders. Each year, a portion of the board rotates off and new board members are appointed to fill those positions from among eligible CBA members.

The current board members from the Top 20 consignors are: Conrad Bandoroff, Denali Stud; Carrie Brogden, Machmer Hall Sales; Neal Clarke, Atlas Farm/Bedouin Bloodstock; Liz Crow, ELiTE Sales; Walker Hancock, Claiborne Farm; Adrian Regan, Hunter Valley Farm; Allaire Ryan, Lane's End Farm and Mark Taylor, Taylor Made Farm.

Board members from other consignors/commercial breeders are: Tom Hamm, Three Chimneys Farm; Ben Henley, Airdrie Stud; Derek MacKenzie, Vinery Sales; Zach Madden, Buckland Sales; Gray Lyster, Ashview Farm; Mark Toothaker, Spendthrift Farm and Sean Tugel, Gainesway Farm.

“The CBA owes a debt of gratitude to outgoing president Gray Lyster for the time and service he dedicated to this organization and I'm delighted he will continue to contribute to our cause as past president,” Ryan said. “The CBA is a vital body in today's marketplace, and I am motivated to achieve the goals we have set in order to maintain the best sales environment possible for consignors and breeders.”

The CBA is a trade organization with more than 300 members. The association's membership accounts for over 80 percent of the annual auction revenue in North America, as either breeder or consignor. The CBA works democratically on behalf of every consignor and commercial breeder, large and small, to provide representation and a constructive, unified voice related to sales issues, policies and procedures. The Association's initiatives are designed to encourage a fair and expanding marketplace for all who breed, buy or sell thoroughbreds.

The association was founded in 2005 and is based in Lexington, Ky.

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Canadian Horse Of The Year Sealy Hill Dies At Age 17

Sealy Hill, the 2007 Canadian Horse of the Year and successful broodmare, has been euthanized due to the infirmities of old age, BloodHorse reports.

The daughter of Point Given resided at Bonne Chance Farm in Versailles, Ky., where she spent nearly her entire broodmare career, owned either by Bonne Chance or Regis Farms. She will be buried on the farm.

Sealy Hill raced as an Ontario-born homebred for Eugene Melnyk, trained by Mark Casse, winning seven of 18 starts for earnings of $1,747,081.

She is best known for her 2007 campaign, where she secured the Sovereign Awards as Canada's Horse of the Year, champion turf female, and 3-year-old female. Her season started in the U.S., including a win in the Grade 3 Bourbonette Oaks, then she moved back to Woodbine for the summer, where she became the first – and so far, only – horse to sweep Canada's Triple Tiara: the Woodbine Oaks, Bison City Stakes, and Wonder Where Stakes. She added runner-up efforts in the G2 Canadian Stakes and G1 E.P. Taylor Stakes in the fall.

Sealy Hill raced for one more season, where she earned placings in three graded stakes, including a runner-up effort in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita Park.

As a broodmare, Sealy Hill had nine foals, with seven starters and five winners; four of which won in graded stakes company.

The most prominent among them is Cambier Parc, by Medaglia d'Oro, whose four graded stakes victories for owner Larry Best's OXO Equine include two against Grade 1 competition.

Sealy Hill passed the mantle of Sovereign Award success on to her first foal, the Distorted Humor filly Hillaby, who was named Canada's champion female sprinter of 2014. Other notable runners out of Sealy Hill include Grade 3 winners Belle Hill (by Sky Mesa) and Gale Force (by Giant's Causeway).

Sealy Hill's final foal, the Into Mischief colt Eleven Central, was born in 2018 and is working toward his first start at Palm Meadows Training Center. He was purchased as a yearling by Best for $950,000. The mare did not catch when she was bred to Distorted Humor in 2019, and she had not been bred since then.

Trio Of Kentucky Farms To Sue Jockey Club, Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Over Stud Book Cap

Following is a press release sent on behalf of Spendthrift Farm, Ashford Stud, and Three Chimneys Farm. This is a developing story, and we will be updating as more information, including court filings, is made available.

Three of Kentucky's biggest stud farms have filed a lawsuit challenging The Jockey Club's rule to restrict Thoroughbred stallions from breeding with more than 140 mares each year – the so-called “stallion cap.” The complaint argues that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has unlawfully delegated power to The Jockey Club, and that the new rule breaches the Constitutions of Kentucky and the United States as well as federal and state antitrust laws.

The plaintiffs in the complaint are Spendthrift Farm, Ashford Stud and Three Chimneys Farm, who say the stallion cap is a “blatant abuse of power” by The Jockey Club. The suit argues that the rule change is “arbitrary” and “anti-competitive” and will reduce access or drive up prices for many owners of mares looking to access top stallions. The rule also risks driving the best stallions overseas, as no other country with a Thoroughbred stud book imposes a cap.

The plaintiffs believe The Jockey Club's action will have a significant impact on the entire economic structure of the industry by undermining the value of Thoroughbreds throughout the United States, with a consequent impact on jobs and livelihoods. In addition, it places artificial restrictions on breeders' abilities to decide for themselves the best course of action for their stables.

The plaintiffs state there is “no scientific basis” to support The Jockey Club's argument that the rule change is necessary for the health of the Thoroughbred breed or to promote genetic diversity. There are only 42 stallions in the 2020 season who were bred to over 140 mares, and the cap simply means excess demand will move on to the less desirable, less commercial stallions, making it more difficult for breeders to be profitable. Some breeders have stated the new rule will lead them to simply get out of the business rather than tolerate it. No other country has seen a basis for introducing a cap, and the plaintiffs believe such a fundamental change cannot be taken unless supported by robust scientific evidence.

Membership of The Jockey Club is by invitation only, and the decision was made by its Board of Stewards without discussion or a vote at the Club's annual general meeting. The Jockey Club stewards making the decision had clear conflicts of interest, given they also represent or own various breeding and racing entities who stand to benefit now that owners of mares are being denied their first-choice stallion.

Commenting on behalf of the plaintiffs, B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm said:

“The introduction of the stallion cap by The Jockey Club is a blatant abuse of power that is bad law, bad science and bad business. A handful of individuals from a private club in New York have been allowed to make a decision that will negatively impact the future of Thoroughbred racing and breeding both in Kentucky and the whole country.

“We have filed this complaint to defend the industry from anti-competitive, un-American and arbitrary decision making that is not based on scientific evidence.

“If they can limit the number to 140, what's to stop them from limiting it to 100 or 80 or any other number down the road? What if your mare isn't one of the 140? We are really concerned about the small breeder's ability to survive this.”

The Jockey Club announced the rule 14c amendment on May 7, 2020, which, beginning with stallions foaled in 2020, limits the number of mares which can be bred to a stallion in a calendar year to 140. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, Central Division.

It argues that the actions of The Jockey Club and KHRC breach sections 1, 2, 3, 8 and 29 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which are designed to protect property rights and limit delegations of power by governmental bodies to private entities. In addition, it says the stallion cap violates the due process and equal protection rights of the three stud farms as guaranteed by the 5th and the 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. The suit also argues the rule violates the Sherman Antitrust Act and suppresses competition.

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