Foal registrations decline as Weatherbys Return of Mares reveals statistics

The latest report of the Weatherbys Return of Mares has revealed the numbers of foals, broodmares and active stallions in Britain and Ireland to have decreased.

Documentation up to September 30 2024, just published, shows the number of live foals registered to date in The General Stud Book totals 12,578 (13,438 in 2023 and 13,275 in 2022).

Of those, 4,074 are registered in GB (4,356 in 2023 and 4,518 in 2022) and 8,504 (9,082 in 2023 and 8,757 in 2022) in Ireland. This is a decrease of 860 foals compared to an increase of 163 foals from 2022 to 2023.

The total number of broodmares reported at stud in 2024 is 21,578 (22,600 in 2023 and 22,832 in 2022), a decrease of 1,022 compared to a decrease of 232 between 2022 and 2023. Of these, 2,205 were not covered (2,456 in 2023 and 2,546 in 2022) of which 879 were in GB and  1,326 in Ireland. There were 5,759 no returns and a total of 220 were barren.The number of stallions decreased by ten in GB from 113 on 30/09/2023 to 103 in 2024 to date. 

The number of stallions standing in Ireland decreased by 19, from 184 on 30/09/2023 to 165 in 2024 to date. The leading stallion on number of coverings in 2024 was Order of St George at 311. Behind Order of St George is Calyx at 273, Santiago at 251 and Good Guess at 250.

Read more

Five major talking points from this year's Weatherbys Return of Mares