By T. D. Thornton
In an attempt to get around a controversial rule by The Jockey Club (TJC) that mandates that stallions born from 2020 onward will only be allowed to cover up to 140 mares, the Speaker of Kentucky's House of Representatives on Feb. 14 co-filed a bill that would prohibit “a registrar of Thoroughbreds” from restricting “the number of mares that can be bred to a stallion or otherwise refuse to register any foal based upon the number of mares bred to the stallion.”
In addition, the measure would empower the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to “select and utilize an entity to serve as the registrar,” meaning that the state's selection might not necessarily end up being the 128-year-old, industry-standard TJC.
Yet if the chosen registrar does end up being TJC and that organization does not “submit to the jurisdiction of Kentucky” and “comply with the laws of this chapter,” the bill's summary states that Kentucky will amend state statutes to instead “allow the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund registrar to stamp a Thoroughbred's certificate with the registrar's seal.”
House Speaker David Osborne (R-Prospect) and Rep. Matthew Koch (R-Paris) are the co-sponsors of House Bill 496 (summary and details here).
When reached late Tuesday afternoon in his New York office, TJC's president and CEO, Jim Gagliano, said his organization would have no comment at this time.
The controversy over the so-called “stallion cap” dates to May 7, 2020, when TJC put into effect a new rule–known as 14C–that mandated for stallions born in 2020 and later, the maximum number of mares covered will be 140. TJC indicated it simply would not register any foals that were not the product of matings with the first 140 mares to which that stallion was bred in a given year.
At that time, TJC cited the significant, decades-long decline in the North American foal crop and concerns “with the narrowing of the diversity of the Thoroughbred gene pool,” in implementing the new policy, which was met with a hazy mixture of consternation and support within America's bloodstock community.
In 2020, the year the rule went into effect, 42 stallions bred over 140 mares.
On Feb. 23, 2021, Spendthrift, Ashford, and Three Chimneys Farm sued in federal court to keep the rule from going forward and to collect alleged damages. The complaint called 14C a “blatant abuse of power” that acts as an “anti-competitive restraint” and threatened to disrupt the free-market nature of the breeding business.
On Mar. 29, TJC disagreed, calling the plaintiffs' allegations “scattershot” and “meritless.” TJC moved to dismiss the lawsuit, but the judge has yet to rule on that motion.
Reached just before deadline for this story, Spendthrift declined to comment on the proposed legislation.
If enacted as written, the bill aspires to become reality within about six months.
The bill states that, “On or before Sept. 1, 2022, the racing commission shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with [state statues] to implement this section.”
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