Cut in half – Australia’s thoroughbred foal crop’s long-term decline continues

It’s no surprise that Australia’s foal crop went down again in 2025. 

Members of the nomination departments from the stud farms around the country, from the big commercial operations to the one-man band stallion operations, could tell you that was going to be the case.

Convincing breeders to keep going back to the well when the bottom end of the yearling market has found fewer buyers and the costs of putting horses into training has escalated has made that task more difficult for the “noms teams”.

Recently released Australian Stud Book data has revealed the precise number of foals born in 2025 and how many mares were served again last year, the latter figure pointing to the contraction of the foal crop continuing in 2026.   

The numbers show that 2025 Australian foal crop dropped 4.84 per cent to 11,283 live foals being born compared to 11,857 the previous breeding season.

But it also found that the live foal rate also improved 2 percentage points last year, with 67 per cent of mares served in 2024 producing live foals, the highest figure in the past five years.

Australia’s thoroughbred foal crop peaked in 1989, when it reached 23,697 and it has steadily declined since then, although it went up slightly in 2022 as the yearling market boomed in a Covid-inspired market. 

Last year was the first time the foal crop had more than halved from its peak almost four decades ago, demonstrating the changing dynamic of the industry with the increasing focus on the commercial end of the industry to the detriment of the breed-to-race owner.

Perhaps worryingly for the principal racing authorities who depend on field sizes to drive wagering turnover is that the trend shows no sign of stopping, with the latest Stud Book figures also showing that the foal crop is on track to go down again in 2026.

Nationwide, 2025 stallion coverings dropped 7.61 per cent from 16,680 mares being served in 2024 to 15,410 mares in the most recent breeding season. 

NSW, which empasses the southern hemisphere’s largest thoroughbred breeding region of the Hunter Valley, had 8267 mares served in the state, more than half of Australia’s broodmare population that was covered last year. Its decline was 5.26 per cent.

Covering data also showed that Victoria accounted for 4105 of the mares served last year, which was down 8.64 per cent year on year. 

In Queensland, the drop in the number of mares being bred was even more pronounced, with a year-on-year decline of 13.32 per cent.

Based on the Australia-wide serving figures, if the live foal rate stays the same in 2026, the foal crop will be about 10,325 in 2026, which would put it at numbers not seen since the mid-1970s.

The number of stallions covering the Australian broodmare band also continues to plummet, with 349 active stallions in 2025, down from 411 a year earlier.

A decade ago the number of stallions registered with the Stud Book was 618, with the dramatic decrease in the 10 years since attributed to numerous factors.

One of them, aside from the costs associated with standing a commercial stallion, is that the broodmare population in Australia has also fallen. 

There were 17,354 mares returned to the Stud Book last year encompassing those who had live foals, those who didn’t and the mares who were not served but remain active in the breeding database. 

While it has been harder for the stallion farms to attract big mare numbers to their stallions, with the concentration of the broodmare population being divided up between fewer sires, the likes of major operation Coolmore were able to attract significant numbers of mares to its roster of sires.

Number of mares served in Australia

Despite the deaths of proven sires Wootton Bassett and So You Think early in the breeding season, Coolmore’s roster of young horses helped offset the proven pair.

Coolmore’s first season sire Storm Boy (227) covered the equal most mares last year alongside Yulong’s Alabama Express while Home Affairs (205) and Switzerland (194) were also in the top four busiest Australian stallions in 2025.

“Breeders more so than ever, as you can see in the figures, are attracted to quality and value and we feel like we offered a roster to the market that represented great value for breeders,” Coolmore’s Tom Moore said. 

“Our stallions, including Storm Boy, Home Affairs and Switzerland, who were the three most popular Hunter Valley-based stallions, were the ones breeders throughout Australia and also in New Zealand really honed in on.”

Shuttler City Of Troy also proved popular for Coolmore, covering 158 mares while Golden Slipper winner Shinzo served 147 mares while Yulong’s Growing Empire covered 182 mares.

Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside proved Newgate’s most popular sire (191 mares) while The Autumn Sun’s return to the serving barn was welcomed where he covered 178 mares after a year off due to injury.

Australia’s reigning champion sire Zoustar served 171 mares at a fee of $275,000 (inc GST) while Darley’s busiest stallions were Harry Angel (165) and first season sire Broadsiding (160).

Hawaii Five Oh led the way for Vinery (167) just ahead of Ole Kirk (161). Hellbent served 167 mares while his Yarraman Park-based sire I Am Invincible, a three-time champion, covered 154.

Better Than Ready was Queensland’s most popular sire at 151 while Western Australia’s champion sire Playing God served 134 mares. 

Sprinter Bodyguard, who was recruited to Tasmania to stand at Armidale Stud, served 95 mares in his first season.