The number of mares bred in Kentucky in 2002–the year after mare reproductive loss syndrome first hit–fell by 3.4% from 2001, but the state’s broodmare population remains 33% higher than it was a decade earlier, according to figures released by The Jockey Club and contained in its annual “Fact Book” available online at jockeyclub.com

Mare reproductive loss syndrome reduced the 2001 foal crop by approximately 500 because of late-term fetal loss, and the 2002 crop fell by about 2,000 because of early-term abortions. As a result, the North American foal crop went from 37,334 in 2000 (the largest since 1992), to 36,800 in 2001, to 35,600 in 2002. Jockey Club officials expect the foal crop to regain most of its losses in 2003 when 37,000 registered foals are projected