The Jockey Club is projecting a 2010 North American registered Thoroughbred foal crop of 30,000. The group has also revised its original estimate of registered foals for 2009 from 35,400 to 34,000.

The 2010 foal crop is projected to be the smallest foal crop since 1977, when a comparable 30,036 foals were registered.

The foal crop projection, traditionally announced in mid-August, is computed by using Reports of Mares Bred received to date for the 2009 breeding season. RMBs are to be filed by Aug. 1 of each breeding season.

“After remaining stable for more than a decade, the number of mares bred has declined annually beginning in 2006 and the rate of that decline has accelerated in each of the last two breeding seasons,” said Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club’s vice president of registration services. “These declines will have an obvious impact on the business in the years ahead, most notably at the racetrack, where, on average, 70% of registered foals make at least one career start