THE International Stud Book Committee recently published their Statistical Information Booklet 2018, though the information contained is actually for 2017.

Approved stud books exist in four distinct regions, overseen by the European and African Stud Book Committee, North America and the Caribbean, South America (OSAF region), and finally the Asian Stud Book Committee and Oceania. A comprehensive list of foals born from 2015 to 2017, together with the numbers of thoroughbred stallions and mares active in 2017, is published here. It is a table that is fascinating when you start to look at the numbers closely.

Ireland ranks third in the world when it comes to the production of thoroughbred foals, with Britain coming seventh on the list. The USA is the world leader in foal production, while Australia is a distant second, but they are the only other country to have a five-figure total. Ireland just failed to reach that milestone in 2017. Argentina comes fourth, followed by Japan and France.

The top six are the only countries to produce 5,000 or more thoroughbred foals in 2017. Production levels worldwide have steadied or declined since 2008. In that year the total was in excess of 100,000 and it broke that barrier again in 2009. Since then it has stayed under the threshold.

The percentage of fillies to colts worldwide is 51% female to 49% male, and this ratio has been the same for the years 2015 to 2017. Interestingly, in Ireland the figures are reversed, with 51% of the crop being male.

A table of permanent imports and exports (not reproduced here) shows clearly that Ireland is a huge exporter and we sent 1,863 permanently abroad in 2017, while importing just 518. In terms of permanent exports of thoroughbreds we rank behind France (3,537), Britain (2,694) and the USA (2,494), and ahead of New Zealand (1,779) and Australia (1,403).

The largest importers of thoroughbreds on a permanent basis in 2017 were France (2,221), Australia (2,165) and Britain (1,379).

A number of countries had no exports and this can be for many reasons. One of these countries was China and in 2017 they permanently imported more than 300 thoroughbreds. Korea were net importers of 467 horses (six were exported).

In terms of world production, 33% of foals are bred in Asia and Oceania (Australia, Japan and New Zealand among them), while Europe and Africa are a nose ahead of North America and the Caribbean. South America, where production is declining, accounts for about 15% of the world total.

source: internationalstudbook.com