The Jockey Club today made available the list of mares in the 2026 Mare Incentive Program, which waives registration fees for certain 2027 foals of mares that meet criteria defined by The Jockey Club.
The list of mares in the 2025 pilot program was searched more than 3,100 times, and 228 mares were bred as part of the program.
"We were pleased to see how many searches were performed and how many mares were brought back into production," said James L. Gagliano, president and COO of The Jockey Club. "The feedback has been extremely positive, and we look forward to seeing how many more mares are brought back next year."
"This is such a fantastic tool for breeders," said David O'Farrell, owner and manager of Ocala Stud. "We saw a few very nice mares that were part of the program this year, and we hope to see more from the 2026 list."
The program is designed to stimulate interest in breeding mares that appear to have left production. Their additions would increase the overall number of active broodmares and, in turn, the number of registered foals in North America.
The criteria are for mares divided into two age groups. The first are for mares from 6 to 9 years old as of January 1, 2026:
- A registered Thoroughbred
- Name registered with The Jockey Club
- No race starts in the past two years (2024 and 2025)
- Not reported as the dam of a foal in the past two years
- Not reported as covered by a stallion in the past two years
- Not exported to a foreign country from the USA, Canada, or Puerto Rico with the export as the last movement of record
- Not reported dead
The second are for mares aged 10 to 19 as of January 1, 2026. These mares must meet the criteria above and must have produced a registered foal in 2022 and/or 2023.
The 2026 list of mares meeting the criteria comprises 22,243 mares. In 2025, there were 23,090 mares.
The report of Mare Incentive Program mares is available to anyone with an IR account and is filterable by 12 data elements, including sire, dam sire, age, money earned, and class of race achieved. Users can also search by mare name. The list includes all mares that meet the criteria for their age group.
To learn more about the Mare Incentive Program, visit registry.jockeyclub.com.
