FIGURES published in the Weatherbys Return of Mares showed the number of foals born in Britain and Ireland has fallen by 5% to 12,778 this year.

The 4,236 foals born in Britain is 9% lower, while the 8,542 in Ireland is off 3%. The decline has, in part, been attributed to slower registrations and is in line with global thoroughbred foal crop trends which have seen a decline in the last 15 years of 35,000 foals (-28%) from 123,000 in 2005 to 88,000 last year.