Harness Racing has a new king of the breeding shed.
Rookie sire A Rocknroll Dance has knocked off champion sire Bettor's Delight as New Zealand's most popular sire.
A Rocknroll Dance served 233 mares this breeding season compared with Bettor's Delight's 193.
The changing of the guard comes after Bettor's Delight's stud duties were purposely limited as he approaches the twilight of his breeding career.
This season is the first time since 2010-11 he has served fewer than 200 mares.
The scaling back of Bettor's Delight's numbers and the death of Mach Three left a vacuum at the top of the sires' ranks, which has been taken up by A Rocknroll Dance and other rookie sires.
Sweet Lou continued his rise in popularity with New Zealand breeders and served 122 mares this season after books of 90 and 86 mares in his first two seasons at stud.
He's Watching built on the good start he has made to his siring career, attracting 102 mares after books of 81 and 101 mares in his first two seasons.
Leading sire Art Major's numbers dropped slightly from 166 mares last season to 146.
That could be have been affected by a minor health issue which restricted the supply of his semen late in the breeding season.
Love You kept the spot he gained last season as New Zealand's most popular trotting sire.
This season his imported semen was used to inseminate 90 mares.
Majestic Son dropped slightly from 81 to 70 mares in second position.
Former North American trotter Creatine made a big impact in his first season at stud in New Zealand, being used for 70 mares.
New Zealand's leading colonial-bred stallions all suffered a decline in popularity.
Sir Lincoln attracted 65 mares after bumper books of 125 and 101 in the previous two seasons.
Terror To Love's popularity continued to decline. He served 33 mares this season following books of 62 and 33 mares.
Auckland Reactor's numbers stacked up better.
He served 76 mares compared to 95 last season and 148 the previous season.
Sires marketed by southern stud farms had varying fortunes in the breeding shed.
Net Ten EOM attracted 18 mares on the back of 17 last season.
Panspacificflight dropped from 29 mares to 11.
Former Southland horse of the year Franco Ledger made a steady start to his siring career with 22 mares.
A total of 2361 mares were served in New Zealand following tallies of 2585 and 2550 in the previous two breeding seasons.
In the 2014-15 season, 2887 mares were bred which equates to a five-year decline of 526 mares
Footnote: All stallion numbers refer to their books of mares served by artificial insemination.
