Cloning Sport Horses By Amber Heintzberger
Once upon a time, cloning animals seemed like pure science fiction. Then a sheep named Dolly entered the scene, taking the fiction out of the science. A new high-tech era of horse breeding was born. Today cloning sport horses has become a fairly common practice, both for recreat- ing beloved horses and for preserving the genes of talented performers.
Today cloning sport horses has become a fairly common practice, both for recreating beloved horses and for preserv- ing the genes of talented performers. In 2012, the FEI announced that cloned horses could
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compete in international competition, which prompted many breed registries to allow cloned horses to become registered. (The American Quarter Horse Association currently precludes the registration of horses produced by any cloning process, and The Jockey Club only allows regis- tration of Thoroughbreds produced by live cover.) Replica Farm, LLC is the U.S. agency behind the success- ful cloning of numerous sport horses, including Gem Twist (Thoroughbred gelding), Sapphire (Holsteiner gelding), ET-FRH (Hanoverian gelding) and Sapphire (BWP mare), as well as world-class event horses Che Mr. Wiseguy (BWP geld- ing) and Tamarillo (Polish Warmblood, Arabian and Thor- oughbred gelding). Recently they were involved in cloning the late Irish Sport Horse show jumping champion Cruising, whose bloodlines owner Mary McCann, of Hartwell Stud in County Kildare, Ireland, wished to preserve.
Cruising Cruising is the only stallion to have obtained a 5-star rating for his own performance and 5-star ratings for his progeny’s
14 July/August 2015
nce upon a time, cloning animals seemed like pure science fiction. Then a sheep named Dolly entered the scene, taking the fiction out of the science. A new high-tech era of horse breeding was born.
performance in eventing and show jumping, and his offspring include 2012 World Cup Champion and USEF Show Jumper of the Year Flexible, as well as leading event horse Mr. Medicott, ridden by Frank Ostholt, Karen O’Connor and Phil- lip Dutton. Cruising himself won many Grands Prix worldwide, includ- ing the 1999 CSIO Aachen and three World Cup qualifiers. In 1999 he placed second in the World Cup Finals in Gothen- burg, Sweden. He was also on many winning Nations Cup teams, including those at Calgary, Aachen, Rotterdam and twice at Dublin. When Cruising died, there was no frozen semen saved. He had the highest number of offspring at the 2012 Olym- pic Games and many people were looking for Cruising semen, but there just wasn’t any left. His two clones, Cruising Arish and Cruis- ing Encore, produce semen that is an exact replica of Cruising, thus their offspring can be registered as Cruising offspring. Frozen semen from the young cloned stallions is already avail- able in Ireland and will be available in the United States for the 2016 breeding season. Both horses are located at Hartwell Stud. Their owner, Mary McCann of Hartwell Stud, says that she hopes the clones will help to keep Ireland’s reputation for breeding world-class performance horses at the forefront.
Cruising (while on the Irish show jumping team) who had won the Nations Cup in the RDS Dublin.
Che Mr. Wiseguy Ecuadorian three-day event rider and businessman Ronald Zabala-Goetschel is completely head over heels for his
Courtesy Jenny McCann
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