The WSJ has the story:
More Top Horses Are Being Cloned, Rattling the World of Equestrian Sports
"Exact genetic replicas of successful steeds, long popular in polo, are appearing in other disciplines. Some ask: Is it the end of the happy accidents that breed ever-better horses? By Alexandra Wexler
"For generations, the world’s top horse breeders have carefully mixed bloodlines for temperament, strength, conformation and athleticism. Each new foal bore the promise of outperforming a carefully chosen set of parents. It isn’t quite natural selection, but it isn’t far off.
"Now the equestrian world might be hitting a plateau: exact genetic replicas of successful horses and ponies. In other words, clones.
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"Polo player Adolfo Cambiaso, regarded by many in the sport as the greatest of all time, essentially created the sporthorse cloning industry when he made a slew of genetic copies of his best ponies, starting in the early 2000s—and began winning tournaments on them.
"In 2010, a clone of his champion mare Cuartetera sold at auction for $800,000, an eye-popping sum for a polo pony at the time
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"Cloning is a controversial practice, but particularly so in horse sports. It is banned in thoroughbred racing and competitors in other disciplines are divided, with some saying it creates unrealistic expectations and stifles advances in breeding.
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"The Fédération Equestre Internationale, the governing body for Olympic horse sports, banned clones from competition in 2007. But it reversed that decision in 2012 after determining they didn’t provide competitors with an unfair advantage, due to the myriad environmental factors that go into producing a champion, like parentage, training, the rider, the type of food it eats and even the shoes it wears.
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"Buenos Aires-based Kheiron Biotech, an equine cloning company, produced around 400 cloned horses during the season that ended in February, mostly of various polo ponies. "
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