Red Rum, Cigar, Sea Biscuit and Phar Lap 鈥� all world-beaters and with catchy names to boot. But would you put your money on Pieraz-cryozootech-stallion?
This cumbersomely named foal was unveiled on 14 April, in Italy, as the world鈥檚 first ever clone of a champion racehorse. Pieraz 2, for short, was cloned from a skin cell of Pieraz, a multiple world champion in equine endurance races of up to 50 kilometres.
Unlike conventional horse racing, which bans the use of artificial breeding methods, endurance racing would allow cloned competitors. Other like-minded equine sports include dressage, showjumping, three-day eventing, polo and carriage-horse racing.
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In 2003, the same scientists produced Prometea, the first horse clone. 鈥淪cientifically, there鈥檚 not much new about the new clone,鈥� says Cesare Galli, who cloned both horses at the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Cremona, Italy. 鈥淏ut from an industry viewpoint, the new horse is the real thing.鈥�
