Caitriona Murphy
CRUISING’s clones will receive green Irish Sport Horse studbook passports with the sire recorded as Sea Crest and the dam as Mullacrew, Horse Sport Ireland has confirmed. The horses will be called Cruising Arish (clone) and Cruising Encore (clone) in the studbook register.
Prompted by the FEI’s decision in 2007 to allow clones to compete, the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) issued a statement which advised that individual studbooks needed to decide whether clones could be part of their breed improvement programme or not.
The WBFSH insisted that if or when studbooks registered clones, it was very important that the horse’s name included the word clone, and that the passport has very clear indications of the origin (for instance, breeder of the donor and producer of the clone).
The WBFSH also recommended that if studbooks allowed clones and their offspring to enter the breed improvement programme of the studbook, they should be tested as individuals and not just accepted as being equal to their donors in performance.
In 2012, the Irish Sport Horse studbook took the position that registration of clones would be allowed in the Irish Sport Horse (ISH) studbook and they would follow the same registration process as any horse but the identification document issued for a clone registered in the ISH would have the word clone in brackets after its name.
Mary McCann has not indicated whether she intends to put the two colts forward for the inspection process.
When contacted by The Irish Field, about the Cruising clones, Horse Sport Ireland’s director of breeding Alison Corbally said: “We would be delighted to see them come forward for inspection and subsequently go on to compete. If they do not come forward for inspection, the clones will be classified along with all other uninspected colts in the studbook in the ‘Entry’ class. As such, their progeny would be eligible to be registered within the studbook as Irish Sport Horses and receive a green passport.”
The Zangersheide Studbook names clones with the suffix alpha and requires every stallion to pass the stallion approval process, including the clones of approved stallions. So far three stallion clones - Chellano Alpha Z, Air Jordan Alpha Z and Levisto Alpha Z – have all passed the stallion approvals.
The Warmblood Studbook of Ireland (WSI) prohibits clones and their progeny and descendants from being registered or entered into the WSI studbook. Its rules state that clones and their progeny and descendants are not eligible to become approved stallions, recognised stallions or approved mares.
UPDATE: Horse Sport Ireland comments on cloning of Cruising
HORSE Sport Ireland, the governing body for equestrian sport in Ireland, has commented on the news, featured in the Irish Field, that two clones of the great Irish stallion Cruising will be available to Irish Sport Horse breeders in 2015.
Horse Sport Ireland also operates the Irish Sport Horse Studbook.
The McCann family of Hartwell Stud in Co Kildare, who bred and owned the world-renowned show jumping sire, agreed to have DNA samples taken from the horse, who died last September at the age of 29.
They now have two Cruising clones - Cruising Arish and Cruising Encore.
It is understood to be the first time a horse has been cloned in Ireland.
Horse Sport Ireland CEO Damian McDonald said that the sport horse sector has always embraced the use of science to breed better horses. Techniques such as artificial insemination and latterly, embryo transfer, are in wide use in the sport horse sector.
"The international governing body, the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), allow clones to compete and we altered the rules of the Irish Sport Horse Studbook in recent years to permit the registration of clones,” he said.
"Cloning won't be something everyone will embrace but it is another option for breeders and Cruising's genetics are traditionally Irish, which is important to a cohort of breeders,” he concluded.