TWO clones of the late, great Irish stallion Cruising have been unveiled less than five months after the famous grey sire’s passing was mourned by fans in Ireland and all over the world.

Hartwell Stud, through The Irish Field, is unveiling the two grey colts, who are exact genetic replicas of the stallion, to the world for the very first time.

Now rising three years old, the clones have been effectively hidden in plain sight at Mary and David McCann’s Co Kildare stud farm since 2012, where visitors innocently assumed they were youngsters by Cruising. Little were they to know that the colts were clones of one of the most influential sport horse sires of the 21st century.

Incredibly, Cruising lived alongside his two clones in Co Kildare until he died in September 2014.

The cloning process is estimated to have cost in the region of €150,000.

The two colts, named Cruising Arish and Cruising Encore, are set to stand at stud in Hartwell for the 2015 season and will be available only to a select group of mares owners in this their first season.

“They have been tested and the semen seems excellent,” Mary McCann told The Irish Field. “The plan is that they will cover 10-15 mares this season and they will be proven mares who have jumped at least 1.40m. If we could reward some of our old clients who stuck with us through the years, we would like to reward them. We are saying that if any of them are interested, get in touch.”

“The last big crop of Cruising foals are now eight-year-olds and this is like having a young Cruising back again,” she added.

Cruising Arish and Cruising Encore will be the first clones to ever stand at stud in Ireland but they follow in the footsteps of a number of show jumping clones in Europe.

Stallion clones

The Zangersheide stud stands three stallion clones – Chellano Alpha Z, Levisto Alpha Z and Air Jordan Alpha Z. The oldest progeny of Chellano Alpha Z (Contender X Cor De La Bryere) are two years old and there are around 200 yearlings and two-year-olds by him registered with the studbook. Levisto Alpha Z (Leandro X Carolus I) and Air Jordan Alpha Z (Argentinus X Matador) have around 100 yearling progeny apiece.

One of the first mares expected to visit the clones at Hartwell will be owned by Jimmy Ryan from Kilnamac, Co Tipperary. Ryan, who is involved in the Waterford Sport Horse Breeders group, bred Joseph Murphy’s Olympic and World Equestrian Games mount Electric Cruise (by Cruising out of Kilnamac Sally by Clover Hill ID). James Ryan told The Irish Field: “Mary McCann is moving Irish breeding into the 22nd century. Since Cruising and Master Imp have gone, where is the next brilliant Irish stallion?

“I’m delighted and intend going up to Mary’s the first chance I get to see the two horses. You have to take your hat off to Mary McCann. There’s huge financial costs involved in cloning and a lot of Irish breeders are traditional in their outlook.

“Zangersheide Studbook has done it (cloning), how successful they have been is a question but I’d have an open enough mind to try it.

“This is go-ahead stuff from Hartwell and you’d have to admire that. As a traditional Irish breeder, I used to have lots of options with good Irish horses but there is no stand-out Irish jumping sire left. Cruising, Clover Hill, King of Diamonds, all gone, so is Sky Boy, Bahrain, Carnival Knight and others.

“These Cruising clones give Irish breeders like myself the chance of breeding a 1.60m Irish jumping horse again, doesn’t it?.

“Cruising clicked rightly with Clover Hill mares. It’s the same DNA and I’d be hoping that it would click again. Kilnamac Sally is the very last of Clover Hill as he died the following day after her mother was covered.”