It was then that Cambiaso had said:“ I like cloning so as to improve my bloodstock. If I can then play them, all the better. What more can I ask than to have the best five ponies I ever had in my life at my pony lines? But my aim is to breed better horses”. A few years later, the laboratory Crestview Genetics opened its doors in Argentina, and Cambiaso became a partner, together with Alan Meeker and Ernesto Gutierrez. In 2010 Kheiron Laboratory established itself in Argentina, and it was through them that Sebastián Merlos cloned his best mare, Silvina Luna. Nowadays, among high-goal players and breeders who have cloned their best animals we may mention— aside from Cambiaso, Merlos and Aguerre— Bautista Heguy( Alazanas Birra); Bartolomé Castagnola( Dolfina Toro); Nacho Figueras( Sue Ellen); the Novillo Astradas( River Stanley, the sire that has produced the most offspring to play the Triple Crown); Andrea Vianini( Forest) Agustín Merlos( María Eugenia Virolita) and more recently, Alberto Pedro Heguy( Polo Pureza). Aditionally, several important births are expected to occur during the upcoming season.
In the third chukka of the match between La Dolfina and Chapaleufú, Show Me entered the field and played for 4 minutes and 5 seconds, and Adolfo Cambiaso made a goal mounted on this pony.“ I continue to progress along this lovely course. I want to prove that clones can play. Scientifically they are special, but they appear as completely normal”, said Cambiaso. Although Show Me had already played at Palm Beach, with Lucas Criado, its appearance in Argentina, playing the Triple Crown, was a feat in itself. Show Me’ s performance in the most important polo in the world was perfect— in fact, it played twice in the Palermo final before its return to the US—. And businesswise, the first offspring of clones have achieved record prices at auctions. In 2014, a Dolfina Lapa clone was sold at La Dolfina auction at almost the same price as the daughters of the original mare. In 2010, tennis player David
But the great leap as regards the sport occurred in 2013: October 15 th of that year to be precise, during the Hurlingham Open, Show Me, Sage’ s clone belonging to Charlie Armstrong, made its debut under Adolfo Cambiaso.
Nalbandian, in partnership with Ernesto Gutierrez, purchased a Dolfina Cuartetera clone at the La Dolfina auction. This year, Doña Sofía put up for sale the first son out of Show Me, by a Polo Argentino stallion, Open Ballet, whole brother to Cuartetera: DS Serpico. Another important contribution of cloning as a reproduction tool, is the case of Lode, an historic sire that died in 2010 after a spotless career. Lode, that has been cloned by Kheiron laboratory, was a very productive horse-racing stallion, and also sired Sportivo, one of the best polo stallions, which has presented polo with some of its most famous mares, such as Mecha, one of Facundo Pieres’ s best mares. Doña Sofía put up for sale at its next auction, the first gestations of this stallion, clone of Lode. Cloning has come to stay; this great genetic revolution has now come true with a vengeance. With Adolfo Cambiaso as the greatest promoter of this revolution, high-goal players and breeders clone their best mares to ensure the chance of having offspring from these mares, as they do also with outstanding stallions. Although due to their age many of those cloned mares are not yet ready to play, it would not be unthinkable to imagine that soon high-goal polo in Argentina may display pony lines made up only of clones from some mares that have made history.
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