Anuario Raza Polo Argentino Anuario2018 | Page 211

“What are the categories of your bloodstock?”
“I have all the categories. As a herd, I raise eighty
females a year; we try them out on different
stallions, and when they are confirmed as good
dams they are sent to embryo transfer.
In the case of males, I choose my 5 or 6 top
mares as dams to males, and leave one or two
males from each, that is, about 20 to 25 males
which are selected at different stages. I like a
stallion to play Polo. I also raise clones, offspring
of clones; embryos and pure-bred mares that
have played well.”
“Are your strongest bloodlines all dams?”
“Well… Dolfina Lapa; Dolfina Cuartetera have
both produced many that performed on field
N°1: Dolfina Guitarrero; Tetera; Bailantera;
Cumbiera. I follow statistics very closely. And
for example, Small Person produced Dolfina
Cora; Girl-Girl or another mare such as Enana,
which have all played 2 chukkas at Palermo.
When a mare produces three or four mares that
play at Palermo, you can consider yourself very
lucky. Take Dolfina Lapa, for example; she has
daughters that played at Palermo: Iberia; Boeing;
Lufthansa; Panam… and it is important to realize
this when you talk about a high class mare.”
“Of all Cuartetera’s clones, which is the most
like the original?”
“I think the 06 is the most like her. If you ask me…
she’s been carrying some injuries which is why
I have not been able to fine-tune her physically
as I would have liked, but when I ride her, she’s
the most like her. But the truth is that I’ve done
so well with the clones that they go changing…”
“And what are those injuries due to… the
demands made upon them?”
“Their problem was that they were clones, and
one’s expectations as to how they were going
to turn out, and with so many people looking
out for what would happen… all that pressure
we passed on to the horse. Both Fabricio and I
put a lot of effort into it. He as pilot and tamer,
because it was he who trained them for polo,
and we’ve made a couple of mistakes for having
wanted to get there in time with all of them, when
they presented some problems which we should
have attended to more. Today they are all playing;
they’re well, but they could have been a little
better physically; but it was our enthusiasm. I’m
not sorry now, and continue to produce clones
from other horses, but we have already learned
that we must go a bit more slowly because we
now know what they turn out to be… At the time
we had to prove something, because I was alone
and had spent good money… Nowadays I enjoy
it and have fun.”
“What did you like about cloning?”
“First of all, that it all turned out well. This dream
about cloning. Polo-pony breeders dream. ‘If
you don’t dream and you’re not a fanatic, do
something else’. To see that there are several
others cloning nowadays makes me happy. It’s
not a question of egos; the good thing is that
they realized that I wasn’t wrong and I would like
that there be many more cloned horses. There
were those before who were against it and who
today have cloned horses on their farms. The
same happened with the embryos, and there
were complaints as well.”
“You have many pedigrees… As regards
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