ENGLISH TEXTS
A CLONE BECOMES WORLD CHAMPION
Shock at Le Lion d’ Angers at the end of 2024: a clone wins the World Championship for Young Eventing Horses with British rider Gemma Stevens. The winning gelding, Chilli Morning IV, nicknamed“ Quattro,” is one of three clones of the stallion Chilli Morning, a highly decorated eventer under British rider William Fox-Pitt. In an extraordinary twist, another Chilli Morning clone, the second- nicknamed“ Deuce”-finished 6 th in the same competition with German rider Julia Krajewski. Both horses were tied for 2 nd place after the dressage phase! A third clone of the same stallion, known as“ Trey,” is partnered with China’ s Alex Hua Tian. The chestnut clones still belong to their breeders, Lisa and Christopher Stone, who owned Chilli Morning, who passed away in 2020. The Stones, known for their discretion, did not attend the press conference at the Mondial du Lion, but Gemma Stevens, based at their stud in Sussex, explained that they adored their horse and wished to replicate him since it was“ possible and allowed.” The first cloned horse, Prometea, was a Haflinger pony born in 2003. This scientific feat was achieved by Professor Cesare Galli, founder of the company Avantea, which is now a leader in ICSI technology. Although initially seen as a revolution, the emergence of clones quickly lost its impact in Olympic disciplines, where one top stallion is soon replaced by the next in breeders’ preferences. Clones of the endurance champion Pieraz or of superstar geldings in showjumping— or even of Calvaro— failed to make a lasting impression. The case of Quidam de Revel, 4 th at the Barcelona Olympics and cloned in 2005, caused more of a stir, since it is impossible to distinguish whether a foal comes from the original stallion or his clone( unless the semen is tested, which cannot be done on the foal). This raises ethical concerns around cloning stallions. Cloning, however, is hugely popular in the world of polo, where South American companies lead the way. It is now common for top-level teams to field only clones or horses born from cloned mares.
EJACULATE, HOW DOES IT WORK?
• An ejaculate consists of about ten jets.
• It contains between 1 and 10 billion sperm cells.
• 80 % of sperm cells are found in the first three jets.
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MARIO BARATTI
By Emmanuel Rivron
ITALIAN CLASS
A trainer since 2020, Mario Baratti quickly made a name for himself on the French racing circuit. A double winner at the Classic level, this professional— measured in his words and efficient on the track— has seen his results improve season after season.
There aren’ t many trainers who can boast of having won the Poule d’ Essai des Poulains( Gr. 1) in just their fifth year in the business. Italian-born Mario Baratti is part of that very exclusive circle, thanks to the athletic Metropolitan, winner of the latest edition of the Chantilly Classic:“ We only had three colts from that generation in our stable last year,” he points out.“ Winning the Poule d’ Essai under those conditions was statistically almost impossible. We had spotted Metropolitan with the bloodstock agent Alessandro Marconi, who also happens to be my farrier. We bought him for € 78,000 at
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