ViaGen Preserving and Multiplying Superior Genetics

Come see for yourself during the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games September 25 – October 10, 2010 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Stop by the outdoor tradeshow village at the Kentucky Horse Park (booth 202) to visit ViaGen and get the latest information on cloning technology.

ViaGen has also joined forces with Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center (KESMARC) to display some of the industry’s most elite equine athletes and their genetic twins.

On display at KESMARC will be Pan American Games gold-medalist Sapphire alongside his cloned foal Saphir, and two-time AQHA World Racing Champion Tailor Fit and cloned stallion Pure Tailor Fit. The horses will be on display daily to the public from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., however, private tours can be arranged.

Thursday, October 7, Olympic Equestrian Mark Watring will be on site at KESMARC with Sapphire/Saphir answering questions about cloning his gelding and the future plans for Saphir from 10 a.m. – noon and 4 – 6 p.m.

Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center

Located just 4 miles west of Lexington off of Route 60.
258 Shannon Run Road
Versailles, Kentucky

The Continental Studbook and ViaGen are pleased to announce that the two companies are working together to register cloned foals produced for North America.ViaGen is recognized as the global leader in cloning technology and gene banking services. The Austin, Texas, based company has produced more cloned horses than any other company or research institution in the world. The Continental Studbook is an elite Olympic and hunter sport breeding registry modeled specifically for North America. The Eugene, Oregon, based company is an inclusive registry of high quality horses comprised of sport thoroughbreds and all top ranked warmblood breeds.

The relationship is an excellent fit for both ViaGen and the Continental Studbook. ViaGen has cloned and continues to clone some of the signficant performance and breeding horses in our sports, and the Continental Studbook is dedicated to giving domestic breeders the opportunities to produce the highest quality and best performing horses possible. Until now, the genetic contributions of many great horses were unavailable to breeders. Colts born at ViaGen can now be registered in the Continental Studbook and eventually can be licensed for breeding provided stallion requirements are met. High performance mares which may have competed through their prime reproductive years can now produce.

The Continental Studbook Future stallions can service the largest possible domestic mare population with limited overhead for their owners, and mare owners can use these stallions without geopolitical restrictions. Traditional breeding methods will continue to represent the vast majority of horse registrations, but the Continental Studbook is proud to support access to important genes for domestic breeders who choose to use them. Cloned stallions are now used for breeding in Europe, and the Continental Studbook is pleased to bring the same opportunities to breeders in North America.

For more information about registration, visit www.continentalstudbook.com

It looks like a clone of Doc’s Serendipity may make history again — this time, by being the first clone in the United States to produce a foal. An embryo by the No. 1 leading cutting horse sire, High Brow Cat, and out of the clone of the 1977 National Cutting Horse Association Open Futurity Reserve Champion is due to be foaled in Texas in April. 

The clone, owned by David and Janet Brown, Gainesville, Texas, initially made history when it was the first clone to be offered for sale at public auction during the Western Bloodstock Preferred Breeders Sale at the 2007 NCHA Futurity. David Brown, who owned the original Doc’s Serendipity when Joe Heim piloted the great Doc Bar mare to a 220 in a finals run cutters still talk about today, purchased the clone for $14,000 from Performance Equine Associates, Whitesboro, Texas.

The original Doc’s Serendipity, out of Biltoft’s Poco by Bar Mix, died in 2006 at the age of 32.

The first offspring of a clone was foaled on May 5, 2008, in France. The filly, Pierazade du Vialaret, was the first get of Pieraz-Cryozootech-Stallion, a clone of the two-time World Champion endurance horse, Pieraz. 

The embryo of the Doc’s Serendipity clone was transferred by Dr. David Jasko at DLR Ranch Stallion Station in Weatherford, Texas. After a recipient mare carrying an initial embryo of the Doc’s Serendipity clone resorbed the embryo, another embryo was transferred to a second mare that has had no complications.

The recipient mare is at the Browns’ ranch in Gainesville, but will be transferred to a stallion station for delivery, Janet Brown said.

“The Doc’s Serendipity clone was real easy to get in foal,” she said. “The second recipient mare and embryo are doing well.”

The Browns have entered the Doc’s Serendipity clone in the 2009 NCHA Futurity. Jamie Beamer is training her in Weatherford.

“She’s not particularly interested in a mechanical cow, but when a real cow is put in front of her, she goes right after it,” Janet said with a laugh. “She’s a very smart horse.”

David Brown discussed the cloning process with Dr. Gregg Veneklasen, who performs all the embryo transfers for ViaGen, the Austin, Texas-based company that holds the patent for equine cloning. Veneklasen performs the transfers at his Timber Creek Veterinary Hospital in Canyon, Texas.

“We have 75 pregnancies this year of clones that include some of the world’s most famous jumping horses, as well as some top cutting and barrel racing horses, that will be born in 2009,” Veneklasen said.

Clayton, a clone of Scamper, Charmayne James’ 11-time World Champion barrel racing horse, is standing at Veneklasen’s facility.

Airwolf from Viagen on Vimeo.

April 29, 2008

The world’s first cloned horse, Prometea, has had a foal.

Pegaso, her son, is the first offspring of an equine clone confirms, once again, that cloned animals can grow and reproduce normally, giving rise to healthy offspring.

Prometea with her foal Pegaso: The development may help the breeding of champion racehorses

The name Prometea, a Haflinger mare, is a reference to Prometeo (Prometheus), who was punished for stealing fire from Olympus for the benefit of mankind.

She entered the history books in 2003 when she was unveiled as the world’s first horse clone, one that offered a way to preserve the genetic heritage of many exceptional horses whose genes are presently lost because champion geldings are castrated.

“During these five years Prometea has been in very good health and often at the centre of media attention,” says her creator, Prof Cesare Galli of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technologies in Cremona.

“The ultimate proof of her normality has just come with the birth of Pegaso, on March the 17th 2008, after a single insemination with the semen of the Haflinger stallion Abendfurst.”

Pegaso has special significance in racing because sporting horses are castrated at a young age. “When they become adult and demonstrate to be champion horses, they are unable to reproduce and it is therefore impossible to obtain the next generation: the champion’s offspring,” says Prof Galli.

“This is a bitter reality that clashes with the driving principle of animal breeding and selection that is based on the reproduction of superior individuals to pursue genetic improvement of the breed.

“Therefore, today, horse cloning is simply an assisted reproduction technique that allows us to obtain copies/clones of castrated champion horses and finally, from these clones, the champion’s offspring that otherwise would never be born.”

Prof Galli showed the technology could revolutionise blood stock breeding when he unveiled a cloned foal of Pieraz, an Arab endurance champion, in 2005.

He has cloned cattle and pigs too, and worked with human embryo cells, which led to him being excommunicated by the Catholic Church, even though he did not himself destroy embryos but used embryonic stem cells that had been derived in other countries.

Prof Galli first encountered problems with the authorities when he unveiled Galileo, Italy’s first cloned bull, which was confiscated by Italy’s Health Ministry.