You’ve heard of a one-trick pony, but what about a two-pony trick?
If the mallet swinging and galloping horses of polo are unfamiliar to you — apart from that Pretty Woman scene — the high-stakes, ethically dubious universe of cloning polo ponies is quite a ride.
Where horses are often regarded more highly than riders and prized equines fetch over $100k, cloning exceptional horses has become big — and controversial — business, per Air Mail.
Betting on betrayal
Not long after the first cloned horse was born — and long after Dolly the sheep — Argentinian polo legend Adolfo Cambiaso and Texas businessman Alan Meeker brought a cloned pony to auction where it fetched $800k in 2010.
- The pair ultimately partnered with the buyer — to avoid “selling the factory” — and began cloning horses to build their own team.
- After years of success, the partnership collapsed when Cambiaso sued Meeker for trying to sell three clones to a Russian billionaire — patron of a rival team — for $2.4m.
- The ponies were ultimately returned as part of a settlement, but the saga concluded tragically for Meeker.
The business of horse cloning, however, continues to gallop apace as more investors pursue the high-tech endeavor, despite ethical, financial, and legal hurdles.
The cloning industry now looks to gene editing to pre-select beneficial traits for the field. Horse racing and breeding associations, however, are drawing the line there — for now.
Seeing double beyond the polo field
The animal cloning business is dominated by a few companies — including ViaGen, Clonargen, and Kheiron — which, beyond polo matches and other competitions, are also busy cloning pets for a price.
- Interestingly, companies charge similar prices for cloning: $50k for cats and dogs, $85k for horses. (In Spain, Ovoclone clones camels and falcons.)
- Tom Brady — an investor in Colossal Biosciences, which recently bought ViaGen — recently cloned his late dog.
- Barbra Streisand, Paris Hilton, and other celebs have also cloned their pets.
Beyond pets, some researchers see cloning as a means to protect endangered species. And Colossal Biosciences aims to bring back woolly mammoths — patented, of course — a move critics deride as a mere publicity stunt.
Next stop, Jurassic Park.
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