Scientist Dreams of Cloning Racehorse

May 10, 1998

By Paul Majendie, [Reuters]

NEWMARKET, England Ñ First came Dolly the cloned sheep. Next could be the cloning of a champion racehorse.

Prof. William Allen has already produced the world's first identical horse twins at racing's pioneering equine research unit.

Allen, an internationally renowned breeding expert, would love to clone a racehorse and, at a stroke, answer dozens of questions about how to train and care for a champion thoroughbred.

The bluff New Zealander appointed Britain's first Professor of Equine Reproduction at Cambridge University insists he is no "equine Frankenstein," eager to clone identical champions and destroy the romance and glorious uncertainty of racing.

"I want to get the whip out and go like hell and make good use of the Dollies of this world. I think Dolly (the first animal to be cloned from an adult cell) is a major, major advance," he told Reuters at the research unit in Newmarket, headquarters of British racing.

Science should be harnessed to benefit mankind, not shied away from in fear.

"We should not huff and puff and say we are going to make little Hitlers all over the place. That is absolute bloody nonsense," he said.

"I am working toward cloning a horse. I don't know whether I will achieve it in my lifetime but I certainly hope so," he said.

Allen, whose pioneering methods have revolutionized breeding, sees cloning as a great leap forward.

"How wonderful if we could clone some very specialized individuals and then do some experimental research on those clones to look at which training method is the best, which food is the best.

"If you can clone animals, you can answer those questions very accurately and very quickly and eliminate a lot of useless techniques," he said.

He dispels nightmare images of identical automatons racing against each other.

"I am not advocating that we clone racehorses to go out and compete in the Derby and have five clones all competing in the race. That is ridiculous.

"But I am advocating that the research to develop cloning for the horse should be actively promoted and funded," he said.

His unit has already broken new ground in the field of surrogate motherhood by producing identical horse twins.

"We have just made a bit of a breakthrough in being able to get the embryo from the mare which we cut in half under the microscope," Allen said.

"We split it at an early stage and put the two halves into two recipient mares. They are genetically identical twins but they have developed in two different mothers," he said

The twins are ideal for comparing the effects of a new vaccine or wormer.

"They are not allowed to race but we use them here as research tools," he said.

Allen, a passionate supporter of racing, fears the sport is failing to promote itself in today's fiercely competitive leisure industry.

He argues that the boundaries of science are there to be pushed out to new frontiers.

The unit has also pioneered hormone injections and fluorescent lights that mimic the arrival of spring. This means mares can be made to conceive early to fit in with the international breeding calendar.

The ultra-sound scanner for pregnant mares has made breeding safer and more effective. Birth rates have steadily risen across the country thanks to the unit's research.

Allen wants racing authorities to allow artificial insemination for breeding under strictly controlled limits. But he is not optimistic of success in his lifetime.

"I agree that racing should be a limited edition industry. You can only have one Derby winner a year. You don't want 10 Derby winners a year.

"But I am frustrated we cannot use some of the simple modern breeding techniques," he said.

He says artificial insemination would help control the spread of infectiids diseases and reduce the trauma of mating.

"Maidens are very unsure of being covered. It is very frightening having a stallion climbing up on its back for the first time.

"They are maidens in the true sense of the word and covering them is close to rape. They have to be doped and tied down. It is dangerous to everyone.

"It is dangerous for the stallion standing up on his hind legs and exposing his crown jewels to a kick. It is also bloody dangerous for the men (stud grooms)," he said.