Champion show jumper E.T. was gelded as a 3-year-old and went on to win many major show jumping competitions, including the FEI World Cup Final twice.
Now, thanks to Cryozootech cloning technology, his genetics won’t be lost. Cryozootech officials announced the birth of E.T.’s clone, E.T. Cryozootech-Stallion on June 2.
Cryozootech is a French company that was founded in 2001 by Eric Palmer. Palmer and Hugo Simon, E.T.’s rider, decided to collect a biopsy from E.T. in 2003 to preserve his genetic material.
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The plan is to register E.T. Cryozootech-Stallion with the Belgian Zangersheide studbook, a studbook that has already accepted two other Cryozootech clones, Pieraz-Cryozootech-Stallion and Paris-Texas, the Quidam de Revel clone.
The E.T. clone has the same markings as E.T., a stripe and two socks on his hind legs, but his the stripe is shaped differently from E.T.’s blaze. If all goes according to plan, E.T. Cryozootech-Stallion will head to the breeding shed as a 2-year-old for a few mares and take on fulltime stallion duties the following year.
And there are more champion clones in the pipeline. A Calvaro V clone is expected to be foaled this summer, and a Rusty clone is planned for next year.
