A CHAMPION horse has been successfully cloned for the first time in a project that will revolutionise showjumping, eventing and other equestrian sports.

Italian scientists cloned a gelding that has twice won the world endurance title to preserve his genes for stud, despite castration at a young age.

Showjumping, eventing, polo and endurance races are dominated by geldings — often exceptional animals, but which are by definition infertile.

Flat and national hunt racing has strict pedigree rules that ban horses conceived with artificial assistance. A clone of an outstanding champion such as Desert Orchid or Shergar would be barred from racing by the Jockey Club, as would any of its descendants.

Efforts to clone horses are expected to begin shortly in Britain. Professor Twink Allen, of Cambridge University Equine Fertility Unit at Newmarket, has been cleared by the Home Office to apply for a licence to clone horses for research, although he will not be allowed to apply the technique to “high-performance sport horses” or for commercial purposes.

The cloned foal, named Pieraz-Cryozootech-Stallion — or Pieraz 2 for short — is genetically identical to Pieraz, an Arab horse that won the world endurance championship in 1994 and 1996.

He is only the second horse to be cloned. The first was a filly named Prometea, which was created in 2003 by the same team at the CIZ animal breeding company in Cremona, northern Italy. She was not cloned from a champion.

The original Pieraz was owned by Valerie Kanavy, an American who also rode him, and had been castrated at the age of 3. Most successful endurance horses — which compete over a distance of 100 miles — are geldings.

A sample of cells from the champion, now 23 and retired from racing, was taken in 2002 and stored in liquid nitrogen after an agreement between Ms Kanavy and Cryozootech, a biotechnology company based near Paris. Scientists from Cryozootech and CIZ then cloned Pieraz by using a technique developed at the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, called cell nuclear transfer — which led to the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep.

Professor Cesare Galli, of CIZ, who led the project, said that Pieraz 2 appeared to be healthy, as Prometea remains two years after her birth. Many cloned animals have been born with serious abnormalities or have died soon after birth.

Pieraz 2 will not himself be entered into competition, but is expected to become a valuable stud animal because of the genes he shares with his sire.

“What we have done is to create a clone of a gelding that is a stallion, to preserve the genetic heritage of an exceptional champion,” Professor Galli said. “This gives us an unprecedented opportunity to breed from the best animals.”

Professor Allen said that there was an acute need for cloning in sports such as show-jumping and eventing.

“In 1998 at Badminton there were 121 entries, of which 117 were geldings and the remaining four mares,” he said. “The best-placed mare came 67th, and she was 14 (years old). The best horses around were 117 castrates and four grandmothers, so you can see the problem we have breeding from the best stock. If we can clone champion geldings, however, we can get around this. We will be re-creating them in intact form, with their testicles. This is a very good use of the technology of cloning, so hurrah, I say.” Professor Allen’s application to clone horses was first rejected by the Home Office, but ministers said last month that they would reconsider — but only for a non-commercial project.

“How typically British,” he said. “This is a magnificent British invention by Ian Wilmut at the Roslin Institute. We have got the will, the animals and the expertise, but we are not allowed to commercialise it. Instead, it is being exploited overseas and not in the country of origin.”

Pieraz 2 was created by removing the nucleii from cells of the original Pieraz, and implanting them into horse eggs from which the nucleii had been removed.

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