Although no other racing organizations currently register clones, the American Quarter Horse Association may have opened the door for eventual approval by giving the green light for breeders to use artificial insemination and embryo transfers, some experts say.

Tom Persichino, senior director of marketing for the quarter horse association, said his organization is watching the results of the early cloning experiments but has no immediate plans to add it to the assisted-reproduction techniques it allows.

“In 2004 we passed a rule not allowing them to be registered because there are so many unknowns, particularly regarding the welfare of the horse,” he said. “What is the life expectancy of cloned horses? … What unknown genetic defects might lurk within the cloning process that we’re not aware of?”

But Hinrichs expects a grass-roots movement will eventually lead the AQHA to accept the practice.

“In the quarter horse industry, there are so many people doing so many things — they race, they rope, they rodeo, they cut, they rein, they show — and there is a whole spectrum of people in the industry that already are cloning their horses … with the aim of competing in the non-breed association competitions,” she said. “Once they have all these horses cloned, one assumes there will be push to allow registration.”

And Blake, the ViaGen official, predicts that as the procedure becomes more efficient and less costly, there will eventually be enough cloned horses to create such a groundswell.

“We have invested in the horse business and we think we’re going to be making potentially something like 100 horses a year, not as soon as next year but on the five year horizon,” he said. “…That number could increase if people decide the clones perform as well as the originals.”

But none of the cloning experts expects thoroughbred racing to change its view on cloning in the foreseeable future. 

Veneklausen said that thoroughbred breeders will resist with all their might, fearing that cloning would flood the market with popular bloodlines.

“It’s a numbers game,” he said. “You want those yearlings to bring $7 million.”

Fick, the Jockey Club official, agrees, but for a different reason.

“We’ve held the position of natural breeding for over 100 years, and I don’t see that changing,” he said. “I think it’s fine for livestock and trying to improve their production levels, but horses are entirely different from the standpoint of being part of an organized sport and entertainment. I just don’t see the sport going in that direction.”

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