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ext time conversation lulls at a dinner party, mention animal
cloning. It’s not necessarily going to make you any friends,
but you can guarantee everyone around the table will have
an opinion on it. Even within polo – the sport doing so much to
advance the science – cloning remains a divisive and sensitive topic.
One of the pioneering forces in the field is Crestview Genetics.
Founded by polo enthusiast Alan Meeker, in partnership with
Adolfo Cambiaso, the company has cloned hundreds of horses
since its inception in 2009.
‘It all began many years ago, when I decided that I wanted
to have the best breeding herd of polo ponies on planet Earth,’
recalls Meeker in his measured Texan accent. ‘I did some math
and realised that it would be rather expensive and take quite
a long time. With my knowledge of genetics, which is rather deep,
I immediately thought, “Well, why can’t I clone horses?” So I started
my diligence, and I found out that I could. To make a long story
less long, what we wound up with were these very robust
laboratories – one in Argentina and one in South Carolina.
‘With the new lab in the United States, the company’s volume
capacity is much greater,’ explains Meeker. ‘So now, we’re able to not
just serve Argentina and the US through the Argentine lab, we can
serve the world through the US lab, because it is USDA-approved for
shipment worldwide. We are moving the cloning processes to the US
lab. Simply put, we have better access to high-quality media, drugs,
equipment and other items that increase efficiencies. If an Argentine
breeder wants a clone, we will collect the tissue in Argentina (or
any part of the world), stabilize the cells and ship them to the US.
Thereafter, the client will have the option to implant the embryo
into a surrogate in the US or we can vitrify the embryo and send it
to Argentina (or other country) for implantation.’
Does that mean we’ll soon see a decrease from the current
US $100,000 base rate per horse? ‘That’s our goal,’ replies Meeker.
‘We believe we will be bringing the price down anywhere from
10 to 25 per cent over the next year, and we hope to get it down
even further as efficiencies improve.’
With access to Cambiaso’s best horses from which to clone,
Crestview has (in the parlance of all successful start-ups) disrupted
the polo world. But understandably, not everyone is thrilled.
One Palm Beach polo club patron argues, ‘I don’t deny the benefits
of cloning, but I think it changes the rules of breeding too much
and affects the small organisations. I think that the excitement of
breeding and crossing different lines is much more fun than cloning.
‘Besides, you can breed a horse that is even better than any clone.
Cloning is the end of the road. You accept that horse and you
renounce the search for a better one.’
The “end of the road” comment elicited a response from Meeker:
‘Quite the contrary is actually the case. Whereas before, a stallion
could cover 20-100 mares a year and proliferate his genes, with cloning
we can have multiple clones of a champion mare. Such is the case
with our Cuartetera clones. Now, rather than one or two Cuartetera
babies each year, we are able to have upwards of 30 each year. The
road continues and in a direction never trod before; the mare’s genes
are now being proliferated, not the stallion’s.’
Actually, it’s important to note that Crestview has never sold any
of its own clones, nor does it sell the eggs of its clones. ‘I think it’s
more accurate to say we sell the babies of our clones,’ says Meeker.
‘We’re not here to flood the world’s polo fields with clones,’ he
continues. ‘We’re here to find the very best horses and clone that DNA
to make more mothers, so that we can have more opportunity for that
DNA to proliferate. And, therefore, have many more high-quality
horses available all through the sport worldwide. Ten years ago, the
idea that there could be a hundred or more babies of Cuartetera on
the ground would have been insane. But that actually is the case now.’
Cuartetera is, of course, one of Cambiaso’s legendary mares.
In 2017, the ninth clone of Cuartetera (known as B09) made history
when she won BPP at the US Open in Florida and then became
the first clone to be presented an award by the Argentine Polo
Association and the Argentine Polo Pony Breeders Association.
Her winning streak shows no sign of stopping as last December,
B09 was awarded both Best Playing Pony honours in the Argentine
Opposite:
Adolfo Cambiaso
on Cuartetera B01
in the 2018 Argentine
Open Final.
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Alan Meeker in Dubai
O U R S U C C E S S R AT E
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