The genes of another champion gelding will be available in just a few years for producing future generations of equine athletes. Scientists have produced a clone from the cells of legendary barrel racing horse Scamper. A colt that has matching DNA–and thus the same genetic potential for excellence as the 29-year-old veteran athlete–was born on Aug. 8 in Boerne, Texas. The colt joins several other clones of champion geldings that have been born since April 2005 and are intended to pass on the genetic material of their donor horses.

Scamper’s owner and rider, Charmayne James, met the horse when she was 11 and the horse was considered unrideable. But she worked with Scamper, and in 1984 at the age of 14, she rode him to barrel racing’s World Championship title. The pair won the next nine World Championship titles. As Scamper advanced in age, James wanted to find a way to extend his influence on the barrel racing discipline. She had been researching the idea of cloning Scamper for about six years before hiring ViaGen, an Austin-based commercial cloning company, to perform the procedure, which cost $150,000.

“For any horse to stay at the top of their game for 10 years is absolutely amazing,” said James. “I wanted to get in and save his genetics, because if they were ever able to clone a horse, Scamper would be the horse to clone. Scamper’s conformation was unbelievable…so balanced and great feet, great legs. He had some injures, but he had such a strong will and high pain tolerance that we hope that these are things will be carried through.

“We’re headed into uncharted waters with this,” she added, “but if there was ever a horse to be cloned to help promote the sport of barrel racing (then he’s it)…and that’s where my goal in life is, is to help promote barrel racing and help people get some better, sounder, quality horses out there