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![]() The colt foal who is the clone of Olympic jumper Gem Twist |
Owned by the Chapot family, the cloned colt is a full thoroughbred, and will be a sought-after outcross for warmblood showjumping mares. The colt was cloned by equine cloning company Cryozootech.
Breeders looking for thoroughbred stallions to bring more blood in their genetic pool have a limited choice of thoroughbred jumping performers. There are very few competing at a high level and almost all of them are geldings.
Gem Twist, who died in November 2006, was named Horse of the Year three times and was a double silver medal winner at the Seoul Olympic games, and was named "World's Best Horse" at the 1990 World Equestrian Games.
The project to clone Gem Twist began in 2006, when Cryozootech founder Eric Palmer was looking for exceptional horses for his cloning project. He said Gem was the type of horse he was looking for: an outstanding horse but without progeny because of early castration, the best candidate for cloning. He contacted Frank and Mary Chapot, who approved the cloning project.
The grey thoroughbred gelding was born in 1979. His dam was Coldly Noble, a racehorse given to the Chapot family. His sire Good Twist had won many international classes in the US and Europe with Frank Chapot in the 1960s. Good Twist is from the American "Bonne Nuit" line which produced many horses on the US Team, including Olympians Miss Budweiser (Circus Rose) and Riviera Wonder.
![]() Gem Twist with Frank Chapot. |
In 1992 an unlucky slip during the approach to an oxer at the American Gold Cup caused Gem to crash through the jump. While Gem was unharmed, the injury put Greg out of commission for several months. Leslie Howard took over and had instant success with Gem, winning the 1993 Horse of the Year.
![]() Gem Twist at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. |
Gem retired during a ceremony in New York's Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1997.