Cloned son of a showjumper

AFP file photo of prizewinning showjumper E.T

The foal, named E.T. Cryozootech-Stallion, was born on June 2 at College Station in the US state of Texas, the French laboratory Cryozootech said in a statement. He is in good health, Cryozootech founder Eric Palmer told AFP by telephone.

The foal's sire, E.T., a 20-year-old stallion who has won two world showjumping cups, was castrated at age three as is common practice for jumpers, and was therefore incapable of reproducing normally.

In cooperation with E.T.'s Austrian jockey Hugo Simon, scientists performed a biopsy on the stallion in 2003, removing cells which were then kept frozen in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius (minus 320 Fahrenheit).

As a genetically identical copy of his sire, the cloned foal will be used exclusively for breeding purposes from age three onwards, said Cryozootech.