No, it’s not a typo. Lot #5139 in the 2007 NCHA Futurity Sales catalog really is a yearling Doc Bar daughter. She is also the first genetically identical equine (clone) to be offered for sale at public auction.
Doc’s Serendipity DNA, a sorrel filly foaled in 2006, is documented with the National DNA Registry as sired by Doc Bar and out of Biltoft’s Poco. That makes her a full sister to Doc’s Serendipity (pictured), who was ridden by Joe Heim as reserve champion to Peppy San Badger in the 1977 NCHA Futurity.
“She is a clone, but we prefer to be professional and call her a genetic twin, instead of using the slang term of ‘clone,’” said Jim Ware of Western Bloodstock, the company that produces all of the National Cutting Horse Association’s sales. “She has the same genetic makeup as the other great mare, but we’re promoting her on her own merits. To promote her otherwise is to take away from her and from Doc’s Serendipity.”
Lane Easter DVM, of Performance Equine in Gainesville, Texas, owns Doc’s Serendipity. The embryo that resulted in Doc’s Serendipity DNA was created in 2005 by Texas A&M University and implanted into a recipient mare at Performance Equine. This is the same team that created and produced five Smart Little Lena clones that were also foaled in 2006.
“The only thing that’s been different about having her in the sale is that we had to instruct the pedigree research company on how to present her in the sale catalog,” Ware noted. “Everything else has been handled just the same way we would handle any other well-bred yearling.”
The filly’s genetic sire, Doc Bar, who died in 1992, is the all-time leading paternal sire of cutting horses and a cornerstone of working Quarter Horse pedigrees.
Under current rules, Doc’s Serendipity DNA is eligible to be shown in NCHA events, where the offspring of her identical twin have earned $295,000. Her foals will also be eligible for enrollment with the National DNA Registry and can be shown in NCHA events under current rules.
Doc’s Serendipity DNA sells on Thursday, December 13, in the NCHA Preferred Breeder’s Sale. Check back here tomorrow for other news related to the NCHA Futurity Sales.