Ever wondered what will keep the Industry Chiefs worrying late into the night once they have got past the TVN debacle, shuttle stallion debate, AI ban, race field size and market prices?

Racing Post may well have hit on the next topic worthy of mass debate when they ran a story on the commercial cloning of a champion quarter-horse (who is a leading producer of performance horses in the US). Breeding & Racing's Daily News went on to say: "Equine cloning has progressed steadily since the 1st clones were born in 2003: 3 mule foals produced at the University Of Idaho & a horse foal in the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Cremona in Italy. The Italian team also cloned a champion endurance horse (born last year) & Texas A&M University has been producing cloned foals since last year. Dr Jim Bailey (who oversaw the birth of the latest clone) said: "From the time I transferred the embryo into the recipient mare, the pregnancy was normal in every way & the birth followed suit. The resulting foal was born normally & immediately stood to nurse."

The stuff of nightmares for the purists I suspect.