COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –Eleven-time World Champion Barrel Racer Charmayne James announced today her ProRodeo Hall of Fame horse, Scamper, now has a young twin thanks to cloning company ViaGen. The clone was born on August 8 at Paradise Farms in Boerne, Texas, and was named Clayton after her childhood home of Clayton, N.M.
“We tossed around several different names but nothing really seemed to fit,” James said. “When we threw out the name Clayton it was a perfect fit, since that is where I was first introduced to Scamper and I got my start in the professional barrel racing world.”
James, now of Athens, Texas, decided to clone the 29-year-old Scamper in order to continue to use his exceptional genetics in her breeding program. She hired ViaGen, the Austin, Texas, based world leader in animal cloning, to do the cloning work. A few months later Clayton was born.
“The baby looks so much like Scamper, conformation-wise,” James said. “He’s so balanced, he’s got the same shoulder, the same bright eye and many of the same tendencies that Scamper did. I am really looking forward to seeing how this all turns out.”
Cloning produces a later-born identical twin, thereby preserving and multiplying the genetics of superior animals. Many horse breeders, who already use assisted reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer, view cloning as the next step in breeding.
“We were honored but not surprised that Charmayne would seek to clone Scamper,” said ViaGen President Mark Walton. “Horse breeders increasingly recognize that cloning is an excellent tool for maximizing the value of their best genetics.”
James had been researching the animal cloning process for the past 5 to 7 years before making this decision.
“We are definitely in uncharted waters now, but it is exciting,” James said. “It is such a fascinating thing to me to have an opportunity like this to be able to carry on the breeding and bloodlines of such a horse like Scamper.”
James and Scamper first got their start as a team when James was 11 and Scamper was 4. James’ father, Charlie James, was the manager at Clayton Cattle Feeders when he first encountered the young horse, a horse that had been passed around from person to person because no one could ride him. He paid $1,100 and took the horse home.
They quickly became a dynamic duo and in 1984 at the age of 14, Charmayne rode him to her first world title. Little did she know she would win another nine consecutive world titles, becoming the first million dollar cowgirl and setting the record for most world barrel racing titles, before retiring the Hall of Fame horse.
In 2002, James would win her 11th world title aboard another great horse Cruiser. James retired the following year from competition to spend more time building her horse breeding program and putting on barrel racing clinics across the United States. She married Tony Garritano in 2003 and on May 11, 2004, they had their first son, Tyler.
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