Scamper, the legendary barrel racing horse owned by Charmayne James, now has a twin. Cloning company ViaGen and James announced yesterday that Scamper’s clone, Clayton (pictured with James), was born in Boerne, Texas, on August 8 of this year. James named the foal after her childhood hometown of Clayton, New Mexico, where she first met Scamper, when she was 11 years old. Though the then 4-year-old gelding was considered unrideable, James’ father liked his conformation and purchased him from a cowboy who worked at his feedlot. 

James trained Scamper herself and in 1984, at the age of 14, she rode him to claim the world championship of barrel racing. The pair went on to win the next nine world championships, making James the all-time leading money earner in barrel racing, the first million-dollar cowgirl, and the holder of more world championships than any other woman in professional sports.

Scamper was inducted into the Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1996, the only barrel racing horse to ever merit that honor.

This year, James decided to clone her 29-year-old gelding, in order to preserve his genetics. She hired ViaGen, the Austin, Texas-based leader in animal cloning, to do the work. It was ViaGen that cloned the all-time leading cutting horse broodmare Royal Blue Boon, last year.

“If there was ever a horse to be cloned, Scamper’s the one,” said James. “The baby looks so much like Scamper, conformation-wise. He’s so well-balanced; he’s got the same shoulder, the same bright eye, and his attitude, personality and confidence is almost identical. I’m so happy with the results.”