DNA altered ‘super horses’ born in a lab could change thoroughbred racing

• A bioengineering lab in Argentina has genetically altered the DNA of horses to create what it calls “super horses.” The lab’s goal is to transform the world of high-performance animals.
• The lab confirms that five foals were born in December 2024 with the altered DNA, which includes the best traits of horse racing greats.
• The U.K. chapter of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, denounced the creation, calling it “a grotesque idea.”

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The “sport of kings” may soon change forever. A bioengineering lab in Argentina has genetically engineered “super horses” with the goal of transforming equine sports.

Why did the company create the ‘super horses?’

The company has confirmed that those “super horses” — five new foals with the DNA traits of the most successful racing horses — were born in the lab in December 2024 and are becoming the talk of the horse racing community as they grow up.

Kheiron Biotech’s goal is to transform the world of high-performance animals used in sports like racing and polo. This means a thoroughbred star like Justify, the most recent triple-crown winner, worth millions of dollars after his win in 2018, may not stand a chance in the not-too-distant future.

How did they engineer the new horses?

According to the U.K.’s Daily Star, the company used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique, which “allows direct intervention on DNA to correct genetic mutations or enhance specific traits.” This technique allows scientists to select which parts of a horse’s genetic make-up they would like to alter — or improve. They chose to alter the DNA responsible for regulating muscle growth. This could potentially change how the muscles in the foals develop and engineer the quality of the muscle.

This technique could alter the characteristics of crops, livestock and yes, even humans, to adapt to certain life-altering conditions, like climate change.

Who is against this type of genetic engineering?

But not everyone is running to the track to place their bets just yet. Mimi Bekhechi, the U.K. vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, objected to the project.

“Were the people who came up with this grotesque idea hit on the head with a polo mallet, or are they driven purely by greed in their quest to create super-exploited, super-unnatural, ‘super horses?'” Bekhechi said. “In the world of polo, horses’ very nature is already disregarded, and they are treated like high-performance machines — objects to be engineered, upgraded, and ultimately discarded — rather than as the sensitive, feeling, intelligent individuals they are.”

The breakthrough could certainly alter the billion-dollar horse racing industry. It has been beset by doping allegations and the untimely deaths of several thoroughbreds in recent years. How quickly things change, however, is another question up for debate.