Breeding Focus: Doña Pilar

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Doña Pilar

Cloning, breeding & training

Doña Pilar is an Equine Reproduction Centre situated in Lincoln, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although the company started as an Embryo Transfer Centre, it became a full programme devoted to the production of polo horses at all stages of development from semen, oocytes or embryos produced in-vivo or in-vitro to cloning, the most recent technology incorporated to the laboratory.

It was founded by Dr. Fernando L. Riera who is a veterinarian with a long career in this field. Fernando graduated in Argentina, but continued his career as faculty in equine reproduction at University of Pennsylvania, USA. Since then he has participated actively in both the scientific and commercial aspects of Embryo Transfer and Assisted Reproduction Technology.

Dr. Riera has a long lasting connection with the polo industry globally. In the UK

Pedro Harrison joined Fernando Riera and Doña Pilar in 2015. Pedro alongside Martin Riera, Fernando’s son, play all the Doña Pilar youngstock in Argentina. Every year Doña Pilar exports many horses around the world. A selected group of horses travel to the UK to become part of Pedro’s string to eventually be sold. Doña Pilar has had a big impact in Pedro’s string in the UK which have helped him win many tournaments including the prestigious Dollar Cup in Cowdray in 2020; as a 5 goal professional Pedro can often be seen on the winner’s podium during the English season. Pedro acts as commercial agent for Doña Pilar in both the UK and Argentina

he actively collaborated since 2001 with Dr. Emma Tomlinson in the foundation of the Beaufort Embryo Transfer Unit, located in Gloucestershire. Moreover, his center Doña Pilar Embriones has recently joined forces with Pedro Harrison, a British/Argentinian professional polo player, who supports in the management of playing and training Doña Pilar horses both in England and Argentina. Harrison represents Doña Pilar as a commercial connection in the UK and Argentina.

Since it was founded in 1997, Doña Pilar Embriones has been commited to the application of biotechnologies to the production of sport horses particularly polo ponies. In 2007, the facility became the largest ET program achieving 1,500 pregnancies in one breeding season.

Doña Pilar have become an industry leader in the technologies applied to overcoming fertility problems in mares and stallions. Oocyte Transfer and ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) among

Photography courtesy of Doña Pilar Doña Pilar is one of the few certified laboratories for the import/export of semen, embryos & genetic material

its services, two Assisted Reproduction Techniques only available in few laboratories in the world.

Most recently, Doña Pilar has succesfully expanded into to an extensive cloning program. Last season six pregnancies were achieved and are due to foal between October and January. The programme is ongoing with promising results.

To add to this, Doña Pilar is one of the few certified laboratories for the import/ export of semen, embryos and genetic material with CE, UK and many other countries in the world. The laboratory has performed semen exports to several countries in Europe and Africa.

Doña Pilar Embriones offers a Gene Banking service to save the genetics of valuable horses for future cloning. Biopsy samples are obtained from bone marrow and/or skin and then cells are cultured under very controlled conditions to produce cell lines that are then cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. Once frozen, cells can be kept under this condition for an indefinite amount of time, so the owner can decide the best time to use them in a cloning program.

Alongside the extensive laboratories, Doña Pilar has a dedicated breeding and training center which offers a one stop solution for the breeding and training of polo ponies. Ponies are trained at Doña Pilar by a dedicated team of breakers and then continue their polo career competing at the top levels all over the world.

Alongside the extensive laboratories Doña Pilar has a dedicated breeding & training centre