Scientists yesterday explained how they had bred Britain's first test-tube horses in the hope of boosting the nation's chances of winning Olympic equestrian medals.
Two male foals produced using artificial fertilisation techniques more commonly associated with people were born at a specialist research unit in Newmarket in the past few weeks.
However, the head of the team behind the experiment said the first cloned horse was still a long way away.
Staff at the Equine Fertility Unit, which is privately funded, hope the birth of Ic-Xhie and Quick-Xhie will begin the production of more stronger, fitter and faster horses for showjumping and three-day events.
While the move was welcomed by the British Equestrian Federation, animal welfare campaigners are disturbed.
A spokeswoman for the Equine Fertility Unit said: "At the moment there is a shortage of good equestrian horses because the best have long careers and cannot be used for breeding until they are well past their peak. In racing the problem doesn't arise because race horses tend to have much shorter careers and they are still at their peak when they are used for breeding."
Ms Joyce D'Silva, director of the animal welfare organisation Compassion In World Farming was critical of the research.
"It seems to me that here we are using a lot of low-quality animals to produce high-quality animals. The surrogate mothers are usually discarded. And I think the most worrying thing of all is where we go from here up the road of genetic engineering."