‘He is wonderful across country – like he’s done it all before’: meet Chilli Morning’s three clones

The cloning of Badminton Horse Trials winner Chilli Morning came into the spotlight last autumn, when one of the three clones, Chilli Morning IV, won the seven-year-old World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers – while another of the clones, Chilli Morning II, also competed there, finishing sixth. Remarkably, the pair scored exactly the same dressage mark.

The clones all belong to the original Chilli’s owners, Chris and Lisa Stone, and they are ridden by Britain’s Gemma Stevens (Chilli Morning IV, known as Quattro), Germany’s Julia Krajewski (Chilli Morning II, known as Deuce) and China’s Alex Hua Tian (Chilli Morning III, known as Tres). We spoke to the three jockeys to find out a little more about the horses’ characters…

All three riders praise the clones’ brains and ability.

“My one has been very easy to train,” says Gemma. “With their brains, it’s like ticking boxes and once they have learnt something once, they never forget.
“The showjumping is his weakest phase, but he tries and is getting stronger. He is absolutely wonderful across country – like he’s done it all before. He’s so positive and loves to gallop. He doesn’t get uptight in the start box, he just genuinely seems like he loves it.”

Gemma knew Chilli as an older horse – she competed alongside him at the Rio Olympics and he retired to her base at Tattleton, which belongs to Chris Stone, for a couple of years before his death in 2020.

“It’s hard to compare because these are young horses, but there are real similarities. Their walk is just like Chilli’s walk,” says Gemma. “My one has a prettier head than the original, though I think Julia’s looks very like him.

“And there are certain things that are weirdly similar – like the way they do a flying change, the way they sort of hold themselves in a frame. Then there are differences – we think my one might trot slightly better. And mine is slightly smaller than Chilli.”

Alex echoes Gemma on his charge’s cross-country prowess, particularly.

“Tres is a very self-confident, intelligent, worldly-wise, cheeky chappy,” he says. “He’s a bit spooky. The first time he went out of the start box, it was like, ‘Whoa, this is really weird’ – I’d never sat on anything that comes out the first time ears pricked, looking for the first fence, super mature, with such a natural engine.

“Talking to Gemma and Julia, they’ve felt very much the same with their two – that strain of genetics obviously has a really strong affinity to the cross-country phase.”

With Alex’s being the biggest of the three clones, he says: “I was warned by Chris, Lisa and Gemma that the Chilli Morning offspring do take a bit of time to get going physically and Tres followed that as a four- and five-year-old. There were multiple flashes of brilliance, but he felt like a very rangy, weak horse who hadn’t grown into his body yet.

“There were weeks when he felt amazing, then weeks where it felt like he’d lost 20 stone and was growing again. His development has been marked by that – he’s clearly an exciting horse who needs a little bit more time physically.”

Julia calls Deuce by his progenitor’s name, Chilli – “we have problems saying Deuce so he’s Chilli to us”.

“He’s always been very straightforward – I don’t think there are many things he’s questioned,” she says. “He’s very good to work with, but he’s a two-sided personality – he can be a bit ignorant, not care much for everything, then can suddenly be quite sweet and cuddly.

“I find it fascinating to speak to the other riders – I chat with Gemma quite often and ask how is this or that with yours? Often we’ve had the same sort of issue in the same time frame, or she says that’s totally normal with Chilli offspring at this time.”

• Read more about the Chilli Morning clones, including how Chris chose their riders, why they have all been castrated and their competitive plans for this year, in this week’s Horse & Hound magazine (issue dated 6 March). 

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