Cloned Mule Idaho Gem Prepares for Racing

Cloned mule Idaho Gem is now in trainer Ruby Thomas' barn and is working toward his debut in Winnemucca this coming June. Stabled outside of Sacramento at a private training facility, Ruby has been schooling and working the mule, although the rains have limited how much of the track he can see. He is becoming well accustomed to loading into the gate, a process Ruby says has been made easier by coaxing the fella with copious cookies. Today's Las Vegas Sun calls out Gem as having plenty of personality.

"These guys have personalities," said Gordon Woods, team leader for Project Idaho and director of the Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory on the Moscow, Idaho, campus.

"Particularly Gem. Personally, I'm a horse person, but working with them changed me. I don't know what a camera clicking does for him, but he puts on a show," he said.

Ruby agrees, saying "he can be a bit of a ham, but that's how it is when you baby'em like I do." I'll be continuing my coverage with an exclusive interview with Trainer Ruby during the Red Bluff Round-Up, and will be on site for the Winnemucca races.