Scientists in Italy say they have created the world’s first cloned horse, raising the possibility of a sequel to the next Seabiscuit or a carbon copy of Kentucky Derby champion Funny Cide.

The small, sturdy work horse is now 2 months old, weighs about 220 pounds and is in excellent health, said its creators. Their announcement beats a Texas A&M team awaiting the birth of its own horse clone.

The cloned Haflinger horse is named Prometea after Prometheus, the character in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans.

In a twist for the growing barnyard of cloned animals, the Haflinger mare that gave birth to the Promotea was also the source of her DNA, meaning she and her foal are identical twins.

Now that horse-cloning has arrived, it could allow the replication of valuable horses or endangered breeds, said Cesare Galli, director of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Cremona, Italy.

The cloning details are described in today’s issue of the journal Nature.

Prometea was born just two weeks after the first member of the equine family — a mule — was cloned at the University of Idaho. Researchers there have since produced two more cloned mules, which are a hybrid of a donkey and a horse.

To date, horses, mules, sheep, cows, pigs, cats and rodents have been cloned. No primates have been cloned.

Cloning cases have raised questions about the animals’ health. Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized this year after she contracted a common livestock disease and her cells showed signs of premature aging.

Prometea, front, is shown with its mare in Cremona, Italy. Prometea, born on May 28, is the world's first cloned horse, according to its creators, scientists at the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Cremona.