"A purchase based on pure emotion," Jos Lansink admits as he has bought an embryo by his former World Champion Cumano out of the Grand Prix jumping mare Parabel. Lansink bought the embryo at the online auction www.embryoauctions.com, and now looks forward to the foal being born next year.

"I do not normally buy foals, let alone embryos. But this story is out of the ordinary; with Cumano I have a bond. There are anyway few offspring from him. So for that reason alone I think this is an interesting gamble, not at least because the mother herself was a sport mare," Lansink says in a press release from the auction.