Franca Zanetti: “With Avantea, we can continue to enhance the value of our finest bloodlines”

One of the leading figures in Italian sport horse breeding, Franca Zanetti has spent years developing a carefully considered breeding programme at FZ Team Sport Horse Breeding, where experience, an in-depth knowledge of bloodlines and innovation go hand in hand. Assisted reproduction techniques provided by Avantea have become an established part of this approach, offering valuable tools to plan and develop the breeding programme’s most promising genetic lines.

We caught up with Franca Zanetti in Verolanuova during the Avantea Final of the 2026 FISE Young Horse Circuit, shortly after Cometa FZ, ridden by Alessandro Colombo, claimed victory in the FISE Championship for four-year-old horses.

It was another significant result for FZ Team Sport Horse Breeding and, above all, the perfect opportunity to speak with Franca Zanetti about selection, bloodlines and the possibilities that assisted reproduction techniques can offer breeders today.

Franca, let’s start with Cometa FZ and her victory here in Verolanuova. What can you tell us about her and her story?

“I’m extremely pleased. Cometa FZ was born thanks to Avantea’s assisted reproduction techniques, which I strongly believe in and have great confidence in. She is a very promising mare, so much so that she has already been sold to an American client, and we have great faith in her future.”

Her pedigree is particularly interesting as well. What bloodlines does Cometa FZ come from?

“She is by Comme Il Faut, while her dam is Gegonda FZ, a daughter of Carrera VDL who is sadly no longer with us. She was an important mare who continued her sporting career in the United States. We still have an embryo out of her, by Cornet Obolensky, preserved at Avantea, which we intend to transfer as soon as possible.”

For Franca Zanetti, the opportunity to preserve and continue developing particularly valuable maternal lines is one of the key advantages offered by assisted reproduction techniques.

Cometa FZ will now continue her sporting season. Are you already planning to use these techniques with her as well?

“Yes. After these finals, she will also compete in the MASAF Finals, and I would like to use the same procedure with her to produce embryos by important stallions. Her performances are no different whatsoever from those of horses conceived through natural breeding. She is a highly promising mare and, at the same time, we can already begin planning her future from a breeding perspective.”

For a breeder, this represents a particularly valuable opportunity: allowing a mare to pursue her sporting career while simultaneously preserving and developing her genetic potential.

Is this one of the main reasons why you chose to incorporate Avantea’s techniques into your breeding programme?

“Absolutely. Cometa FZ’s dam, for example, was competing at the time, and we did not want her to have to interrupt her sporting career to carry a pregnancy herself. Through this technique, we were able to obtain several embryos, and we were extremely pleased with the results.”

Franca Zanetti’s experience with Avantea, however, extends well beyond mares actively competing in sport. Assisted reproduction can also provide valuable opportunities when age or reproductive difficulties make producing a foal through conventional methods more challenging.

In your experience, what are the most important advantages these techniques offer a breeder?

“I use this technique extensively with older mares as well, particularly those that may no longer be able to carry a pregnancy themselves, or mares that have difficulty maintaining a pregnancy. It is an extraordinary opportunity because it allows us to continue producing foals from important mares without creating additional difficulties for them.”

Do these possibilities also extend to the choice of stallions?

“Yes, absolutely. We can also use stallions that are no longer alive or those with reduced fertility. That is another particularly valuable aspect, because it allows us to continue working with specific genetics and to produce multiple embryos.”

Assisted reproduction has therefore become an integral part of Franca Zanetti’s breeding strategy at FZ Team Sport Horse Breeding. Cometa FZ is far from an isolated example: several young horses bred by Franca Zanetti through Avantea’s techniques were competing at the Verolanuova Finals.

“I have produced a great many horses using this technique. We had several horses here at the Finals that were born thanks to Avantea and come from different bloodlines. It is a technology I use extensively and truly believe in.”

Franca Zanetti’s experience illustrates the role assisted reproduction can play within a well-established and carefully structured breeding programme: a tool that complements the breeder’s expertise and decision-making, while creating new opportunities to preserve valuable bloodlines, plan future crosses and, where appropriate, combine a mare’s sporting career with her reproductive potential.

Cometa FZ’s victory therefore provides an opportunity to tell a much broader story, one in which Avantea’s assisted reproduction techniques support breeding decisions and contribute to the careful planning of future generations of sport horses.

By Alessandra Ceserani
Ph. Chira Studio

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