Penniless Sarah Ferguson came up with a bizarre plan to become an international polo pony breeder using cloned DNA from a champion thoroughbred - as a way out of her mounting financial crisis, according to her cousin. 

The spendthrift former Duchess, 66, had long relied on cash handouts from Jeffrey Epstein as well as trading on her royal status in wealthy social circles.

But as she became increasingly tainted by association with the billionaire paedophile financier, she was left without means to support her notoriously extravagant lifestyle.

And it was then that she hit on the idea of cloning a long-dead champion polo pony which had belonged to her mother and selling the resulting foals for as much as £750,000 each to tycoon enthusiasts of the equine sport, the Mail has learned.

News of the extraordinary polo pony plan comes just weeks after The Mail on Sunday revealed that ex-Princess Ferguson had also explored the possibility of cloning two corgis that had belonged to the late Queen to breed puppies that could be sold to wealthy.buyers overseas.

Fergie, the former wife of disgraced Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, is understood to have discussed the controversial polo pony project with friends, family and supporters over several months from 2024-5.

Pivotal to her plan was Martin Barrantes, her cousin by marriage, who is an expert at cloning and has already produced polo ponies in this way - and had spoken to Fergie about using DNA from her mother's prize winning horse, Luna.

Argentinian scientist and breeder Mr Barrantes told the Mail: 'Luna was a very famous horse, very successful.

'There was a plan to clone Luna. We [Sarah Ferguson and he] talked about it.'

Luna had originally belonged to Fergie's late stepfather, Argentine polo playing great Hector Barrantes, who died in 1990, and who had been the second husband of Sarah's mother Susan Ferguson.

Fergie was passed the ownership of Luna after her mother tragically died in a car crash near her remote Argentine home in 1998 - a property Fergie still owns.

Mr Barrantes explained: 'When Hector died, Luna went to Susan and then when she was killed in the accident, ownership was passed to Sarah.'

In the 1990s Luna won the Lady Townley polo tournament two years running in Argentina and was ridden by the legendary Gonzalo Pieres snr.

Speaking of Luna's polo prowess, her original owner, the late Mr Pieres, once said: 'She was incredible. Many players rode her and she always gave an incredible performance.'

Luna's pedigree is already widely recognised in polo circles as she is the sister of another leading horse, El Sol, while foals bred conventionally in her broodmare spell went onto some success in the sport.

Luna died two decades ago but Ferguson apparently didn't regard the pony's death as an insurmountable obstacle to her imagined project.

And that's because a small sample of Luna's skin has long been kept in optimal conditions in a Buenos Aires laboratory which has already bred dozens of genetically-edited horses.

Potentially stem cells from that skin sample could be used for cloning - and Fergie believed her cousin could help her do this.

And Fergie was apparently so excited by the idea that she named a start up company she founded La Luna Investments.

Another associate to whom Fergie floated the polo pony idea told the Mail she had been full of the idea when they met at a social event around the same time at the Spanish resort of Sotogrande.

The guest told the Daily Mail: 'She was very excited and talking feverishly about cloning Luna.

'Luna belonged to her stepfather and was a very successful polo pony in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She was legendary in the sport and was used for breeding.'

But while Ferguson seems to have been very serious about her unusual plan, other guests were more sceptical.

The party-goer told us: 'I think Sarah must have been having one of her moments.'

In fact the scepticism of those other guests would prove well-founded - the cloning idea eventually foundered.

Mr Barrantes told us: 'It was an idea that was discussed with Sarah but nothing materialised - there was a plan to clone Luna but, in the end, nothing happened,

'We didn't go through with it. We talked about it; it was something she was thinking of doing but it didn't happen.'

And Fergie's business, La Luna Investments, was closed down two months ago.

Mr Barrantes wouldn't elaborate on the detailed reasons why the project never took off - but it certainly wasn't due to any technical shortcomings on his part.

Because the Mail has learned he is among the most accomplished of those working in the field of animal cloning that there is globally.

Mr Barrantes runs a biotech company called Kheiron on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and is particularly expert at equine cloning, having bred dozens of genetically edited horses and ponies.

Equine cloning is already a multimillion dollar industry in South America and Kheiron, according to Argentine media, clones at least 100 horses a year.

Although cloned animals are not permitted in horse racing, they are not banned in polo and already the best ponies sell for as much as £750,000 to the richest owners in Argentina,

There is also a growing demand for cloning in showjumping circles internationally.

In a recent interview with Argentine media, Mr Barrantes talked up the positives of the controversial field, insisting:' The practice allows to have better horses and thus more spectacular games for players and spectators.'

Fergie has close links to Argentina as Susan caused a high society scandal when she left her husband Major Ronald Ferguson in the early 1970s and moved to Argentina to live with polo player Hector.

They set up home at his ranch – El Pucara – a six-hour drive from Buenos Aires and her mother and stepfather are buried in the grounds of the estate, which is set in rolling fields, 45 minutes from the nearest town.

Fergie has been trying to stay out of the public eye for almost six months since she and her former husband were extensively named in thousands of pages of documents relating to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that were released last December.

The information drop revealed how she had repeatedly begged Epstein to employ her as his house assistant as she 'desperately' needed money and in one appeal she even begged him to marry her.

After months in hiding - involving sofa surfing with friends - she finally broke cover in April, when she was pictured staying at an exclusive £2,000 a night spa in the Austrian Alps.

Fergie's previous cloning plan had involved dogs.

The fallen Duchess was revealed to have been in talks with an American TV firm to clone two corgis, Muick and Sandy, which had previously belonged to the late Queen.

Fergie had been entrusted to look after the late Queen's favourite corgis when the monarch died in 2022.

She was soon posting extensively about the dogs on social media - but also formulating plans to profit from them.

The tasteless idea would have involved the former Duchess of York offering puppies replicated from the two pets to 'dog lovers around the world' for up to £75,000 each.

TV bosses planned a tie-in documentary proposing to film her 'on her cloning journey' and the idea was discussed at dinners in Los Angeles with a synopsis written up by producers at Halcyon Studios.

That synopsis read: 'When Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is bequeathed two of the Queen's beloved corgis, she decides to embark on a bold and controversial business venture - cloning the royal pups.

'But as she navigates the complex world of genetics and royal protocol, Sarah must also grapple with her own personal demons and strained relationship with the royal family.'

It added that Fergie's income has been 'dramatically impacted' by King Charles' decision to slash Andrew's allowance after the Queen's death.

The synopsis continued: 'Fergie was thrilled to learn that she had been remembered in the Queen's will, but surprised to learn that rather than jewellery or money, the Queen has left her two of her beloved Corgis.

'At 63, Fergie finds herself like so many other people facing a dramatic change in economic outlook later in life - needing to make money.'

Muick and Sandy were seen at the Queen's funeral and in April 2023, Fergie said she had sought the help of a 'dog whisperer' after becoming concerned that the dogs were depressed because they were 'grieving' for their previous owner.

Controversial commercial animal cloning is banned in the UK - with the RSPCA saying it can cause abnormalities that may be painful – but rules in many other countries are more lax.