Spring 2011

hurlingham polo association magazine hurlingham polo association magazine

spring ISSUE february 2011

spring 2011

the great escape [one man’s epic ride along the Rockies] coworth park [the rich history and recent make-over] fierce riding [buzkashi: the Afghan national equine sport] triple crown [victory in an unbeaten season for Ellerstina] 00_Cover new.indd 1

03/02/2011 14:27

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hurlingham [contents]

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hurlingham polo association magazine hurlingham polo association magazine

spring issUE fEbrUary 2011

07 Ponylines News from around the polo world, plus interviews and the Chief Executive’s column

17 Talk Including a fond remembrance of Charles Stisted, beach polo and challenges facing young players

spring 2011

the great escape [one man’s epic ride along the Rockies] coworth park [the rich history and recent make-over] fierce riding [buzkashi: the Afghan national equine sport] triple crown [victory in an unbeaten season for Ellerstina] 00_Cover new.indd 1

On the cover: Juan Martin Nero Photo by Aline Coquelle

03/02/2011 14:27

26 Profile Colourful businessman, Sir Charles ‘Cow’ Williams, recounts his most memorable polo experiences

28 Heritage Nicholas Foulkes on the remarkable history of Coworth Park, and its most recent make-over

34 Travel Parker Flannery recounts his 2,000-mile epic horse ride along the unforgiving Rocky Mountains

40 Culture Oliver Englehart witnesses first-hand the exhilarating Afghan national sport of buzkashi

BEN MASTERS, ROYAL SALUTE

47 Action

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Reports and pictures from across the globe, including The Triple Crown, Thai Polo Open, USPA Aiken Silver Cup, Jodhpur and the Ambassadors Cup

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Archive

Herbert Spencer tells the legendary tale of the first ever international polo match

03/02/2011 15:20

foreword Roderick Vere Nicoll Publisher

Welcome to the Spring issue of Hurlingham. Juan Martin Nero is on the cover, photographed by Aline Coquelle. He was named MVP in the final of the Argentine Open for the second time, the first being in 2008. If you consider who the other seven players were, it is an amazing honour to be MVP! In Ponylines, we report on ESPN filming the Triple Crown as well as on newsreels of polo from the Thirties on. You can see highlights of the final in Palermo as well as the newsreels at hurlinghampolo.com. In Hooked on Polo, Peter Godányi describes how he got into polo and why he still has vivid memories of the European 8-goal FIP championships. Adolfo Cambiaso is one of the best mounted players on three different continents.

He talks to us about his favourite pony, Cuartetera.

In Talk, beach polo is expanding around the world, Alex Webbe explains why. David Woodd remembers Charles Stisted who made Guards the most successful commercial club in the world. For some colourful stories, read our Profile piece by Sir Charles ‘Cow’ Williams on his polo journey. At 77, he is still playing competitive polo and is full of energy!

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In Features, Nicholas Foulkes visits Coworth Park, explains its rich history and why you might want to visit the five-star polo resort. If you like it rough, Parker Flannery takes on a ride for 2,000 miles along the Rockies. The Taliban has officially banned the game of buzkashi but Afghanistan’s polo equivalent is still popular. Read Oliver Englehart’s adrenaline-fuelled account.

In Action, Ellerstina dominated and won the Triple Crown in a thrilling final. Nick Snow gives us a first-hand account of polo’s highest rated tournaments and explains the changes for next year in the teams. He then drops by + 40 goals to the Copa Potrillos where the superstars of tomorrow get their share of victory and defeat. If you want to play fun, competitive polo and have the time of your life, sign up for Jodhpur. This is a wonderful tournament hosted by the charismatic Maharajah of Jodhpur.

Like polo, Hurlingham is a team effort!

I would like to thank everyone who has helped to put this issue together and make it one of the best ones we have produced!

contributors Nicholas Foulkes read English at Oxford and has written 18 books on subjects as diverse as James Bond, cigars, porcelain and the trench coat.

He is a columnist for Newsweek and Country Life, co-founder and editor-inchief of Finch’s Quarterly Review, a contributing editor to the FT’s How To Spend It magazine and Vanity Fair; and is luxury editor of GQ.

Ad minciduisi tat. Ut se tie Oliver Englehart is aalit, freelance doloboreros Iscip euipisit wis journalist andnisi.Perat. filmmaker.

Directing nis ad dolor iril dignim eum for aliquiscredits include Kabul atexWork mod ex exeraesto consequam, Al Jazeera and most recently anconse dolutate modolor quisl ipisis educational seriestionsequam called Offscreen: nim ip euis num eu feumsan Journey to Pakistan about sixvendipisBritish mod exerit blandrem nostrud te vel students oniusci an eye-opening journey iure venim dolore et has appeared in, in Pakistan.

His work amongst others, The New York Times, The Times and The New Statesman.

Tony Ramireztat. is aUtrenowned Ad minciduisi alit, se tiepolo photographernisi.Perat. and an Associate of wis doloboreros Iscip euipisit the ad British of Professional nis dolorInstitute iril dignim ex eum aliquisPhotography.

His work appearsconse in major mod ex exeraesto consequam, polo publications heipisis dolutate modolor worldwide tionsequamand quisl covers polonum for organisers and teams in nim ip euis eu feumsan vendipisthe UK, Switzerland, Italy and Argentina mod exerit iusci blandrem nostrud te vel to name a few.

Raised iure venim dolore et in Sao Paulo, Tony now considers the UK – where he lives with wife Olga – his home.

Sir minciduisi Charles ‘Cow’ Ad tat. UtWilliams alit, se tiebegan riding as soon as he could but wis only doloboreros nisi.Perat.

Iscipwalk euipisit picked up hisirilfirst poloex mallet 1962. nis ad dolor dignim eum in aliquisThe man who spent his youth raising mod ex exeraesto consequam, conse piglets ismodolor now thetionsequam largest property dolutate quisl ipisis developer Barbados.

Sir Charles was nim ip euisinnum eu feumsan vendipisappointed of the Barbados mod exeritcaptain iusci blandrem nostrud tePolo vel Clubvenim in 1969 andet was president for iure dolore over 30 years. He hopes to play polo ‘until the crutches come along’.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions. All the information contained in this publication is correct at the time of going to press.

The HURLINGHAM Polo Association magazine (ISSN 1750-0486) is published by Hurlingham Media. The magazine is designed and produced on behalf of Hurlingham Media by Show Media Ltd. It is published on behalf of the Hurlingham Polo Association

by Hurlingham Media. The products and services advertised are not necessarily endorsed by or connected with the publisher or the Hurlingham Polo Association. The editorial opinions expressed in this publication are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of the publisher or the Hurlingham Polo Association. Hurlingham magazine welcome feedback from readers: hurlinghammedia@hpa-polo.co.uk

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Hurlingham Media 47-49 Chelsea Manor St, London SW3 5RZ +44 (0) 771 483 6102 hurlingham@hpa-polo.co.uk www.hurlinghampolo.com Show Media Editorial Managing Director Peter Howarth 1-2 Ravey Street, London EC2A 4QP + 44 (0) 203 222 0101 info@showmedia.net www.showmedia.net

Marina Vere Nicoll

Hurlingham Magazine Publisher Roderick Vere Nicoll Executive Editor Peter Howarth Editor Arabella Dickie Deputy Editor Herbert Spencer Contributing Editor Sarah Eakin Editor-At-Large Alex Webbe Designer Hillary Jayne

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ponylines [news] 02 Arena Polo, FIP General Assembly, ESPN Triple Crown and much more

ONE TO watch Charismatic Brazilian Jose Eduardo Kalil followed his father and grandfather into polo, traveling to Argentina aged 16 to play the ‘mundialito’ and ‘mundialazo’ cups at the Jockey Club. By the age of 20 he had reached 7 goals. Jose went on to gain valuable polo experience in Europe, including one memorable season in England in1986 with Ricardo Mansur where he played a presentation match with Prince Charles.

Fifteen years ago Jose created his own team, Sao José Polo Audi, which he has since led to victory in the Diamond Cup (2007) and twice at the Ellerstina Gold Cup (2008/2010). Aged 18, Jose started working for the family-owned company. He now runs a cosmetic and real estate business from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he lives with his wife and three sons. Jose will captain the Brazilian team at the Coronation Cup this year and states that he hopes to play a full British high-goal season in 2012.

www.hurlinghampolo.com

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03/02/2011 15:22

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31/01/2011 11:37

hurlingham [ ponylines]

TONY RAMIREZ/ WWW.IMAGESOFPOLO.COM

Chief executive During our winter, once again there has been considerable interest in the initiative of the Argentine Polo Association which issued a directive forbidding any discussions between the players and the umpires in an effort to cut out any backchat and the perception that the umpires were being influenced by the players. Certainly until the final, the umpires followed the directive and there were several instances of players being stood down for the next game which perhaps meant that in some cases the result was a foregone conclusion. In the semifinals, there was almost an eerie silence on the field but the final, which was a great final and, according to some, the only good match in the Open, was creeping back to polo as usual. Looking forward to our own season we will, without doubt, follow the Argentine example although I believe that we will direct the umpires to enact any penalty for bad behaviour within the game being played rather than carrying it forward to the next one. We are also looking at extending the influence of the referee where there are radio communications.

In the office it has been a surprisingly busy time and this year we have probably been involved in sending more players overseas than ever before. As well as the various bursaries that were awarded, we sent a group of young people to Buster MacKenzie in South Africa over the October half term and another lot will visit during the February half term.

In addition, two younger groups are going to Argentina at the same time and we are sending representative 14-goal teams to India and Thailand, a three-man team to play on the snow in China, and an England Arena team to California to play for the Townsend Trophy in March. In April the Copa de Naciones, to be played at Palermo, has been confirmed by the Argentine Polo Association and England will be fielding a 28-goal team lead by Luke Tomlinson.

At home, the exciting project to launch an international arena polo event in the O2 stadium is a new venture being run by Johnny Wheeler and Mark Cann and sponsored by Gaucho. We all very much hope that it will be a success for all parties and thus become an annual event. Additionally, we are sending a team to California to play for the Townsend Trophy in the arena at the end of March.

Looking forward to the summer the high goal looks healthy but there are disappointingly few English players with regular slots in the 22-goal teams. On the international front, England will play two test matches, against the Americas led by Nacho Figueras at Cowdray in May and hopefully against New Zealand at the Beaufort in June. In July, Brazil are flying horses over in order to play for the Coronation Cup on Cartier International Day. And then, in October the 14-Goal World Championships will be held in Argentina with qualifiers held in Italy in the last two weeks of September.

Meanwhile, I am sure that those woolly ponies standing out in the wet and the cold are keen to get back to work.

Let us hope that like most forecasts, the prediction of a barbecue summer was a timing issue and that they were just one year out.

ESPN ESPN has filmed the polo Triple Crown since 2007. The semifinals and finals of both the Tortugas and Hurlingham Opens were transmitted live.

For the Argentine Open, all games played on Field 1 were also filmed. This year, the final was produced in HD for the first time ever using 13 cameras. The games were transmitted to all of Latin America and, in the case of Palermo, within the US on ESPN3, ESPN´s broadband platform. For highlights, visit hurlinghampolo.com.

The Federation of International Polo FIP has scheduled more than a dozen events in as many countries for 2011.

The fixtures list approved by FIP’s annual General Assembly in December reflects the federation’s new policy of involving as many countries as possible in international contests. Final stages of FIP’s 9th 14-Goal World Championship for the Polo World Cup will be held in San Luis, Argentina, 10-23 October. Zone playoffs are scheduled in the Dominican Republic, 2-17 May; Malaysia, 11-26 June; Brazil, 20-24 June; and Italy, 22 September-2 October. Portugal, Italy and Hungary have bid to host FIP’s second European Trophy of the Nations at 0- goal to 4-goal level. Five Ambassadors Cup tournaments will be in Mexico, Australia, India, Argentina and Chile and four FIP youth tournaments in Chile, Argentina, Germany and Ecuador. Argentina will host FIP’s umpires’ clinic in April/ May and a players’ clinic is scheduled in Egypt in December. Herbert Spencer

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The Gaucho International Polo London’s O2 Arena, which has hosted everything from opera to tennis, is now the venue for the 2011 Gaucho International Polo tournament. The tournament, to be played in the shadow of Canary Wharf, will be Europe’s first international match held in an indoor arena in the last 50 years and has been seen as a positive move to bring the sport further into the public eye. The size of the arena is 85x30 meters, and the tournament will be played under HPA arena rules.

The matches will take place on 24 February and will be played by some of the world’s top polo players, including four international teams: England vs Argentina, Scotland vs South Africa and a Varsity match between rivals Oxford and Cambridge. There will also be a fourth charity celebrity match. The event will give ticket holders the opportunity to try out polo for the first time, as well as offering a festival experience with live music, a luxury retail village, fashion shows and food stalls. With the gates opening at 2pm, the first match beginning at 5pm, and a players after-party in an exclusive 2,500 capacity club within the O2, this event is a must for polo lovers and polo amateurs everywhere. theo2polo.com

www.hurlinghampolo.com

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01/02/2011 14:38

hurlingham [ ponylines] Aline with Juan Sauro of the AAP

Chukkas The 10-goal club is getting smaller! The Asociación Argentina de Polo has lowered Lolo Castagnola, Lucas Monteverde, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Mariano Aguerre from 10 to 9 goals. That leaves only Adolfo Cambiaso, Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres, Pablo Mac Donough, Juan Martin Nero and Marcos Heguy with the sport’s top rating in Argentina. In the USA, Eduardo Novillo Astrada and Sebastian Merlos are 10 and Mariano Aguerre is still 10 goals. That brings the total to nine players in the world with the best handicap.

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The USPA announced 12 new additions to Team USPA, bringing the total to 34, of which five are females, and the age range is 18 to 25 with handicaps of B to 4. The new players will attend specialised clinics and receive training and competition opportunities to develop them to their fullest. The Team USPA programme, established in 2009, has a budget of approximately $300,000.

The sport of snow polo was first introduced in 1985 at the resort town of St. Moritz, Switzerland and now has mushroomed around the world. In December 2010, the 11th annual USPA championship in Aspen was won by Audi for the second year running. In January, there were four teams in Val d’Isère, four in Courchevel, six in Klosters and six in Megève.

In St Moritz, there were four teams of 15 goals down from 20 goals playing a Nations Cup. In February, there will be tournaments in China, Spain and Italy. The level is 6- to 16-goal and played with either three or four players depending on the length of the field. The size of the ball is different as well, and the surface varies depending on the conditions.

In April, Argentina will host a Nations Cup. Argentina, UK, Brazil, USA and ROW are likely to enter teams as could South Africa and Australasia. Twenty-four-year-old Paulito Pieres of the famous Pieres family was born in Greenwich and is eligible to play for the USA. This would boost the Yanks’ chances but it is rumoured that they are going with four players who were born and raised in the country.

During the 2010 Triple Crown, photographer Aline Coquelle was invited to share her work with art lovers and the international polo community at the Palacio Duhau art gallery in Buenos Aires. The exhibition received support from Jaeger-LeCoultre, L’Oréal Paris and Air France. Particular interest was expressed in Aline’s photographs taken from the Shandur Polo Tournament in Hindu Kush, Pakistan as well as this issue’s cover image of Juan Martin Nero. All exhibited images were taken using a silver nitrate process, and none were retouched. Proceeds of the sale went towards a Gandhian leprosy clinic in India, and towards Aline’s forthcoming books, Gandhi Angels and Polo, the Nomadic Tribe II. New images are available online: alinecoquelle.com

Crestview Genetics Takes Cloning to New Level Crestview Genetics has successfully produced a number of foals from several of the equestrian stars of the modern polo era. ‘We now have six ‘Small Persons’, four ‘Raptors’, Six ‘Cuarteteras’ and three ‘Lapas’, said Crestview Genetics founder Alan Meeker.

Several of the foals are in Argentina while some are currently in Aiken including the oldest of the group – the four ‘Raptors’ clones – from one of Owen Rinehart’s top horses. They are already eight months old. The success of the endeavour has been welcomed by the polo world. ‘Every polo player that I have talked to without exception has expressed an interest in either buying a clone, or cloning their own horses,’ said Meeker.

To meet demand Crestview Genetics, through its Argentine subsidiary, Crestview Argentina S.A., recently broke ground on a state-of-the-art cloning facility in Canuelas, Argentina that will enhance the company’s cloning operation, currently based in Texas. ‘We will still operate here in the US,’ said Meeker, ‘but due to the progressiveness of the approach to breeding in Argentina and the fact that our rudimentary costs are lower there, it was the right place to build it.’ The centre is expected to be operational in April this year and interest in 30 clones has already been received. According to Meeker this new approach to polo pony breeding is not intended to flood the polo fields with clones. ‘Some will play polo,’ he said. ‘But the majority will be used to create genetic improvement programs across the board for breeders worldwide and notably in Argentina.’ SARAH EAKIN

the love of my life Pony’s name Age Sex Colour Height Origin

Dolfina Cuartetera 9 Mare Dark chestnut 15.1h Argentina

Dolfina Cuartetera is the best horse that I’ve ever mounted. She is fabulous, better than Colibri, Aiken Cura or those who were famous as a result of their quality. She executes actions on the field extremely well thanks to her great strength, good mouth, acceleration and speed, as well as her excellent temperament which gives me much confidence in my play. Dolfina won the Lady Susan Townley Cup for the best horse in the finals of the 2009 and 2010 Argentine Open, and I am so proud of that achievement because I bred her. She is the daughter of Lambada – with Luna, one of the best two mothers in the world – and Sportivo. A few months ago I sold 50 percent of one of her first two pony clones for $800,000. Given than the clones were born two years ago, and have not even been mounted yet, this speaks volumes

about Dolfina’s extraordinary conditions. The ‘Cuartetera’ – as known in Argentina – made her debut in the 2006 high handicap season, but I saw her skill and aptitude from the moment that I began to teach her polo. It was then that I realised I was in presence of a truly spectacular horse.

ADOLFO CAMBIASO

TONY RAMIREZ/ WWW.IMAGESOFPOLO.COM

In February, Stephen Orthwein was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Lake Worth, Florida.

Steve has been involved with the sport for over 50 years. He was Chairman of the USPA from 1991 to 1995 and has served on all the major committees. Steve was rated 6-goals and won a number of major tournaments. In 1967 and 1968 playing for Yale he won the Intercollegiate Championship beating Cornell on which his twin brother Peter played. In the category for Horses to Remember, La Fortuna will be honoured. The grey gelding was originally named Lord Cheeko as he had a parrot mouth. Former 10-goaler Tommy Wayman bought him from Argentina breeder, Ricardo Santamarina, who also bred Aiken Cura.

THE ART OF POLO

www.hurlinghampolo.com

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6/10/10 14:09:46

hurlingham [ ponylines]

ROLEX partners with aap

Hooked on Polo

Ever looking to the future of polo, Rolex has announced a new partnership with the AAP starting this year. The iconic Swiss watchmaker has been involved in equestrian sports since 1957. It has sponsored the Argentine Polo Open Championship since 1979, and today supports three other illustrious polo events: the Buenos Aires Jockey Club Open, the Tortugas Country Open Championship and the Hurlingham Open Championship. In 2009 renowned 10-goal Ellerstina player, Gonzalo Pieres Jr., joined the select group of Rolex Testimonees – exceptional individuals who excel in their chosen sport – that include World No. 1 tennis player Roger Federer and event rider Zara Phillips. Gonzalito won the Argentine Open in 2008, and was part of the winning team for the 2010 Triple Crown. Indeed, the tournament is in Gonzalito’s blood – his father, legendary polo player Gonzalo Pieres, took the cup eight times throughout his career, and Gonzalito’s brother, Facundo, played on the winning Ellerstina teams in 2008 and 2010. In tribute to this exceptional achievement, Rolex featured Gonzalito in a full-page advertisement in La Nación newspaper – the first time the brand has included a polo player in a testimonial advertisement.

Peter Godányi is a member of the Slovak National Polo Team and Executive Director of ‘1st Polo Klub Bratislava 1888’. His handicap was increased to 1-goal for the 2011 season. A self-confessed ‘perfectionist regarding horse welfare and horsemanship’, Godányi tells us about his love of competing and how his own world revolves around polo.

POLOLINE

Archive Polo Newsreels Televised polo is a relative modern-day rarity. Whilst rooting around in the video archives for footage of Ham Polo Club Hugo Davis stumbled on a collection of newsreels from Gaumont-British News and put together a feature from them.

Such was the popularity of polo in the early 20th century, it would regularly feature in the sports round-up of televised news. The newsreels feature British royalty and Hollywood superstars alike. HM Queen Elizabeth can be seen supporting her husband The Duke of Edinburgh before presenting the Coronation Cup at Cowdray and Queen Mary can be seen presenting the Duke of York Challenge Cup after the Air Force versus Navy match in 1937.

Some of the most famous names of the time attended the polo and ‘cameos’ are made by actors and actresses such as Fay Wray, Dolores del Rio, Mary Pickford, Charles Farrell, Frank Borzage, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, Bob Montgomery and Barbara Stanwyck.

At the time around 40 tournaments were played as part of London polo season between May and September and were followed avidly by the public. These newsreels are undoubtedly a reminder of the golden age of polo and can be seen on www.hurlinghampolo.com.

Benjie Davis

I started playing polo in 2006, after a five-year break from riding due to family and business affairs. Horses are a long family tradition and I have show jumped as well as doing horse stunts for international movies, so polo came naturally to me. In 2006, Slovakia had few polo options available but I found the Poloclub Schloss Ebreichsdorf, a fantastic club near Vienna and only 70km from my office in Bratislava.

Polo has grown rapidly in Slovakia since our founding of ‘1st Polo Klub Bratislava’ in 2007. The Slovak Polo Association is now a full member of FIP and registers more than 30 active handicapped players and three regular clubs. The fifth Polo Slovakia Open will be held in June at the Schloss Ebreichsdorf grounds and the second Polo on Snow World Cup will take place at the Vysoké Tatry resort in 2012.

Our team plays the summer season in Austria, and I like to spend the winter at the Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires, playing tournaments from 8-14 goals. My most memorable game so far was the opening match of the VIII FIP European Championship in 2010. Our Slovak national team – a newcomer – was entered against the titledefending English team. For the first two chukkas we played on an equal level, but later the experience of the girls and potential of their horses became clear. I still have vivid memories of having Clare mark me so hard and seeing Nina score so many goals. It was a good lesson for us all in a competitive polo.

The main appeal of polo for me is working with horses, playing with friends in a positive mood and competing in tournaments. For the time being, I hope to welcome more English players and teams to Slovakia in order to gain experience and prepare for revenge in the next European Championship in 2012.

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www.hurlinghampolo.com

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03/02/2011 15:23

hurlingham [ ponylines]

FIP Ambassadors cup

SADDLE UP WITH… Tomas Garcia del Rio Nationality Argentine Age 27 Handicap 7 in England and USA, 8 in Argentina

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In late September, the 71st FIP Ambassadors Cup was hosted in New York by USA Ambassador Bruce Colley, wife Teresa Colley and the Mashomack Polo Club. The Ambassadors arrived on Thursday for cocktails at NYC’s Carlyle hotel, and the next morning all drove the 90 miles north to the beautiful Mashomack Fish & Game Preserve Club in Pine Plains, NY. The 36 players were then assigned to their teams, consisting of two guests and two US hosts. There were 18 guest players representing 12 different countries. The first four games were played that afternoon. On Saturday morning the teams assembled for a sporting clay competition – the Castello di Vicarello team of Neil Colley, Uwe Zimmermann, Edu Guerrand-Hermès and Eduardo emerged triumphant – after which four matches were played.

For dinner that night, Bruce and Teresa treated guests to an oyster feast and blue grass banjo trio at Stissing House, a 225-year-old inn once visited by George Washington during the revolutionary war. Sunday morning saw four games played out under cool and sunny skies. In the end, the Bracket A winners were the Hunter Boot Team (Don Langlois, Rodolfo Montealegre, Hannah Buchan, Tommy Ezcurra), while Quest Magazine (John Klopp, Nick Bienstock, Duke Buchan, Sylvio Coutinho Jr) took the winner’s crown for Bracket B.

After losing the qualifying round to enter the Hurlingham and Argentine Open, Tomás was determined to play the Cámara de Diputados Cup again which he won in 2009, but he replaced injured Marcos Heguy in Pilará where he played well, raising his handicap from 7 to 8.

When and where did you learn to play polo?

Like most polo players, my father and grandfather taught me my skills when I was growing up in Pilar (Buenos Aires Province).

How did you feel playing in the best tournaments in the world?

It was a dream come true. I was very worried because I had lost the chance with my team Pilara II, so when Sebastián Merlos invited me, I could not believe my ears.

Who is most difficult to stop: Cambiaso or Facundo Pieres?

They are both very different players. It is practically impossible to mark Adolfito across the field, because he plays everywhere. And Facundo is an ‘animal’ who does not forgive you, so you must always play very close to him.

What are your plans for the future?

Currently I’m just enjoying what I did in 2010.

There will be many changes taking place within the teams next year and I hope to enter a good project. What is a certainty is that I’ll be playing in Palm Beach, England and New York.

Third Annual Club Polo Cabo Baja Gold Cup 2010 On November 20 Club Polo Cabo held its season opening with the Baja Gold Cup. Held in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico and with Diamond International and Mercedes-Benz as the title sponsors, the event was clearly going to be both luxurious and prestigious.

Two teams of female professional players from around the world were pitted against two teams of male pro players with the same handicap, making the event a battle of the sexes.

Secretary of Tourism, Mr Lic. Jacobo Turquie Alcerreca, attended the games and did the first throw-in.

The cup took off on 18 November with a cocktail reception at the exclusive Fiesta Americana Grand Resort and on the Friday Mercedes-Benz used this opportunity to unveil a new model, the SEC 63, to the region. This event was followed by a candlelit gathering organised by Ernesto Luna at Nikki Beach, right on the Sea of Cortez. On the Saturday the Casa Dorada hotel held a charity dinner for the Children’s Foundation in Los Cabos and Diamond International and Clase Azul Tequila donated various items for the auction, which was launched by Steve Lewandowski. The event closed with a dinner at the Fiesta American resort followed by a poolside bonfire.

www.hurlinghampolo.com

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01/02/2011 14:39

Proud sponsor of Team Argentina at the O2 International Polo Competition

CAMINO REAL POLO COUNTRY CLUB

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hurlingham [ talk ]

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1 Chukkar Farm in action 2 Jack Cashin

Nina Shields

the risk-taker After careers as a racing driver, actor and publisher, Jack Cashin took a huge gamble in 1986, deciding to build a polo club and school. But with Chukkar Farm, says Susan Elizabeth Talbot, he hit the jackpot

Even players long gone from the farm find it impossible to stay away

Jack Cashin knows that once you experience the adrenaline rush of polo, you’ll be hooked for life. The driving force behind Chukkar Farm Polo Club & Event Facility has always been a risk-taker. At the age of 48, he decided that he wanted to play polo. Not much concerned with embracing the gracious subtleties of horsemanship, Jack simply wanted to play. His compulsion was of little surprise to those who knew him. After a long history of careers from racing driver, via unknown movie actor, to editor of his own magazine, Jack built one of the most successful polo-teaching facilities on the East Coast of the United States, with a polo field and a club, Scuppernong Polo Club.

Chukkar Farm, located 40 miles north of Atlanta on 173 acres in Alpharetta, Georgia, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It was one of the first facilities of its kind whose primary purpose is to teach polo to anyone with a desire to learn and the ability to stay on a horse. Introductions to the sport are simple… Want to learn to play polo? Fine, they’ll teach you. Never ridden a horse? No problem, they’ll teach you that too. While this approach appears small, the numbers of potential players targeted is decidedly not.

Cashin is a pioneer and has ‘cashed in’ on an otherwise untapped market: every Sunday between May and November, the farm is made available to organisations hosting fundraiser polo matches. Highprofile clients include Atlanta’s High

bona fide polo players. In 2009 the Scuppernong Club travelled to Sweden, and in 2010 for the first time ever, a team from Sweden visited the USA, for a weekend polo tournament at Chukkar Farm, initiated and run by Scuppernong member Dave Kaplan.

As far as gender is concerned, 60 per cent of the Club is female – a long-standing majority. In fact, all programmes from Pee Wee Polo to Polocrosse are led by polo instructor Jennifer Kepano. Additionally, there are no age limits to club membership.

Cashin himself, now 85, is one of the oldest players in the United States, with his teammate, Trippett Boineau, a close second at 84. And when it comes to polo, the sport spans three generations of Cashins. Three of Jack’s six children live on the farm – his son, Jason, is a 2-goal player and an equine dentist. Jack’s daughter, Cara, is a player as are two of her children, and his eldest daughter, Heath, manages the ponies.

Players who have left the farm to go on to higher learning in the sport of polo really never leave. Even players long gone find it impossible to stay away and many are in touch with Cashin by phone or in person, attending polo matches or parties, or just to sit around with Jack, who regales them with highlights of his polo career. What Cashin has proved is that polo, a sport sometimes considered available only to the upper class, is indeed for everyone, and that if you build a polo field, people – a lot of them – will come.

Museum, Georgia Tech university and the Polo for Parkinson’s charity. And generous spectators with deep pockets are abundant.

Specifically designed for teaching, Chukkar Farm’s polo field is two thirds the size of a regulation field. This not only lends well to the teaching aspects of the polo programmes, it lets the thousands of match spectators follow the games more intimately, with a better view of the action.

And Chukkar Farm uses its field as a stage for other functions too, year-round. It is a lure course for hounds, a venue for corporate teambuilding and events, and has been the setting for countless weddings and parties.

In 2010, the field became the new home and training ground for another club: JBS Shocker’s Nation, a soccer team comprised of girls aged 14 to 16. Even completely vacant, the field serves a purpose – as a backdrop for the musicians performing at summer concerts in the pavilion. So not only have fundraising and polo on Chukkar Farm brought in tens of thousands of dollars, of the thousands of spectators who attend polo matches and fundraisers each year, nearly every man, woman and child who visits the farm for any function is a potential polo player and honorary of the Club.

The Scuppernong Polo Club is, and always has been, culturally and genderdiverse. Individuals from India, Nepal, Mexico, Argentina, England, Canada, Persia and Peru have come to learn and have left as

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01/02/2011 10:32

hurlingham [ talk ]

life’s a beach

Sun, sea, sand and… saddles. With Dubai and Miami leading the way, beach polo’s growing popularity is bringing the sport to new shores. By Alex Webbe

A horse, a mallet and a fertile mind are all that are needed to find just one more way horse and rider can compete in the game of polo. With the proper caulked shoes, horses are quite at home on St. Moritz’s frozen lake where the sport of snow polo was first introduced in 1985. The inaugural event entertained several hundred curious spectators, and grew a tradition that continues to this day.

A Johnny-come-lately to the morphing of the age-old sport of polo is beach polo.

Dubai’s Rashid Al Habtoor and Sam Katiela have been credited with the creation of the game in 2004, followed by the Miami Beach Polo World Cup in the United States in 2005.

Additional tournaments and matches have arisen in Argentina, Australia, Belgium,

Chile, Colombia, England, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, The Netherlands, Uruguay and Wales.

With tournament competition ranging from entry-level in Germany (two players on a side) to Miami Beach’s three-man, 16-goal play, new fans of the game have been treated to performances by such international polo greats as Argentine 10-goaler Gonzalo Pieres, Mexico’s Carlos Gracida (9), USA 9-goaler Mike Azzaro and Australian 8-goaler Ruki Baillieu.

The secret to the success of beach polo may lie in the camaraderie of the game and the fact that the events are usually staged in enticing and exotic areas of the world.

The Habtoor brothers created the first beach polo franchise in Dubai, and fielded

With interest growing, the International Beach Polo Association has been established to increase the number of participants, assist in promotion and set rules

Kristy Furg/THE POLO LIFE

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1 (L-R) AMG’s Michael Liss, Nacho Figueras and Pelon Escapite lead the Miami Beach Polo World Cup’s opening parade 2 Site of Miami Beach Polo World Cup 3 AMG’s Lauren Gridley and Morgan Stanley’s Isabella Wolf in the finals of the South Beach Women’s Polo Cup 4 The 2010 Miami Beach Polo World Cup championship Hublot team (L-R) Chet Lott, Mark Goode, Guille Usandizaga and Matias Magrini

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several six goal teams to get the ball moving.

Attracting a number of professionals of international standing, the game was firmly established. The following year, 2005, Bruce Orosz, Reto Gaudenzi, Heinrich Nuessli and a couple of associates in Miami Beach staged the first American beach polo event, the Miami Beach Polo World Cup, and significantly raised the stakes.

Operating under the umbrella organisation of The Polo Life, and with the assistance of the professional production company, Act Productions, the excitement and glamour of the game was finally underscored and marketed successfully to a general sportsminded audience.

The Polo Life attracted top-flight sponsors such as Nespresso, AMG Mercedes

and Hublot, who stepped forward as major players in the beach polo game. The level of play continued to increase and top-rated players flocked to the silver sands of Miami Beach to compete. In 2009 and 2010 the tournament handicap was capped at an impressive 16-goals, and following the 2010 AMG Miami Beach Polo World Cup, Matias Magrini (Argentina) became the first player in the history of beach polo play to be elevated to 10-goals. Moving into its seventh year of competition, the Miami Beach Polo World Cup remains longest consecutively running and the highest-rated beach polo tournament in the world.

In 2009 The Polo Life created the South Beach Women’s Polo Cup, a tournament that attracted eight teams to the sands of

South Beach, and the excitement and participation continued to grow.

On the heels of the success of events in both Dubai and Miami Beach, England’s Johnny Wheeler organised the British Beach Polo Championships at Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, in 2008. Gathering six teams of players and creating one of the most attractive venues on the international polo circuit, Wheeler firmly established the English contribution to the game on the sand as one of the top events in the world, and continued to expand its social base with camel polo matches, volleyball contests and beach rugby.

Six teams featuring top international riders and horses competed for the title over the course of the two-day tournament, which was the first of its kind in Europe.

Competing in the 12-goal range like so many other beach polo events, Wheeler had little trouble attracting participants.

A temporary arena was erected, surrounded by seating and corporate hospitality facilities.

A viewing area was also provided on one side of the arena, so that casual beach users could be drawn in to watch the action for free, as was the case in Miami Beach.

With interest continuing to grow, the International Beach Polo Association was created in an effort to increase the number of participating countries, to assist in event promotion and to make rules and handicaps for this unique brand of polo more uniform.

Additional venues popped up in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, England, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Uruguay and Wales, with the latest addition taking place on the Balearic island of Ibiza. There in the Mediterranean, Gabriel Iglesias and his 4Polo Management group presented the first beach polo tournament in Spain.

The tide may be turning for the beach polo enthusiasts as additional tournaments continue to sprout up around the globe, introducing this age-old game to a brand new band of spectators.

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01/02/2011 14:39

hurlingham [ talk ]

lonesome gaucho For the past two years I have gone to Buenos Aires to play polo from mid-September to early December and I’ve had one objective in mind: improvement of my skills on the field.

For players wishing to strengthen their game, I will contend, going to Argentina for the peak season of September, October and November is the most efficient way to do so.

Historically, many young players have gained entry into the forum of Argentine polo under the auspices of a high-goaler who, for one reason or another, invites the young player into his or her organisation.

This allows the young player to cultivate a relationship with a seasoned professional and dramatically improve his skill by playing within a high-goal organisation.

And for the high-goaler in question, entertaining new young talent – giving them a string of horses and providing them with practices – brings more of their horses, the ones not quite ready for tournament play, into training without having to pay an additional pilot to work and play them.

That’s the trade-off and this excellent scenario has laid the foundation for some of polo’s long-standing relationships. Indeed success in polo is often defined by the diversity of one’s alliances!

However, there are two problems in this model for Argentine integration: firstly, it can be a costly enterprise; secondly, the young player is essentially working for free, or even paying to work, without owning any

of the horses that are being prepped for sale.

During the winter of 2004/05 I worked for Federico Cendoya, my godfather, on his farm El Venado, 100 miles to the south of Buenos Aires, spending each day with young horses, and learning the celebrated gaucho way of life. So when time came to plan a second trip to Argentina in September 2009, I was already somewhat familiar with the scene.

I had no desire to link myself into some high-goal organisation, for I felt on my own I would more likely garner something tangible out of the experience. A campaign thus ensued – to invent a niche for myself to fill during my upcoming sojourn there.

After much deliberation, a friend named Federico Wulff offered me a string of horses to play and school, as my own, for the duration of my trip. I would cover the expenses for grain, stalls, grooms, shoes, diesel, practices, etc; all of which in Argentina are still relatively affordable in comparison to the American prices I am accustomed to. During my three-and-a-half month stay in 2009, the price tag for taking care of my horses, playing several practices each week and an Argentine Polo Association 12-goal tournament, helping with upkeep around the barn, and keeping the truck running, was US$6,000.

Federico saw the benefits of taking me on – essentially relieving himself of the responsibility of one string of ponies. For me, this arrangement meant saving myself

from the expense of joining and stabling fees at an expensive club.

The 25-hectare Wulff family farm is in Escobar, 15 miles north of Pilar on route 25.

As is often the case in Argentina, they have a much larger piece of land 200 miles to the southwest where they conduct their operations of breeding, breaking and such.

In Escobar, they keep 20 to 30 playing ponies, a couple of recently broken young horses, and the stallions. It is to this farm, Los Treboles, that I go each day to ride on the sand track, stick-and-ball, etc.

In a 30-mile radius from the farm there are literally hundreds of polo fields; with all of those in Pilar, Open Door et al. For practices and games my grooms bring the horses to the field where I meet them, having come by car from Buenos Aires.

Finding practices of 15- to upwards of 20-goals for under US$100 in Argentina simply takes a few phone calls, as options are seemingly endless with the sheer volume of polo going on.

As I play in various places, I meet a wide range of people, which is as fun as it is advantageous, for in polo any friend can become the next person to recommend you for a playing job, a horse, or to anything else upon which typically rests one’s career.

The high cost of shipping horses in Argentina can be a financial setback for those who regularly travel to practices. This expense would quickly push my economics

Miranda W. Ellis

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Any young player who wants to reach high-goal standards needs to spend time in Argentina, says Whitney Ellis. But instead of interning for a top team, he recommends going solo

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to the brink, and so I am grateful to have had access to a truck and trailer belonging to the Wulffs. Maybe this is the cornerstone of my Argentine engagement, but I do believe for someone else contriving to play in Argentina along this model, the problem of transport will have a solution.

Everybody knows that the world of high-goal polo is, now maybe more than ever, utterly dominated by Argentine professionals. If only for this reason, any player with aspirations to achieve more than a low-goal handicap must be competitive in the Argentinian game.

Assuming places like Great Britain and the USA want to increase production of competitive high-goal players, more and more of these countries’ potential stars must experience Argentine polo. Only in Argentina does the game exist in its purest form, often played without patrons at all,

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and always at full speed, openly racing, crashing, grinding it out for the glory of a win. Certainly, with the expenses of horses, a car, an apartment, and whatever else that pops up (as things all too often do there), it is an endeavour that must be earnestly considered and well thought out financially. However, to play polo in Argentina on a budget is not impossible, and, I would argue, a season there is well worth anybody’s investment.

1 Los Treboles farm 2 Farm horses 3 Whitney at his home club in Boston 4 Groom Tomas Dupuy

As I play in various places, I meet a wide range of people which is as fun as it is advantageous

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01/02/2011 15:10

hurlingham [ obituary ]

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Charles Stisted

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Outside of the staff of the Guards Polo Club, I probably worked with Charlie as closely as anyone. He was quite a bit younger than me and I had not known him in the army but he always finished his telephone call with ‘anything else I can do for you, sir?’ It was very much his style; he was keen to portray himself as someone who was there to help although not many of us were fooled as he would of course do exactly as he wanted.

Charlie joined Guards Polo Club in 1989 on leaving the Scots Guards and genuinely worked his way from bottom to top. It was not an easy journey for him but he had a gritty determination and he was fully committed to making a career in polo.

Those who have played are invariably passionate about the game. Charlie had never played but would constantly repeat that he had a passion for the game. His passion was to provide polo as entertainment, which he saw as crucial to growing the game and increasing the income to polo. Charlie had identified the value of the game to corporate sponsors, and to him everything had a value and represented an opportunity for a return of some sort. His aim was to establish himself and Guards Polo Club at the forefront of polo not just in England but worldwide.

He travelled extensively, making sure that he was present at any international event that might have a commercial angle. He was always pushing the envelope on the sponsorship side and there is no doubt that his success at Guards and overseas did the sport a huge amount of good.

In the last 10 years, Charlie was highly successful in what he set out to do and deserves plaudits for his achievements at Guards and overseas. In 2001 there was no polo at Guards due to the foot and mouth and the opportunity was taken to level and reseed the Number One and Two grounds as they were then known. When the Coronation Cup returned to Guards in 2002, Charlie was determined to increase the income from Cartier International Day. Over the next eight years he significantly increased the income from ticket sales and brought in

Not everyone agreed with Charlie’s innovations, but it is largely due to him that the money raised for the Polo Charity, which stood at £40,000 in 2000, now stands at £1.2 million sponsorship for the various teams and from other organisations such as Chinawhite.

Not everyone agreed with his innovations at the Cartier, which were designed to bring more people to the day, but it brought in more revenue and it is largely due to him that the money raised for the Polo Charity, which stood at £40,000 in 2000 when I took over, now stands at £1.2 million, almost

entirely as a result of donations made from the surplus achieved on that day.

The grounds having been reopened as The Queen’s and Duke’s grounds, he set about rebuilding the Royal Box which was completed in 2004. He then attacked the task to rebuild the club house and offices.

This was a £2 million project, which had to meet with the approval of the members and the Crown Estates and which was not helped by the financial down turn. After running the club from a marquee and a series of portacabins in 2008, the new club house was opened by HM The Queen and Prince Philip in 2009.

At the same time, Charlie was busy making plans for new grounds and an arena at Flemish Farm: the new grounds are due to be opened in 2012. Such a series of projects would be enough for most people but Charlie was busy expanding Guards overseas as well, with events in St Moritz, Dubai, Marrakesh, Argentina and undoubtedly elsewhere. Just as the

© CENTAUR PHOTOGRAPHIC

David Woodd remembers with fondness the sadly missed chief executive of Guards Polo Club, who did so much to promote the sport at home and abroad

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Victorians wanted the world map to be as pink as possible, Charlie wanted the polo world map to be dark blue and red, the club colours. I am sure that there are other achievements I have not mentioned but I think all those involved in the game will agree that Charlie’s achievements were considerable and that he played a major part in growing the game both here and overseas.

I suspect that Charlie got bored very easily and hence he was always looking for something else to do. Whether his ideas were supported or not he would tend to plough on with them regardless but he was very serious about his job and was desperately hurlingham half page:Layout 1

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keen that everything he did was seen as a success. He was very protective of everything that happened at Guards Polo Club and anything that might detract from his events was unlikely to have his support.

Physically, Charlie was not a big man but he had established himself as a big person in polo and we all benefited hugely from his achievements.

I guess that we would speak to each other at least three times a week during the season, more at peak periods, and pretty much the same during the winter, if only to discuss shooting. I do not recall either of us ever being rude to the other and he 15:52

1 Charles at Guards Polo Club 2 With HM the Queen at 2009 Queen’s Cup Final 3 Sitting with Patrick Guerrand-Hermès at the Queens Cup Final 2009

was always willing to help if he could. I still find it hard to believe that Charlie will not be around for Cartier International Day 2011 and I will undoubtedly miss those calls that usually intimated to me that we at the HPA were always being far too nice to everybody and were undervaluing our product.

As far as Charlie himself is concerned, I don’t think that we ever undervalued him while he was alive. I think that he would be very proud of the many public declarations of his value and contribution to polo here and overseas and I hope that his widow, Melissa, and children can draw some comfort from that now and in the future.

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03/02/2011 14:58

Untitled-2 1

6/10/10 14:56:35

hurlingham [ talk ]

the polo life

Vanessa Taylor

Charlie Law discusses the challenges facing young British polo players, and the changes needed to improve the situation In 2007 I decided that rather than pursuing a career as a professional polo player I would focus on the short term by exposing myself to the very best in polo, whatever it took. I suppose in the back of my mind I knew that I didn't have the raw talent or financial backing to go all the way. I have no doubt that I have ended up earning less money, playing fewer tournaments and winning less silverware, but I have played on the best ponies, the best grounds and with the best players imaginable. Some of my most exciting recollections are from substituting for numerous high-goal teams in the UK; memorably beating Cambiaso with Azzura in the final of the 2004 Queens Cup. Polo is an expensive sport and without my family's support I would have never been able to get started. Since uni I have had to lean on every resource in polo to fund myself, giving me a better understanding of the sport as a whole and thus more opportunities for the future. I have bought and sold ponies, managed players new to the game, and worked to gain sponsorship. In 2010 I was fortunate enough to be sponsored

by Star River Holdings, a leading Chinese property development company based in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

This year I also launched pololife.com, a bespoke service offering individuals, families and businesses a chance to experience what they want from polo. The company provides corporate exposure, polo taster days, advice and management surrounding the sport, as well as a bespoke service for global events and destinations worldwide.

Since I first started playing, I have noticed a definite shift in the attitude of many young English professionals who are more actively than ever seeking corporate sponsorship for greater opportunities and longer term support. Max Charlton and George Meyrick were sponsored by The Daily Telegraph in the 2010 Queens Cup, gaining valuable exposure and experience.

Unfortunately financial security is standing in the way of talented young players and preventing them from embracing the sport wholeheartedly. The average English pony club player has been privately educated and often encouraged to pursue traditional, secure career paths. Edmund

Parsons played for Ellerston this year; he’s a young guy with great potential but he has made the decision not to pursue polo professionally. With a handicap of 2 goals at 23, he has too much to lose if the alternative is a secure and well-paid job.

In Argentina there seems to be less pressure on young players from similar backgrounds, and professional polo is more widely accepted. Also with handicaps of 6 and 7 common in their early twenties, choices are far easier. The difference is largely down to accessibility and the abundance of high-quality polo, but importantly young players are given the freedom to develop their technical skills and confidence. Unless British players can develop quicker and polo can appeal as a more lucrative and secure career, these tendencies will not change.

The HPA has made a huge effort to address the problem of development by focusing more on scholarships and fast track schemes and it will be interesting to see the results over the next five years. However, for polo to become a more mainstream and popular spectator sport, the attitude of the general public, television and sponsorship all need to be addressed.

I believe that what can drive polo to the forefront is the success of events such as the

Gaucho Arena Polo at the O2, scheduled for February 2011. This international event has all the right ingredients to match up to the ATP tennis tournament, also held at this impressive venue. Captive Minds, the sport PR company assigned the job of engaging the public, the sponsors and television have the capacity to make the occasion a success.

But while they are simply going out to deliver their brief, I think that the HPA has a responsibility to the wider polo community to ensure that the occasion is a roaring success with sell-out crowds. Anything less and the opportunity will have been wasted and it will take a long time for future benefactors to invest in such an event. Until significant progress is achieved the likelihood is that talented young English players will continue to pursue alternative careers. pololife.com

Financial security is standing in the way of talented young players, preventing them from embracing polo fully

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26/01/2011 14:42

hurlingham [ profile ]

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Sir Charles ‘Cow’ Williams From humble beginnings riding mules on a farm in Barbados, Sir Charles ‘Cow’ Williams has grown into a leading businessman, polo legend and ambassador for his island. Here he reminisces about his journey illustration PHIL DISLEY

The British Army started the polo club in Barbados in 1885. It was one of the first in what were then the British Colonies, and lasted until just after the First World War. In 1939 my Dad, who was a supervisor on a sugar farm, and a few other like-minded farmers re-started the club, playing on the old army ground known as the Garrison. Horses were the main form of transport on the farms – we didn’t have the luxuries of SUVs or Land Rovers – and as a youngster I used to ride my father’s horse to polo every Saturday.

In fact I was riding horses as soon as I could walk. Mules were used to haul sugar cane to the factory and I would often ride them in from the field. In those days we

never had underpants or shoes, so we rode barefoot and just wearing trousers. At the end of every vacation my backside would have two massive blisters from where the bareback riding had rubbed my skin raw.

I would love to have played polo but in the early days I couldn’t afford it. After I’d been working for nine years, with one kid and another on the way, I bought my first polo pony for BDS$240 – about £50. After the first game, I realised it was lame, but I couldn’t tell which leg. I asked a friend to look at it and identify the problem. He said, ‘Cow, I can’t tell you that because it is lame on all four!’

I started polo properly in 1962. In 1964 we were invited to play Jamaica and seven of us put our names down, including my father and myself. I only had two horses at the time but somebody gave me an English thoroughbred colt – the son of the great Santa Claus – which had just retired from a racing career. I had him castrated, so that gave me three ponies. I then asked my father to lend me his horses when he wasn’t playing. But Daddy was a tough player and said, ‘Son I am sorry for you, but the two of us are vying for the same pick! Try your best www.hurlinghampolo.com

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I was riding horses as soon as I could walk.

Mules were used to haul sugar cane to the factory and I would often ride them in from the field with your own string.’ And I got the pick, although my father came with us anyway.

On that first visit to Jamaica, we got a proper beating but I learned a lot. In those days it was more knock-a-ball in Barbados than really structured polo – we weren’t handicapped. We had highly skilled horsemen but the game was relatively new to us. It was not until 1969 – the year I was appointed club captain – that I was instructed by the committee of the Barbados Polo Club to ask the Jamaican Polo Association to handicap our team. I was handicapped at 3-goal, then the highest in the island. That same year we were invited back to Jamaica on tour and put up a strong fight. In turn we invited the Jamaican team to Barbados. Again they beat us, but we improved yet further. Then, when they came back in 1971, it was at last our turn to be victorious.

We returned in 1974, and by then the majority of the people we knew were packing to leave Jamaica because Michael Manley had ruined the country. We were up against the same team we’d beaten in Barbados and they won by one goal with some questionable umpiring. Willie DeLisser turned to me at one point and said, ‘You know Cow, if you gave the boys good horses when they came to Barbados, they would beat you there too!’

Well that was like a cactus up my you-knowwhat, and I decided then and there to prove him wrong. I worked like hell to make a couple of dollars. We improved our polo and our pony power. When he died, Daddy left me $8,500 and I spent every cent on polo horses.

In 1972 Harold Bamberg brought a team to Barbados including Mark Vestey, Victor Law and Andrew Parker Bowles. They played

against us and invited us back. Following that I went to England every single year until 1991, mainly for just a month or six weeks. I always stayed at Park House in Cowdray. Ione O’Brien was like a second mother to me. I played in many games and in 1975 I played with the San Flamingo team. We won the subsidiary with Warwickshire but unfortunately, two days before I was due to play again, I was T-Boned by Sam Vestey and had concussion. I continued to play after that though. I played the Harrison several times with David Gemmel and the two Tomlinsons. We reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals in a lot of tournaments but never won anything – and I wanted to win so badly.

In 1981 I was ready to prove DeLisser wrong. I chartered a plane and took 12 horses to Jamaica with my son Stephen and two other guys. The worse case scenario occurred and they put our horses in quarantine in a mosquito-infested area. The thoroughbreds reacted horribly to the mosquito stings – until I found out you had to put citronella on them. Anyhow, the first game we managed to beat the Jamaican team by one goal in Caymanas Park; then in the second game we beat them by two goals. The third game, however, was the one where we were supposed to be put in our place by Jamaica, and a tremendous crowd turned up. We beat them 9-2.

In 1990 I took 16 horses to England from Barbados to play with John Kidd, Juracy, Santos, and Johnny Wade. We entered a lot of 10-goal and 15-goal tournaments and were going great guns but unfortunately I fell and broke my leg. I had to get 16 horses back home – by chance I managed to squeeze them into a plane that was carrying 150 goats to Trinidad! But that left me determined to win a trophy in England: I wanted desperately to win The Harrison. I still do.

The following year I returned. I bought six horses and played with Johnny Kidd, his son Jack, and Nicky Evans. We won what was then a 15-goal team farewell against Terry Hanton and Julian Hipwood. Julian was then 9-goals, so that gave me a great sense of satisfaction – but that was the point when I decided to quit competitive polo in the UK.

I returned to the country in 1996 and saw English players watching Argentinians, Arabs and a Frenchman playing in the Gold Cup. I decided to sponsor some English polo – what better way to promote the Apes Hill resort we were developing than to thousands of visitors at Cowdray? My aim was to build an all-English team, with Luke Tomlinson as captain. We had moderate success, before adding the young Argentinian Juan Gris.

Since then, my ambition to win on English turf has been satisfied many times over. And it was a very proud moment to accept the Queen’s Cup from Her Majesty in 2009.

As for playing, that is now mainly a family affair. I suppose the perfect polo game for me was of course playing with my two sons and grandson against the rest of the club. There was a 10-year period when my eldest son, Stephen and myself were always picked to represent Barbados against teams from Cheshire, Canada, the US, the Villages, Cowdray, San Flamingo etc. I am proud of my Bajan heritage. One of my ambitions now is to breed and school ponies in Barbados and bring them to England. I am confident that we have some ponies here that are as good as the best playing in England.

I also love playing with my stepson, George Gemmell, who plays regularly in the UK. I know I am as old as hell at 77, but I keep fit. I have enjoyed polo in Argentina, England, America, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Jamaica – I hope to continue until the crutches come along, thanks. What I like about polo is the camaraderie - the polo fraternity is the greatest fraternity in the world. Indeed, travelling across the globe, a polo player will always always automatically fit in with other players, regardless of whether he’s visited that place before or not.

I’m proud of my Bajan heritage. One of my ambitions is to breed and school ponies in Barbados and bring them to England

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Coworth Park WWW.HORIZONIMAGING.NET

An illustrious heritage and a recent make-over has created a luxurious haven for polo lovers, reports Nicholas Foulkes

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Coworth Park, 2011

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ECO credentials Coworth Park is one of the UK’s most environmentally friendly hotels. Its goal is to reduce total carbon emissions by 50% through innovative approaches to heating, cooling and lighting.

The hotel grows its own carbon-neutral fuel supply in the form of willow. This is then used for the main boiler in the ‘Energy Centre’. The willow is grown on 12 acres of the estate and will be harvested every three years. In the intervening two years wood chips will be bought from local suppliers.

2 1 The eco spa with ‘living’ herb roof 2 The restaurant at the spa 3 The Dower House 4 + 5 Drawing room and

The eco-luxury underground spa is built predominantly out of timber structures and carbon-negative lime hemp. It has a ‘living roof’, growing plants and herbs such as St. John’s wort, thyme, camomile and lavender.

bedroom designs

The hotel has many other innovative features: the glazing is solar and thermally controlled, and rainwater is used to irrigate the polo fields and willow. Furthermore, Coworth recycles all water using a recycling treatment plant. Underground pipes are used to provide cold water for the air conditioning system and the hotel also serves organic vegetables, many of which will be grown on-site in the kitchen garden.

THE DORCHESTER COLLECTION

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Say what you like there are still some aspects of traditional Britain that are worth preserving and two of the most important ones take place about 45 minutes outside London.

Anyone who has attended either of those twin poles of the Summer Season: the Cartier Polo or the Royal Meeting at Ascot will know what I am talking about. These are events at which the three things at which the British are best; horses, history and royalty; combine.

And now the area has a resort that also combines the three magical ingredients.

Equally convenient for either Ascot or Guards Polo Club, Coworth Park was a favoured stopoff for Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales. A handsome Georgian building, it is the apotheosis of the English country house dream, a sort of pint-sized stately home within an hour of Park Lane. And yet set in hundreds of acres of gently undulating Home Counties countryside, the only other visible neighbouring property being the house in which John Lennon wrote ‘Imagine’.

Now part of the Dorchester Collection, an enviable portfolio of that includes the Plaza Athénée in Paris, the Bel Air in Los Angeles and of course the group eponym in Mayfair, prior to its current incarnation as hotel it was the polo HQ of Prince Jefri of Brunei – a sort of British riposte to Jerudong Park in Brunei – and he in turn acquired it from the poloplaying retailer de luxe Galen Weston. And this equestrian bloodline, so to speak, is if

anything, stronger today: the polo grounds and the stables where visiting polo teams quarter themselves for the polo season remain and have been improved under the experienced eye of Laura Richardson, an accomplished horsewoman who has competed and won dressage competitions at the very highest level and whose equestrian clinics for those who wish to improve their equitation have already woven themselves into the modern story of life at Coworth… and what else is the present if not a piece of history waiting to happen?

Coworth’s roots run deep and yet unlike the deep roots of a tree, the house’s past lies close to the surface. The area around it is more or less what Britain has instead of Greenwich, Connecticut: the combination of a sylvan retreat in striking distance of one of the world’s most vibrant and enjoyable cities.

Rich people from all over the world come to live here, to play golf at Wentworth, polo at Guards, to swim in their heated pools and to be driven in their hermetic Bentleys. But unlike many other such enclaves of affluence around the world, there are still traces of the area’s medieval beginnings.

A clue to Coworth’s origins are to be found in its name, derived from the AngloSaxon ‘warth’, meaning farm, by the time of Henry III in the 13th century, the name was Cowurthe. About 100 years later the name had settled to Coworth and for centuries

thereafter the estate was the property of a family known variously as Derenforde, Derenford or Danford.

And while Coworth has been brought up to the sort of standards that the international traveller expects with everything from spabathrooms with large sculptural copper bathtubs, to a thoroughly 21st-century restaurant that does clever Blumenthalish things with liquid nitrogen; look a little more closely and it is possible to glimpse an earlier age when bathing was an alien and suspicious concept, and fine dining meant eating with your fingers and chucking the spent bones on the straw-covered floor.

Over the years boundaries have moved back and forth and at one time Fort Belvedere found itself on the Coworth Estate, a place which caught the eye of the Prince of Wales, later the Duke of Windsor, who made it his bachelor home and of course it was where on

It is the apotheosis of the English country house dream, a sort of pint-sized stately home within an hour of Park Lane

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hurlingham [ feature ] 1 Galen Weston with son, Galen Jr and wife Hilary 2 The Jaeger-LeCoultre team at a Coworth charity match for the James Wentworth-Stanley Memorial Fund, September 2010 3 Black Bears hold the Empire Shield in 2010 4 The two princes and team at Coworth, 2009

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There is an intimate charm, a unique patina about this little, understated jewel that only the passage of centuries can impart December 10, 1936, after less than a year on the throne, he signed the Instrument of Abdication to shock of the nation and the chagrin of the woman who became his wife.

When he informed her of his decision to abdicate she is reported to have said, ‘David!

Can’t you at least remain Emperor of India, even if you are no longer King of England?’

But, but by the time the dramatic events of Empire-wide significance were being played taking place at the nearby Fort Belvedere, the 17th Earl of Derby was living at Coworth Park. The house at Coworth dates

from 1776, a couple of years before the 12th Earl of Derby lent his name to the world’s most famous horse race. At the time it was a toss-up, literally, as to whether the race would be called the Derby or the Bunbury, after Sir Charles Bunbury. Sir Charles was one of Britain’s first ‘dictators of the turf’ and senior steward of the Jockey Club. Racing folklore relates that the name of the famous Epsom race was decided with the flip of a coin, with the Earl giving his name to the eponymous race and Bunbury’s horse Diomed winning the first Derby Stakes.

Somehow the Bunbury Stakes simply does not have the same ring to it.

In 1899, his descendant the 17th Earl bought Coworth and lived there for almost half a century until his death in 1948. It is still possible to inspect a tunnel that runs from the basement of the house to some suitably distant part of the gardens and which was used by the Earl’s domestic staff so that the he did not have to afflict his aristocratic eyes with the sight of his employees coming and going. Of course today the staff zip about on

golf buggies ferrying guests from the cottages to the spa, to the stables and so forth… it is amusing to think what Lord Derby would have made of these innovations.

Coworth Park is one of those palimpsests on which successive centuries have written their stories and on which it is still possible to discern the lineaments of generations long gone. Take, for instance, the half-timbered Dower House; an historic building which, with its time-warped windows, its crooked walls and uneven floors connect the visitor to an age of life most usually experienced today in museums and properties belonging to the National Trust. There is an intimate charm, a unique patina about this little, understated jewel that only the passage of centuries is capable of imparting, a process which continues to this day as a new generation of occupants, transient, staying for a day, a weekend, a month at most, make their mark, and add, however lightly, their contribution to the history of this beautiful and, it has to be said, particularly conveniently located part of the English countryside. www.hurlinghampolo.com

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Equestrian

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Coworth Park’s ever-expanding equestrian centre offers riding facilities for guests and local residents at all ability levels. With the hotel’s private estate of 240 acres and the 14,000acre Windsor Great Park on the doorstep, horse enthusiasts have free rein of the Berkshire countryside.

For lessons on-site, Coworth offers guests a fully fenced stick and ball field, with international dressage arena and intermediate-level show jumping course. Guests can bring their own horses to the estate, or equally benefit from a selection of well-trained schoolmaster horses and ponies, including three ex-competition ponies, a Connemara and a Grand Prix dressage horse. Hats, boots, saddles and body protectors are readily available to save on suitcase space.

Mike Roberts, TONY RAMIREZ/ www.IMAGESOFPOLO.COM, THE DORCHESTER COLLECTION

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There are also two BHS instructors on hand and equestrian manager, Laura Richardson, is an Olympic-standard Grand Prix dressage rider who has successfully competed on 11 Great Britain Teams. polo The estate has forged strong links with the world of polo, and is the only hotel in the UK to boast its own two polo fields. Avid players can benefit from a full club membership. Current facilities include the stabling of 30 horses on site together with self-contained accommodation for eight grooms. For the 2011 season, costs for the above include tack room and feed store, sufficient turn-out, use of the exercise track and stick and ball grounds.

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Coworth Park will continue to run an impressive programme of tournaments that will be similar to that of 2010. The tournament dates, entry forms and any additional information will be on the Coworth Park website by 1 March 2011. coworthpark.com

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BEN MASTERS

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10,000 feet up Mike Pinckney crossing Lincoln Creek with Parker behind.

Collegiate Peak wilderness, mid-June

Montana Lamar Valley, WY

Wyoming Collegiate Peaks, CO

Colorado

New Mexico

into the wild How does a two-time Intercollegiates-winning 2-goal polo player relax after studying for a degree? Well, if he’s former Texas A&M student, Parker Flannery, he rides 2,000 miles along the Rockies, braving bears, deep snows and charging bison

BEN MASTERS

In September of 2008 I was having dinner with my friend Ben Masters in College Station, Texas. At the time we were both attending Texas A&M University and had met through the polo club. We didn’t know each other well at all, but shared a love of horses and the outdoors. As we waited for our fajitas and tried to put off studying as long as possible, Ben jokingly said that we should just drop off the grid and ride across the country. I told him I was in, and the trip of a lifetime was born.

Over the next 18 months Ben slaved over maps, and eventually found what he thought would be a passable route along the unforgiving Rocky Mountains. During this time I was looking for the perfect horses to complete one of the most gruelling equine endeavours in recent history: 2,000 miles of continuous travel without shelter, rest or veterinary care. I settled on two mustangs, one Apache pony, and three quarter-horses.

I chose these six because none of them had ever required a vet, lived inside a barn, been fed during the winter or even worn a set of shoes.

In May of 2010 our idea of riding from New Mexico to the Canadian border had gone from a throwaway comment to a three-person, six-

horse expedition. The third person to join us was Mike Pinckney, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado and long-time hunting buddy of Ben’s. On 16 May, Ben and Mike arrived at the ranch in Watrous, New Mexico.

After a few days of working out the kinks we decided that the horses and we were as prepared as we could be and set the departure date for 22 May from Canjilon, northern New Mexico.

The first few weeks saw a combination of near-disasters and small triumphs as we made our way into Colorado. Then, crossing the Collegiate Peaks wilderness area in the centre of the state, we had a day that nearly ended the trip in its infancy. Collegiate Peaks has one of the highest elevations of wilderness area in the continental US. We chose an unnamed pass with an elevation of over 12,500ft (3,800m). Riding up the south face everything was going perfectly, the horses were full of energy and the weather couldn’t have been nicer. We were about 50ft from the summit when the mountain became too steep to ride any further.

We decided to dismount and let the horses top the peak on their own – and, with a little encouragement, the horses scrambled up and over the narrow summit. It was a small

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victory which was quickly put behind us when we reached the summit ourselves. We saw that the horses had become stuck in over five feet of snow. Ben, Mike and I slid down the few yards to reach them and knew instantly the only way to get the horses out would be to dig a path for them – by hand.

We took turns at three jobs: one would scout possible routes, one would be digging with bare hands, while the last held the horses. Over the course of four hours we managed to get the horses to buck their way down the mountain to 10,000ft, where we decided that we had got them low enough to make it through the night. Even then we still had to spend several hours walking them in circles to warm them up. And, in fact, to warm ourselves up. Throughout the hours we’d been worrying about the horses’ health, we had not given any thought to the fact that we were soaking wet and iced over from falling through the ice into several streams at over 12,000ft and none of us was capable of using our hands well enough to build a fire.

The second near-disaster we encountered occurred while crossing through Yellowstone National Park. We arrived at the Lamar Valley in Wyoming during mid-August. Upon our arrival we were informed that the valley was closed to camping at the time. This was a major problem since it meant a detour of

several hundred miles, possibly preventing us from finishing the journey before the winter snows would make it impossible. After reviewing the maps, we voted to cross through the valley in one day. This would require us to be on the move for 24 hours straight. We rested the horses all day before entering the valley so that they would have

To our horror, the angry bison were fording the river in the dark and heading right for us plenty of energy for the marathon we were about to endure.

At 8pm we entered the Lamar Valley and immediately saw what made this place so special: the vast herds of wild bison. None of us had any knowledge of bison other than watching Robert Duvall as Gus chase them in the TV movie Lonesome Dove. Naturally, we did the exact same thing and, naturally, we quickly regretted that decision. The small herd of 20 or so that we had chosen to ‘drive’ retreated – only to get reinforcements from

the main herd of over well over 1,000 angry bulls and mothers in the middle of breeding season. Before we could even turn around about 200 animals separated from the main herd and followed a group of about 60 mature bulls weighing an average of 2,000lbs that were dead set on running us down.

If we knew nothing about bison before that, we quickly learned that bulls can outrun a horse for over 50 yards. Considering we were within feet of the charging bulls by the time we’d got our horses wheeled around, it was a harsh bit of information to learn first-hand.

The following minutes were a mix of bucking horses, horns and expletives that would make a sailor blush, but we managed to cross the Yellowstone River to safe haven. It was dark by the time we crossed the river and put about a quarter of a mile between us and the now very vocal and enraged herd of bison on the ridge above.

Relieved, we un-tacked and laid out our bedrolls to rest. That’s when we heard the unimaginable… splashing. To our horror, the bison were fording the river in the dark and heading right for us. Tacking a horse is not usually challenging, especially when you have done it all your life, but tacking a horse that has just been chased by a herd of bison, in the dark, while listening to said bison coming right at them, is a whole different ball game.

BEN MASTERS

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BEN MASTERS

After what seemed like an eternity, the horses were saddled and we were back on the move. This time we decided to ride directly down the main road, hoping that would keep us away from the bison for the rest of the night. We were wrong. Around 1am a park ranger pulled up beside us and informed us just how bad a jackpot we had gotten ourselves into. It turns out that during the rut, bull bison go from being docile and lethargic creatures to wanting to fight anything and everything smaller than themselves. The ranger also informed us that the reason the valley was closed to camping was that at night a herd from the north moves down the valley to fight bulls in the southern herd. This meant that we were smack in the middle of 3,000 bison looking for a fight and our buffer between herds was shrinking every second. The ranger’s advice to us was to turn the horses loose, get in his car and get out of there, then look for the horses in the morning.

I had no intention of letting the horses fend for themselves or of risking losing them, so I asked what else we could do. He told us to head up Slough Creek, a draw on the western side of the valley that would take us up and out. He said he had just come from there and it was bison-free. However, it did contain three adult grizzly bears. That’s right;

a ranger recommended taking our chances with a pack of grizzly bears. If this was our best option, it really put our situation in perspective.

With guns at the ready, we headed up Slough Creek. Less than 100 yards in, the horses became spooked. We soon heard what we dreaded most… charging bison… closing fast. The ranger had told us not to use flashlights because it would attract the animals’ attention, so we desperately tried to get our lights out before peering into the dark to see where they were coming from. We managed to spot about two dozen sets of eyes coming at us from nearly 500 yards away – the bulls were not just defending their herds now, they were actually hunting us.

We unsaddled our pack horses and turned them loose, hoping that they would follow our saddle horses without preventing us from manoeuvring in case we were attacked again.

Fortunately they did exactly as we hoped.

After escaping the bachelor bulls by running back towards the south, we found a rock ledge that formed a small canyon. It would be home for the night. The pack horses followed us up the ledge and started to graze.

We couldn’t be sure we were out of danger, however. Mike climbed a tree about 200 yards from where Ben and I held the saddle horses at the ready. He took a

Opposite Parker and Mike Pinckney in the Gunnison National Forest, mid-June This page Parker on top of Mesa Mountain (13,000 feet) in the La Garita Wilderness area of the Rio Grande National Forest, early June

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Video stills 1 Mike spies elk 2 Feasting on homemade bread 3 Parker with his mustang, Cassie 4 The Wyoming border Opposite Parker, Mike and Ben, taken by Jackie Fleming

No matter how we met, the people we were fortunate enough to connect with were certainly one of the best aspects of the voyage

flashlight and a pistol with the intention of turning on the light and firing at the bison to warn us of their arrival, allowing Ben and me to mount up and drive the horses out of harm’s way. After about 20 minutes the loose horses all stopped grazing and walked back to Ben and me, ears set on the road below us.

Soon we heard what they did: the grunting and crushing blows of fighting bison.

For hours the horses did not paw, fight or even move as we listened for the slightest sound of an impending attack. We had no contact with Mike and had to hope that he was still awake and it was just our minds playing tricks on us when we heard a grunt only yards away. Finally the sky began to grey with the coming dawn and the stars faded from sight. As we silently celebrated the breaking day, a pack of wolves sounded off less than a mile behind us.

We made it through the night and continued our journey north with a new respect for bison, appreciation for sunrises and deep admiration for our horses’ ability to sense danger.

This was by far the most perilous part of the expedition. Even the occasional sight of bears in the distance paled into insignificance. By getting through Lamar Valley on time, we were able to avoid the worst of winter. We did have to deal with snow for a few weeks on the final stretch through Montana but we managed to make it to Canada before winter set in full force.

Thanks to our incredible mounts, and to the amazing individuals who helped us along the way, the three of us completed the journey of a lifetime. Throughout the entire trip, people did everything they could to assist us and our horses. It could have been something as simple as a handful of coffee or as significant as welcoming three strangers and six horses into their homes and lives.

We are indebted to three people in particular – Josh Matheny of Fossil Ridge Guide Service, Deb Rudibaugh of the 711 Ranch, and Phil Nickels of Livingston, Montana. But there were many others and, no matter how we met, the people we were fortunate enough to connect with were certainly one of the best aspects of the entire voyage.

With only three people making the journey, it was imperative that we worked as a team and took care of our own responsibilities before getting involved with another’s. Just like any team there were days when one of us just wasn’t at his best and it was crucial that the others stepped up. I think we did that and I’m proud of what we did. We talked with a lot of people along the way. The younger generation couldn’t believe that we were taking part in this expedition. The older generation, though, said that they were just happy that somebody was still doing something like this.

For more information on Parker’s expedition, including stunning film footage, visit cimarronskydog.org/parker.html

JACKIE FLEMING/ www.cimarronskydog.com

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JACKIE FLEMING/ www.cimarronskydog.com

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F-M. Mellbin,

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On your marks A rare moment of peace and order for the game’s opening line-up

untamed territory The Taliban has officially banned the game of buzkashi, but the national sport of Afghanistan remains as popular and exhilarating as ever. Oliver Englehart experiences the Afghan equivalent to polo first-hand – and nearly gets trampled in the process www.hurlinghampolo.com

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On a recent Friday morning in Kabul, I made my way towards the Khairkhana district on the northern outskirts of the city. To the north the Shomali Plain, from where the dust blows, fans out towards the Hindu Kush. To the South sprawls the city, encased in a bowl of rocks, with a jumble of mud houses creeping up the mountainside and military aircraft wheeling overhead.

Friday is the day of prayer and leisure in Afghanistan and I had heard whispers of a buzkashi match in the area – one of the final matches of the season.

Buz means ‘goat’ in Persian. Buzkashi literally means ‘goat-grabbing’. The game is played across the steppes of Central Asia. It is also the national sport of Afghanistan, where it is played through the winter months.

I had heard the game hazily described in the context of polo (they are both played on horseback and both involve propelling an object toward a goal) or as a sort of headless goat rugby, but the only time I had seen it played was in Rambo III. In that 1988 film, Sylvester Stallone in his trademark low-cut vest and bandana in Afghanistan, plays buzkashi against a howling throng of Mujahideen, before almost single-handedly wiping out the Soviet army.

This particular match was to be hosted

by Marshal Fahim, the former warlord and now controversial Vice President of Afghanistan. On the side of the bumpy track

in Khairkhana, private militia hanging out of Toyota pick-up trucks brandishing rocketpropelled grenades indicated that I was heading in the right direction.

In 2009 President Karzai chose Marshal Fahim as his Vice President, despite once having been arrested and purportedly tortured by him during the Civil War in the 1990s, before the Taliban rose to power.

Buzkashi has long been a metaphor of choice for foreign journalists writing about Afghan politics. The American cultural

I had heard the game hazily described as a sort of headless goat rugby, but had only seen it played in Rambo III anthropologist Dr. G Whitney Azoy and author of Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan described buzkashi, like affairs of state here, as ‘brutal, chaotic, a continual fight for control’.

The match has already started by the time I arrive. After struggling through a crowd at the gate to be frisked I am allowed into the walled enclosure. I see big Marshal Fahim

firmly ensconced amongst his henchmen in the equivalent of the Royal Box. On the empty shell of a nearby building is an armed sentinel. The crowd is composed of a colourful array of turbans who line a rocky embankment on the side of the arena. On the pitch, a melee of perhaps eighty horsemen, thrash around in a cloud of dust. The horses buck, bite and kick.

No one I ask really seems to be able to explain the rules. I ask one of the riders, or chapandaz, if he can enlighten me. He explains that he is new to the game and is probably not the best person to ask. From what I can gather, however, the rulebook appears thin.

But the object of the game is to wrestle the headless corpse of a goat from your opponents, gallop around a flag and score by dropping it into a circle painted in the dust – the Qarajai or ‘Circle of Justice’. At this point the buz becomes hallal or ‘lawful’ and the scorer trots over to Marshal Fahim to collect a wodge of dollar bills. Prizes can exceed $1,000 for each hallal, or may be rewarded with some other booty, such as a carpet or a fine turban.

My companion, Ahamd, tells me that today they are using calf instead of a goat.

The calf has apparently replaced the goat as the carcass of choice since it is less prone to dismemberment under severe strain. The day before a match, the calf is beheaded, disembowelled and has its limbs cut off at

F-M. Mellbin, Oliver Englehart

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Bones are always broken and ribs cracked by competitors’ boots, sly whips or horse kicks, but the battle-hardened chapandaz still play on the knees. It is then left to soak in water for twenty-four hours to toughen it. The calf weighs about 40kg, or the weight of a boy, as Ahamd points out.

Another spectator called Wahid, who has his scarf wrapped around his face to shield himself from the dust, revealing only a pair of dark eyes, explains to me the legend of the origins of buzkashi. He says buzkashi was invented by Ghengis Khan and his marauding horde of Mongols who, as they swept through Central Asia, made a game out

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of snatch and grab hostage missions into enemy encampments.

For most of the time, the game is amassed in a vast swirling scrummage of flailing horse and man limbs. One occasionally sees the buz on the ground, with a crowd of gnarled tribesmen stooping in their saddles to hoik the carcass off the floor or wrench possession of it from a competitor.

When the action breaks free from the melee, it invariably heads straight in my direction. With a snarling horseman galloping

1 A cloud of dust envelops the frenzied melee 2 ‘Goat-grabbing’ in action 3 + 4 Local tribesmen 5 Hot on the heels of a competitor

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A snarling horseman gallops at me, whip clenched between teeth and a headless corpse slung over his steed

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at me, whip clenched between teeth and a headless corpse slung over his steed, the child vendors selling sweets to the crowd scamper in all directions and I desperately try to clamber up the rocky precipice where the other spectators are perched at a safe distance. The sight of a feringhee, or foreigner, clinging to his digital camera absolutely terrified causes much mirth amongst the bearded locals. I sympathise with the Redcoat infantrymen cut down as they made their doomed retreat from Kabul in 1842.

The rider who has broken from the melee with the buz rides out with other horsemen in pursuit or hanging perilously from their saddles at a gallop to grapple over the limp calf. Occasionally they will work in pairs, presumably for a share of the profit if they score. A man in a blue wig like a Congolese rebel soldier circles the action commentating and shouting out the prizes to the competitors. He is known as the jorchi, which means ‘town crier’.

It comes to light that there are a number of variants of the game. For example, a game of buzkashi can be played by individuals or teams or both. There is no fixed number of players and no time limit. There may be thousands of competitors and the game can last five days. And in another simpler version of the game to what is being played here, there is no dropping the buz in the painted circle. The chapandaz simply has to grab the goat and break free from the mob.

While whipping people, cutting saddle straps and gouging the eyes of men or animals is forbidden, getting your horse to kick as viciously as possible is encouraged as a pertinent method of holding territory in an overcrowded space.

The game is ferocious and the chapandaz are beasts of men for whom neither pain nor fear seem to exist. Wahid explains that bones are

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always broken and ribs cracked by competitors’ boots, sly whips or horse kicks, but the battle-hardened chapandaz still play on.

They wear heavy tunics delicately embroidered and mostly torn to shreds. A number of the riders wear Soviet tank helmets for head protection. The helmets date back to the ill-fated Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. As a grinning chapandaz humours the crowd, I can see that cut radio wires still hang from the helmut’s earpieces.

Despite being officially banned under the draconian laws of the Taliban, buzkashi was never entirely outlawed. In some northern parts of Afghanistan, where buzkashi was considerably more popular than the Taliban government, they tried to strike a compromise. The Taliban decreed that using a goat carcass was a sinful waste of meat and an animal skin stuffed with sand and straw should be used instead. Buzkashi purists objected, however, insisting that the animal skin was pulled apart too easily.

The game has enjoyed a resurgence in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of 2001.

The glamour is back and the best chapandaz and owners are famous throughout the land.

Nouveau riche businessmen and powerbrokers engorged on the massive aid and security industries have emerged as new patrons. The Afghanistan Olympic Committee have recently invited bids from companies or impresarios willing to invest in the sport, expressing a desire to export their game internationally.

Unlike John Rambo, I thankfully was not invited to grab the goat. It is a high-octane sport that requires strength, courage and prize horsemanship. It is also a wonderful spectacle. But unlike the Afghanistan Olympic Committee, I for one cannot imagine buzkashi being played on the pleasant pastures of the home counties.

F-M. Mellbin, Oliver Englehart

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POLO CLUB

Calendar 2011

S A I N T- T R O P E Z

(preliminary program 2011)

à Gassin

4 Polo fields and bigger stick&ball area

THE RESTAURANT “LA TABLE DU POLO” Lunch - Lounge Bar - Dinner, Piano Bar in the evening.

Open April, May, June and September from Tuesday to Sunday (from 10 a.m.)

Open every day from July to August (from 10 a.m) Reservation at +33 (0) 4 94 55 22 14

Practices & Matches - International Tournaments Coaching Chukkas and Polo lessons From April till September.

Polo players: we can help you for Hotel reservations, house and car rentals, and organization of helicopter/private plane.

SATURDAY@POLO From April till August: Match & Happy Hour every Saturday at 5 pm.

Weekend “Polo-Fun&Relax”: April, May, June and September Commentator during semi-finals and finals of the most important tournaments.

POLO SHOP Open all year.

EVENTS MARQUEE Open all year.

Polo Dinners/Dinner Parties/Gala Dinners: please make your reservation at +33 (0) 4 94 55 22 12

MAY

APRIL Mon

Tue

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Sun

Mon Lun

Tue Mar

Wed Mer

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Hippocampus Cup (6-8 & 0-4 goals)

Wed

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The Ascension tournament (6-8 & 0-4 goals)

* 8:30 pm Polo Dinner Party

Pentecost Tournament (6-8 & 0-4 goals)

* 8:30 pm Polo Dinner * 8:30 pm Polo Dinner

Polo Club’s 13th Anniversary Tournament (6-8 & 0-6 goals) * 9:00 pm Polo Dinner

* 8:30 pm Polo Dinner

International Polo Cup Saint-Tropez (12-15 & 0-6 goals)

Weekends “Polo-Fun&Relax”(all levels)

Saint-Tropez Ladies’ Amateur (2 goals)

Practice games Whole month: coaching chukkas and polo lessons

Weekends “Polo-Fun&Relax”(all levels) Practice games Whole month: coaching chukkas and polo lessons

AUGUST Sat

Sun

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continue

JULY Fri

Sat

*3

7

Var Tournament 2 (6-8 & 0-4 goals)

Whole month: coaching chukkas and polo lessons

Fri

2

6

* 8.30 pm Polo Dinner

Practice games

Thu

1

8

Var Tournament 1 (6-8 & 0-4 goals)

Weekends “Polo-Fun&Relax”(all levels)

Thu

Tue

7

Hippocampus Cup (6-8 & 0-4 goals)

Easter Polo Tournament (6-8 & 0-4 goals) * 8:30 pm Polo Dinner

Wed

Sat Sam

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5

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JUNE Fri Ven

1 4

Mon

Thu Jeu

Mon

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continue International

Côte d’Azur Polo Cup (8-12 & 4-6 goals)

* 7 pm Polo Team Parade through the Port of Saint-Tropez ** 9 pm Gala Dinner

Open du Soleil (8-12 & 4-6 goals)

Polo Cup Saint-Tropez (12-15 & 4-6 goals) Open de Gassin Polo Tournament (12-15 & 4-6 goals) * 9 pm Polo Dinner Party

The Saint-Tropez Polo Trophy * 9 pm Polo Dinner Party

Practice games Whole month: coaching chukkas and polo lessons

* 9 pm Polo Dinner Party

* 7 pm Polo Team Parade through the Village of Gassin ** 9 pm Polo Dinner Party

Practice games Whole month: coaching chukkas and polo lessons

Polo Silver Cup (12-15 & 0-6 goals) * 9 pm Polo Dinner ** 1 pm Polo Lunch

Polo Gold Cup (12-15 & 0-6 goals) * 9 pm Polo Dinner ** 1 pm Polo Lunch

Weekends “Polo-Fun&Relax”(all levels) Practice games Whole month: coaching chukkas

and polo lessons Polo Club Saint-Tropez Route du Bourrian 83580 Gassin France T. +33(0)4 94 55 22 12 F. +33(0)4 94 56 50 66 E. contact@polo-st-tropez.com www.polo-st-tropez.com

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the action [drama] Catch up with all the latest action from around the world

48 Argentine Triple Crown

55 Aiken Silver Cup

60 Jodhpur

52 Argentine diary

56 Chinese polo

63 Ambassadors Cup

How Ellerstina became the invincibles of South America. Plus a rundown of the squad shake-ups for next season

POLOLINE

Clare Milford Haven braves seasickness, snow and shoebox accommodation to watch and play in the Argentine season

54 Thai Polo Open

Exciting play and a carnival atmosphere helped by the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra attracted over 1,000 spectators

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The 302 Polo season saw two great headto-heads between Barrington and Orchard Hills, with a showdown at Crestview Farm China’s march towards becoming a polo superpower, continues as its newest club, the Goldin Metropolitan, Tianjin, opens with an exhibition match

58 Potrillos

The next generation demonstrate their skills at the premier kids’ polo tournament

The Maharajah Gaj Singh once again hosted a marvellous series of events, with grand parties and competition friendly and fierce This year’s gathering of the FIP dignitaries, acted as a precursor to the Polo World Cup, as it took place in San Luis, Argentina

Above Gonzalito leads the pack in the final chukka of the Argentine Open

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The Triple Crown Ellerstina finally clinch an unbeaten season, and there is a major line-up shuffle for 2011, reports Nick Snow scored, only five were converted by penalty shots. It was an open and fluid game, highlighted by back-to-back long-range goals

by Cambiaso and David Stirling of over 100 yards in the fourth and a magnificent sixth chukka by Ellerstina in which all four players scored, turning a 10-8 deficit into a 12-10 lead. The difference between the two sides was never more than two goals a chukka and, as in the three Finals prior, the game would be decided by one goal.

Facundo and Gonzalo each scored six goals and Juan Martin Nero played a pivotal role in neutralising Cambiaso, which went much of the way to Nero’s MVP award, particularly since Cambiaso was the tournament’s high scorer with 43 goals and his mare Dolfina Cuartetera won the Susan Townley award for best playing pony.

Tortugas Open The big news leading up to Tortugas was that Pilara/Piaget’s team captain and six-time Open Champion Marcos Heguy would be sitting out the entire 2010 season, due to a

One of recent memory’s most entertaining finals provided a magnificent spectacle of polo shoulder injury sustained just two days before their first game. He was initially replaced by Juan Agustin Grossi for Tortugas but Tomàs Garcia Del Rio took over the position for Hurlingham and Palermo. Pilara/Piaget did not initially perform well with the new line-up as they lost to Ellerstina 18-11 and a newly formed Chapa Uno side 18-12, who added Pite Merlos and Matias Mac Donough alongside Bautista Heguy and Hilario Ulloa.

Cambiaso also sat out Tortugas as he gave promising young talent Guillermo ‘Sapo’ Caset a chance to play with La Dolfina. They were beaten 14-12 by La Aguada and 15-11 by a Chapa II team, who got revenge against their teammate from last year, Pelon Stirling,

TONY RAMIREZ/ WWW.IMAGESOFPOLO.COM

With under a minute remaining in the Palermo final and La Dolfina trailing by a goal, Adolfo Cambiaso jumped on his famous mare Cuartetera. Four Ellerstina defenders and the full length of the field stood between him and the equalising tally that could send the two teams to overtime for a fourth year in a row.

The scene was set for an epic run by the best player in the world… But the defensive wall of Juan Martin Nero stood firm. He snuffed out Cambiaso’s attack in front of the grandstands, sealing the win for Ellerstina and, with it, the Triple Crown in an undefeated season. They are only the fifth Triple Crown winners and the first since La Aguada in 2003.

The Saturday final did not get off to a great start: just minutes in, play was suspended due to pelting rain and lightning.

Luckily for those in from abroad for the weekend, the game was able to be played on Sunday afternoon. One of the most entertaining finals in recent memory provided a magnificent spectacle of polo for the packed stadium of over 17,000, who saw Ellerstina run out 14-13 winners. Of the 27 goals

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1 Adolfo Cambiaso (left) under pressure from Facundo Pieres 2 MVP Juan Martin Nero 3 A Stirling performance from Pelon

who had made the jump to play with La Dolfina. Matias Magrini fitted in immediately on Chapa II as they went on to beat La Aguada 13-11 in the semi-final to earn a berth in final against an always strong Ellerstina team that cruised over Chapa Uno 17-12 in its semi-final contest.

The final was dominated from start to finish by the favourites, who handled Chapa II easily and won 21-11. Facundo Pieres led all scorers with 11 goals and Irenita Farsa, ridden

by Pablo Mac Donough, won best-playing pony.

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Hurlingham Open Two new teams joined the field for Hurlingham and Palermo as 34-goal Alegria and 30-goal Sao Jose. In his first game, Alegria’s Mariano Aguerre faced off against his old pals at La Dolfina, with whom he had won four of the last five Argentine Opens, and for whom he’d scored the overtime winner in 2009. Alegria had the score tied at half time but they eventually fell 17-12, with Cambiaso now in the line-up. La Dolfina went on to defeat Chapa II 15-13, a game in which an ill Eduardo Heguy was replaced by South African Nachi Du Plessis, who was getting his first taste of the Triple Crown and played very well.

La Dolfina vs La Aguada gave us the most entertaining finish of the entire high-goal season. With Lucas Monteverde, suspended for one game for receiving two yellow cards during their win over Chapa II and Lolo Castangola out with a sickness, La Dolfina were forced to enter 8-goal Sapo Caset and 7-goal Guillermo Terrera. La Aguada held an 11- 5 advantage at the end of the sixth chukka, but La Dolfina came storming back to tie the score with less than 30 seconds remaining. In overtime, Cambiaso slotted home the winning goal.

The win by La Dolfina set up a date with Ellerstina, who advanced to the finals with wins over Sao Jose (21-13), Pilara (18-13) and Chapa Uno (20-16). The final turned out to be a major disappointment, not from the perspective of the Ellerstina supporters, who witnessed their side continuing to play beautiful polo en route to a 19-13 victory, but in regards to thousands of neutrals who turned out expecting to see a competitive game.

The game was dominated in a similar fashion to last year in Hurlingham when Ellerstina beat La Dolfina by the exact same score. Facundo elevated his play to yet another level as he led all scorers in the match with 12 goals, was awarded Most Valuable Player, and won best playing pony for his mare Open Pandora.

Adhering to his professed mantra that the only tournament he cares about in the Argentine high-goal season is Palermo, Cambiaso did not score a goal, an almost unbelievable oversight for the best player in

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the world. The loss ended his impressive streak of winning the last nine high-goal tournaments he played in, beginning with the Argentine Open last year.

Argentine Open – Palermo And so, on to the Triple Crown clincher.

Ellerstina looked sharp from the start, dispatching Alegria 15-6 in their opening match. In their next game they faced Chapaleufu II, a team featuring a new line-up after both Nachi and Eduardo Heguy were suspended for receiving two yellow cards in their opening game loss to La Aguada. Nachi Du Plessis and Joaquin Pittaluga filled in and the 28-goal side kept things close for three chukkas before falling 19-9.

A new rule implemented by the Argentine Polo Association this year stated there should be no discussion between players and umpires – and it led to a drastic increase in the number of technicals and yellow cards issued throughout the season. Many a player, most vocally Lolo Castagnola, were outspoken about their dislike for the strict manner in which the referees handled the new rule.

In its semifinal, Ellerstina played La Aguada, the team usually made up of Novillo Astrada brothers Javier, Eduardo, Miguel and Ignacio. Unfortunately, in their previous game, Javiar fractured his foot when his horse slipped in his team’s 15-12 win over Alegria.

They didn’t have to look far for a replacement, though: youngest brother Alejandro filled in.

The four brothers played a disciplined style to stay within a couple of goals for most of the match but eventually lost 14-11, the closest game Ellerstina had played in the season so far.

The other side of the draw saw a familiar progression from La Dolfina, who started sluggishly in their opening group win over Sao Jose (they were all tied up in the sixth chukka) before taking the victory 18-12, largely due to 14 Cambiaso goals. Their next match against Chapa Uno was similar to last year, when they escaped with an overtime victory. Bautista Heguy, traditionally a goalscorer in the front of the game, played back and took the knock-ins as Chapa Uno looked to regroup from an embarrassing 19-9 loss at the hands of Pilara in their opening contest. Young phenomenon Hillario Ulloa had a great game as Chapa Uno trailed by just one with minutes to go, but La Dolfina got two late goals to end the game 16-13.

Pilara/Piaget was La Dolfina’s opposition in the semis, a team that found its form in Palermo with dominating wins over Chapa Uno and Sao Jose 18-12. It was a predictable outcome, however, as Cambiaso and La Dolfina performed very well, as they always do, when the pressure is on. They dismantled Pilara 17-11, leading 9-1 at one point to set up the finals rematch of the previous three years. Since La Dolfina’s inception in 2000, they have qualified for the finals in Palermo an astonishing 10 times and were seeking their sixth title in a decade. But Ellerstina were chasing the big prize…

Changing of the guard That last-minute confrontation between Adolfo Cambiaso and Juan Martin Nero was a collector’s item – not least because it would be the last of its kind. Before the season, it was announced that Nero and Pablo Mac Donough would join Cambiaso and David ‘Pelon’ Stirling on the Canuelas-based squad, La Dolfina. The change means that long-time teammates, close friends, and brothers-in-law, Cambiaso and Lolo Castagnola will no longer play together in Palermo, a sight so familiar in the final. They have won it seven times together, twice with Ellerstina and five times with La Dolfina, including three straight years from 2005 to 2007. Triggered by the reorganisation of powerhouses Ellerstina and La Dolfina, there will be major shake-ups in nearly every high-goal team for next year. Lolo and Lucas Monteverde will play with brothers Sebastian and Agustin Merlos. Sebastian and Lolo won the title together in 2002 with La Dolfina.

Facundo and Gonzalo will be joined by younger brother, Nicolas, who was raised to 8-goals, as well as Nachi Heguy in their title defence next year. With Nachi moving to Ellerstina, it also marks the end of a family legacy in Indios Chapaleufu II. Eduardo, Pepe, and Nachi have played 17 seasons together, taking home the trophy four times.

Next year’s Triple Crown will be as intriguing as this year’s was dramatic.

Triggered by the reorganisations of powerhouses Ellerstina and La Dolfina, there will be major shake-ups in nearly every highgoal team for next year

1 High hopes from Lolo Castagnola (left) and Gozalito Pieres 2 The opening ceremony 3 The winning Ellerstina team 4 Nachi Heguy will join Ellerstina next year

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Argentine Diary 2010 Clare Milford Haven battles through snow, rain and high seas to enjoy the season in Argentina. But there’s always the comfort of steak I am not sure I have ever been so challenged in planning my annual trip to Argentina as I was this year. Trying to change my flight plans was like attempting to get a seat on Air Force One. Equally impossible was finding somewhere to stay in Buenos Aires at the last minute. As I trawled the web for apartments close to where my son Harry is living in Palermo, I realized I had underestimated its popularity at the height of the polo season.

Finally, I found an expensive shoebox on the 20th floor of a high rise (picture 1), which gives me vertigo, but I am happy nonetheless.

25 November It is such a relief to get here just as snow is forecast at home. I land in blissful heat and chat with Spencer McCarthy and Nacho Gonzales in the queue at immigration. After settling in I have dinner with my son and his flatmates (who included my niece Francesca del Balzo) at Cluny – delicious salmon ceviche and steaks.

26 November The first day is always bittersweet. Happy to be here but dreading the pain of first chukkas in the searing heat after not riding for months.

We are playing this year at La Indiana, Ruki Baillieu’s club in Pilar, where we are in the familiar hands of organiser Chris Bethell.

Doesn’t stop me finishing the fourth chukka with my back entirely seized up and with agonising sunburn.

27 November To Palermo to watch the second game between La Dolfina and Chapa I. Bauti Heguy and Hilario Ulloa both play blinders and although Adolfo (6) never looked fazed, it was close enough to make it exciting. We end up in our usual watering hole, the Chandon Bar. 28 November Chukkas go better, and then off to Palermo for a boring game between Ellerstina and Chapa II.

With both Eduardo and Nachi Heguy banned for one game, their replacements, Joaquin Pittaluga and Nachi Du Plessis create a 29-goal team up against 40 goals. After dinner at Sucre, I take a wrong turning through the park, which also happens to be the ‘workplace’ of the city’s transvestites. Certainly more entertaining than the game earlier!

29 November Off to Hurlingham to play in an exhibition game for Jaeger-LeCoultre. Fifty-five international journalists have descended on Buenos Aires and the itinerary is intense. Play with J-LC ambassadors, Lia Salvo and Eduardo Novillo Astrada and US $10,000 is raised for charity.

30 November After six fast and furious chukkas, I head to the Jaeger-LeCoultre annual party at Tattersalls – polo glamour followed by a performance by the amply endowed local pinup, Lola Ponce. With a 5.30am start, I head home early, but the rest of the polo crowd beeline for the ‘Black and White’ polo party at La Rural.

1 December Board a private plane bound for Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of Argentina. The three-anda-half hour flight passes quickly as I manage

CLARE MILFORD HAVEN

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four interviews with Russian, American, Italian and Mexican journalists. Pretty disheartened to hit a snowstorm! After a bumpy boat ride around the Beagle Channel with Harriet Grundy of Jaeger-LeCoultre (3), we bravely tuck into shellfish washed down with some local Rutini Malbec. With the inevitable onset of seasickness, I race up to the top deck only to be nearly blown overboard. Luckily, I am able to take refuge behind the ample figure of a French photographer and manage to get a few shots of sea lions playing on the rocks (2).

2 December Jaeger-LeCoultre’s first game at La Indiana (5). I’m playing with Bauti Sorzana, Max Charlton and Jack Richardson. We win!

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Jauretche. The tournament allows the patron two goals for every goal he/she scores.

Luckily I am sharing a team with a 2-goal patron! Back to BA to watch Ellerstina v La Aguada in the second semi at Palermo. A better game than yesterday and close (7-7 at half time), but Ellerstina plays their best horses in the second half and steal it by four goals.

7 December Our second game in the Polo One tournament is our first loss but it’s a beautiful day so Harry and I head to Tigre and rent a boat (10). Then to an art exhibition by Badel (7), the severely disabled adopted son of Pablo Jauretche who paints exquisitely by holding the brush in his mouth.

where Paul Belcher, chairman of Guards, delivers a touching tribute to Charlie Stisted.

Familiar faces include HPA Chairman Nick Colquhoun-Denvers, Pancho and Angie Moreno, and Ali Albwardy.

10 December Big asado at Jerome Wirth’s with dancing girls in sparkly hot pants and the best bife de lomo I have had since I arrived. See the lovely Mercedes and Jorge MacDonough, Robbie Archibald, James Beim and Malcolm and Alix Borwick.

4 December Second game at La Indiana and another win.

Rush back to BA to watch the first semifinal between La Dolfina and Pilara (11).

Disappointing game but great to watch Santi Chavanne play Spook who used to belong to us.

8 December Our semifinal at La Indiana against the Golden Falcons. Jack and Max can’t play but we have replacements: Quique Avendano and Bruno Cipponeri. It’s a good game but we lose by two and are out of the tournament. Dine at Tegui for the best food and service in town.

11 December Off to the Open final (9). Watch the pre-match show of performing criollos, gauchos and tango dancers (4, 12). There is a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning and the rain starts.

The score reaches 2-1 in Ellerstina’s favour before the game is cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow – when I’m flying back to Britain.

Resigned to the fact that I will now miss the final we go out for dinner at Casa Cruz, before I sadly say goodbye to everyone (especially my son).

5 December Having originally planned not to play in any tournaments at all, I find myself playing in another: the Polo One 14-goal tournament. I play against one of my favourite people, Pablo

9 December Our third game at Polo One is against Technomarine. It’s another loss, so straight to the Chapa Bar for steak and sympathy. Off to the British Ambassador’s Residence for drinks,

12 December Chat horses with Chris and Claire Mathias before boarding the plane. At Sao Paolo I am frantically texting to see what the score is, only to be told it is one of the best finals ever!

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Royal Pahang’s Tengku Shazril (black) persued by Glen Gilmore of GTM (blue)

Thai Polo Open 2011 The 2011 Thai Open drew teams from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia to the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club, located in the resort area of Pattaya, 150km south of Bangkok on the eastern side of the bay of Thailand. The Thai Polo Club is the brainchild of Harald Link and Nunthinee Tanner and boasts two full-size fields and a third practice field, along with stabling for 250 horses and top-class amenities for players and guests, including the Clubhouse which features the famous Chukka Bar relocated from the Langham hotel in London.

The qualifying rounds of the tournament saw the five teams play each of the other teams once with the two highest placed teams playing in the final on January 22. Singaporebased Gary and Melissa Tiernan’s GTM team drew with Malaysia’s Royal Pahang and suffered a very close loss which derailed their tilt at the 2011 title, while Thai Polo featuring the father and daughter duo of Harald and Caroline Link was dominant. Only one point separated the Malaysian team of T Satrias from the shared team of Satinder

Garcha and Aron Harilela with one game left to be played. This set up what was effectively a semifinal between the two, which T Satrias won over the heavily favoured Garcha Harilela team and made their way to the final.

The final day was a spectacular event with the usual laid-back and quiet atmosphere replaced by excitement and activity as the number one field was transformed into a carnival-like scene. Over 1,000 spectators descended on the club to enjoy the sights and sounds which included the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra playing live in the lunch tent and high tea during the half time treadingin. Meanwhile major co-sponsor BMW provided

The final day saw the usual laidback atmosphere replaced by excitement and activity

bungee jumping and pony rides for children and the young at heart.

The action on the field pitted T Satrias against the home team Thai Polo. With the visitors fielding a 9-goal team after an earlier injury to Edham Shaharuddin who was replaced by the on-form Fabian Bolanterio, they received 1½ on handicap and set about extending the lead and forcing Thai Polo to play catch up. They managed to play from the front for most of the game until Thai Polo was able to take the lead by a half late in the third chukka. The score stood at 5 to 4½ in favour of the hosts going into the last and looked too close to call. A brilliant goal from Lucas Labat stretched the lead for Thai Polo before T Satrias’s resistance was finally broken by another pair of spectacular goals from the mallet of Martin Iturraspe.

The final score did not do justice to the closeness of the game as Thai Polo triumphed by a score of 9 to 4½. Champion pony honours went to Yoga played by Lucas Labat and owned by Harald Link.

LACEY WINTERTON

A carnival-like scene and gripping play made for an enthralling tournament, reports Fergus Gould

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USPA Silver Cup

DAVID LOMINSKA / WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

Having lost to Barrington in the final of the first of the USPA’s fall double-headers, Orchard Hill were out for revenge. Sarah Eakin reports Chris Stratemann felt that he had played the best he has in years at the USPA Silver Cup, hosted by 302 Polo and sponsored by MercedesBenz of Augusta. And his Tournament MVP accolade bore that out.

Stratemann has filled the role of polo manager to Orchard Hill’s Steve Van Andel for the past 16 years and it is the first time that they have won the coveted Silver Cup – the oldest polo trophy in the United States Polo Association. They did so with a 19-11 defeat of Aiken home team Barrington in the final.

Several thousand spectators turned out to witness the event at Aiken’s newest polo field.

Spanning 152 acres and incorporating a custom-built barn and personal residence, Crestview Farm is the Aiken base of a company steered by Alan Meeker of Fort Worth, Texas. Meeker purchased the property just 18 months ago after playing several polo seasons in Aiken. Development was overseen from start to finish by general contractor JD Cooper, of Cooper Home & Stables, who found the parcel of land and brokered its purchase.

‘Alan Meeker was very happy to host the USPA Silver Cup finals at Crestview Farm this year,’ said Cooper, himself an amateur polo player, who sketched the initial concept for the property with Meeker on the back of a napkin at Aiken’s historic hotel, The Willcox.

Prior to the Silver Cup, Barrington defeated Orchard Hill in the final of the USPA Monty Waterbury Cup, the first of the fall 20-goal double-header tournaments at 302 Polo contested by five teams. Barb Uskup set out to add the Silver Cup to Barrington’s tally by opening the afternoon’s scoring with a penalty conversion. Having conceded a goal on handicap, Barrington went 2-1 up thanks to a field goal from Tommy Biddle. Lucas Criado replied for Orchard Hill, adding two goals before the end of the first chukka.

The first half continued in the same vein with the teams proving well matched and Barrington entering half time with a 9-8 goal advantage. The next three chukkas told a

MVP Nic Roldan for Orchard Hill pursued by Barrington’s Antonio Galvan in the final

‘In the fifth chukka, it was exactly the same score as we had seen in the final of the Monty Waterbury’ different story. ‘In the fifth chukka, it was the exact same score as we had seen in the final of the Monty Waterbury,’ said Stratemann. ‘We lost that time, so we were committed to stopping that from happening again. Almost everything went right. It was almost as if every shot went in the goal.’ It must have felt that way to Barrington’s Uskup, Biddle, Julio Arellano and Antonio Galvan as Orchard Hill piled on a devastating total of 11 second half goals to Barrington’s two.

Steve Van Andel, who contributed a significant goal in the fifth to take the Orchard Hill lead to four goals was chosen as the Most

Valuable Amateur Player. Best Playing Pony (Amateur) was awarded to Van Andel’s horse South Boundary, while Nic Roldan’s grey sevenyear-old thoroughbred mare Dona took the honours as Best Playing Pony (Professional).

Roldan’s inspired performance produced six goals for the Orchard Hill team and earned him the end-of-game honours as Most Valuable Professional Player. Biddle was the high scorer for Barrington, also with six goals.

Arellano tallied three goals with Uskup and Galvan contributing one apiece.

Roldan, who was the youngest player to win the US Open at age 15 and is now a brand ambassador for luxury Swiss watchmaker Piaget, blogged on his personal website after the Monty Waterbury defeat that it was ‘a disappointing loss for Orchard Hill.

I must admit we were really close to pulling out a win against Barrington.’ By the end of play in the Silver Cup finals he was able to post a different story at nicroldan.com declaring: ‘What a great way to finish the season in Aiken.’

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Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, Tianjin, China An exhibition match marked the inauguration of an impressive polo club near Beijing that is the latest indication that a new polo star is rising in the east. Herbert Spencer reports on polo in China China’s newest polo club opened in November with a lavish multi-million dollar show befitting its target market of the country’s growing business elite and well-heeled foreign executives.

‘Exclusivity’ appears to be the name of the game at the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club where full membership for team patrons costs a cool US$1.5m and the ‘clubhouse’ is a grandiose five-star hotel.

The Metropolitan club is at the centre of a massive real estate development by Hong Kong-based Goldin Properties in the city of Tianjin, southeast of Beijing. Already China’s fifth largest city with a population of 12 million, Tianjin’s burgeoning business suburb of Binhai is attracting a raft of multinational as well as Chinese corporations. Goldin’s development there includes commercial centres, office buildings, high-rise apartment blocks and villas.

Goldin Properties is the latest Chinese company seeking to capitalise on polo’s global image as an upscale leisure pursuit. Pan Sutong, chairman and CEO of Goldin, has brought in an experienced team to develop and manage the Metropolitan’s polo, including Paul Stevens from Guards Polo Club, Cowdray Park’s John Fisher and Derek Reid from Australia. The club president is Rowland Wong from Singapore.

For its official opening, the Metropolitan invited more than 1,000 Chinese VIPs and

foreign visitors to watch a 20-goal exhibition match between Team Goldin and Team UK, made up of imported professional players from England, Australia and New Zealand. There were flag-bearers and dancers to add to the show on the polo ground, but the real extravaganza was a black-tie launch party with a banquet, entertainment by leading Asian

Full membership for team patrons costs a cool US$1.5m and the ‘clubhouse’ is a grandiose 5-star hotel artists and a spectacular fireworks display – all costing a reported US$12m.

The Metropolitan currently has two tournament grounds and an indoor arena, and plans to install an outdoor arena for competition. There is stabling for 150 ponies, with more on the drawing board. The club has imported some 60 trained polo mounts from Australia for use by members. The 2011 fixtures at the new Metropolitan will include

China’s first snow polo event in February, a 20-goal tournament in May and a 14-goal competition in October.

The Metropolitan is not the only club thriving in modern China. Another major centre is the Nine Dragons Hill Polo Club, about an hour’s drive south of Shanghai. The club, run by Englishman Steve Wyatt and his wife Rachel, is part of the large Nine Dragon Hills Estate, a resort complex that includes golf, a yachting marina and China’s only turf race course.

Meanwhile polo continues to expand around Beijing. Entrepreneur Liu Shilai, one of the few Chinese players with international experience, opened his new Tangren Polo & Equestrian Club near the capital last autumn.

According to Liu, he has invested US$1.5m in the club and is spending more to import and breed ponies, hoping to attract and convince more of his fellow countrymen to learn the game.

In the northern suburbs of Beijing, near the most visited stretch of the Great Wall at Badaling, the Sunny Times Polo Club continues to grow. The club held its second Beijing International Polo Open in the autumn with teams from China, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. Sunny Times is a member of the Chinese Equestrian Association (CEA) and the club’s founder, Xia Yang, heads the CEA’s polo committee.

Sunny Times was the first polo club to be established in China since the Cultural Revolution. Polo in the country dates back to the Han Dynasty (207BC-25AD) when the Chinese learned the game from the Persians, and the sport reached its zenith during the Tang Dynasty. There were polo clubs in Beijing and Shanghai in the Twenties and Thirties and the game was played after World War II in Inner Mongolia. And polo looks like making a notable comeback in China today.

Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club

Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club Team and UK Polo Team in action

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Copa Potrillos The children’s polo contest that tested the skills of several families, creates a new generation of impressive young players, says Nick Snow Members of polo dynasties such as the Heguy and Pieres families, alongside Adolfo Cambiaso, have long enjoyed proving their talents at the Copa Potrillos children's polo competition.

‘To play the Copa Potrillos was the greatest for me. It wasn’t that long ago and I remember the feelings well. The nerves that I felt before those games are the same I feel today before I play in the Open,’ says 10-goal player and winner of this year’s Argentine Open, Facundo Pieres.

The Copa Potrillos is the most prestigious kids’ polo tournament in the world, held annually at the Indios Polo Club. 2010’s event took place on 7 and 8 December and an astounding 63 teams participated, in four categories, with ages ranging from five to 14 years old.

The tournament was established in 1963 with only two teams entered and ever since has been played at the historical home of the Heguy family, the Indios Polo club. Since the Copa Potrillos was first played, over half of the Argentine Open winning teams, 27, have hailed from Indios; beginning with Horacio and Alberto Pedro Heguy, continuing in the next generation with brothers Horacio Jr, Marcos, Bautista, and the late Gonzalo. Their cousins Eduardo, Nachi and Pepe own the most recent victory in 2004. It is fitting that the future talent in Argentina looks for the greatest triumph of their life at such an illustrious club.

On entering the gates of Indios on the day of the Copa Potrillos, it was hard to believe there could be any method to the madness.

Hundreds of trailers, horses, and spectators filled nearly every corner of the club. Packs of mounted kids waited on the sidelines, bursting onto the field when the final horn of the game before them sounded. There was perpetual movement all day as nearly 100 two- and

three-chukka games were played on four fields, with 200 kids taking part in the action.

The tournament is usually a one-day event but was split into two days this year due to the number of teams. The first day had 15 teams entered in the Mini-Potrillitos and Mini-Mini Potrillitos, for players five to seven years old. It is quite a sight to see a little kid who needs to be hoisted into the saddle, and can barely hold the mallet upright, canter down the field hitting ball after ball. Bartolome Castagnola’s young boys won the subsidiary trophy of the MiniPotrillitos on the team La Natividad.

The highly competitive Copa Potrillos began early the next day with the finals not concluding until dusk. This, the eldest division for under-15s, saw 29 teams enter. The winners were the Trenque Lauquen team, featuring Pite Merlos’s son, Juan Cruz alongside Francisco Rodriguez Mera (tournament MVP), Bautista Arrastua and Salvador Jauretche. They were victorious 6-5 over Mackena Chapaleufu in a tight game as the light faded on Field One. The team has played with the same formation for four seasons, so the victory was no fluke and came from much dedication and hard work. Bautista Arrastua sees a bright future for himself and his teammates: ‘Someday we will be announced playing together in the Argentine Open,’ he pronounced after the thrilling final victory.

Nearly every high-goal Argentine star in the game today has participated in the Copa Potrillos with the same goal in mind. The Astrada brothers, the Merlos brothers, the Pieres brothers, Juan Martin Nero, and Adolfo Cambiaso all once vied for the most coveted trophy in kids’ polo. It is little wonder that Argentina is the best polo playing nation in the

world when one witnesses the sheer number of kids playing, and the talent level on show at the Copa Potrillos. With that much desire to play polo with their peers at such a young age, kids in Argentina perfect their riding and swinging before they have even made it to their teens. If history is any indication, Arrastua might not be far off, and the Argentine Open champion in 10 years could very well have played in the latest edition of the tournament.

Eduardo Heguy, who played in the Copa Potrillos five times and won it twice, organised the event and has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into continuing its legacy at the Indios Polo Club. He takes great pride in hosting the event. ‘Polo is a religion. Because of this we have the best teams and players.

For the 48 years this tournament has been played, it is the most important tournament for kids under 15. Every year the level is better and there are more teams…The Potrillos is a party of the polo world.’

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Royal Salute

1 The dancefloor erupts into colour for New Year 2 Dhruvpal Godara (left) backs the ball and avoids the hook of Simran Shergill 3 The Maharajah with his Rolls-Royce 4 The opening ceremony

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Jodhpur Polo Season Fun, friendly competition and magnificent parties in incomparable settings mark the annual highlight of Indian polo, reports Melanie Vere Nicoll The 11th Jodhpur Polo Season was held this year at the Maharajah Gai Singh Polo Ground from 27 to 30 December. Sponsored by Royal Salute Chivas Brothers Ltd, the 10-goal tournament hosted four teams and involved all of India’s top players and, in the case of debutant team EFG Bank, two foreign players.

The polo was fun, open and competitive, played under HPA rules with the teams evenly matched and well-mounted. In the magical setting of the foothills of the Royal Umaid Bhawan Palace – the official residence of the Maharajah – a supportive and knowledgeable crowd witnessed seven matches over five days.

The tournament opened with a match between Sahgal Stud captained by Samir Suhag – India’s highest rated player at five goals – and EFG Bank anchored by the Kalaan brothers, Angad and Uday – both handicapped at four goals. The play seesawed back and forth, with the final goal scored on the bell in a closely fought match which saw EFG going to goal in the final seconds and halted only by the clock running out of time.

The second match between the home team Yuvraj Knights and The Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club was not such an open, flowing game. By the fourth chukka, Simran Shergill, playing back, took control of the match and saw his team run out the winners 7 to 5½.

The first semifinal between the home side Yuvraj Knights and EFG Bank saw EFG off to a quick start, winning the first chukka 2-1. This changed rapidly in the second chukka as the Knights scored four unanswered goals. In the

third chukka EFG’s Angad Kalaan scored three times, but this was not enough to change the direction of the match as the Knights moved on to the Final with a score of 8-7 on the bell.

The second semi-final between The Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club and Sahgal Stud was not a close match, largely due to captain Samir Suhag’s unfortunate hand injury which kept him from showing the control he displayed in the previous match. HPRC ran out the winners with help from the two Godara brothers, both of whom played at the top of their games and led their team to a resounding 10½-5 victory.

Final Day on New Year’s Eve opened with a show of antique cars owned by the Maharajah and other local dignitaries. This world-class array of vintage cars was made all the better when the drivers invited spectators to hop in for a spin around the field. With His Grace the Duke of Argyll looking on, this parade set the stage for an exciting Final between the Maharajah of Jodhpur’s Yuvraj Knights and the Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club.

While all four players played well, Simran Shergill was the dominant player on the field, scoring six goals for the Knights. Dhananjay Singh – the number 1 for the Knights and superbly mounted on the Maharajah’s ponies – scored a crucial goal in the fourth chukka, as did Rao Himmat Singh of Bedla, who had recently purchased four Argentine ponies.

HPRC’s 4-goal player, Dhruvpal Godara scored all seven goals for his team and was

the top scorer of the match. Despite this impressive display, the Yuvraj Knights won the trophy with a comfortable score of 11-7½.

Alongside the main competitive polo, a further two matches were played for the Hermès Cup, in honour of former FIP president Patrick Guerrand-Hermès, and the Abu Seir Cup, named after Farouk Younes’s polo farm in Egypt. The latter was played in honour of Harpreet Garcha’s birthday, and involved a team captained by her husband Satinder versus EFG Bank, competently led by Robert Mehm. In a relaxed, fun game of polo, victory went to the Garcha team, a befitting birthday present to Harpreet, who is an avid polo fan. The Hermès Cup which preceded the final was played between EFG Bank and Royal Salute. This match ended in a 5-5 tie, after an excellent wide-open running game.

The fun and festive atmosphere of Jodhpur polo contributes hugely to the spirit of the tournament. The Maharajah never misses a match and is as avid and knowledgeable a fan as can be found anywhere in the world.

Thanks to his unbounded enthusiasm,

Final Day opened with a show of antique cars that were owned by the Maharajah and other local dignitaries

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a different magical location – on the rooftop of a neighbouring palace, in a private palatial residence belonging to one of the players, inside the courtyard of the Maharajah’s palace or at the Mehrangarh Fort. These events add an absolutely key dimension to the tournament and were all carefully thought-out and exquisitely executed celebrations of Indian hospitality and generosity.

The Grand Finale was flawless, culminating in a stunningly dramatic New Year’s Eve procession led by the Maharajah himself and accompanied by the 13th Duke of Argyll right up to the ramparts of the majestic 10th-century fort, joined by players and guests, camels bedecked in traditional Rajasthani garb, fire-breathers and dancers.

Soon after arriving, the guests were invited to take their seats to hear the most exceptional and unusual melding of Rajasthani Indian music and song combined with Spanish guitar and a world-class flamenco dancer who arrived from Madrid for the occasion. It is believed that the origins of flamenco emanate from a group of Rajasthani gypsies who, centuries ago, travelled to Spain and introduced their traditional style of dance in the process.

As midnight approached, after a sublime buffet, the guests gathered in a courtyard to dance the night away under the stars, in what was possibly one of the most memorable parties that many had ever attended.

1 Fireworks over the Royal Umaid Bhawan Palace 2 + 3 Camels and dancers join in the New Year’s celebrations 4 His and Her Highness Gaj Singh II and Hemlata Rajye of Jodhpur

The Grand Finale was flawless, culminating in a procession of players, guests, camels, firebreathers and dancers

Royal Salute

combined with tournament sponsor Royal Salute and Peter Prentice’s endless imagination, the fun never ended with the bell.

A ‘puissance’ competition was introduced at Jodhpur 2009 and is set to become a popular tradition. Qualification rounds take place after the semi-finals: each player is given two shots at clearing the three-foot-high Royal Salute puissance wall from 30 yards. Those who qualify go into the grand final, where the winner is the player who strikes the ball the furthest distance over the wall. It’s a highpressure shoot-out requiring both height and accuracy of direction in addition to distance – and it’s a lot more challenging than it looks from the sidelines, with many 4- and 5-goal players hitting ‘snake burners’, much to the mirth of the spectators. The 1-goal winner, Dhananjay Singh, is the grandson of Maharajah Jabar Singh who was an 8-goal player himself.

Dhananjay hit the ball 125 yards to win.

On other match days there was a camel polo tournament at Reggie’s Safari Camp in the Osian desert. It involved both men’s and women’s Test matches between India and the Rest of the World. There was also an exhibition of bicycle polo, which is quite a big sport in India and especially in Jodhpur.

Despite the unseasonal rains, these impromptu matches were enjoyed by all.

Simply put, the après-polo parties in Jodhpur were outstanding. Held every night in

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The spectacular backdrop of San Luis

FIP Ambassadors Cup Remote San Luis on the Argentine pampas was an unusual choice of host of the Polo World Cup but, says Herbert Spencer, the Ambassadors Cup held there recently showed that it’s a spectacular, well-equipped venue Ambassadors of the Federation of International Polo (FIP) came from as far afield as China and Australia in December to get a first look at the venue for this year’s Polo World Cup (PWC) on the pampas of Argentina.

In October the country will host the final stages of the FIP’s ninth 14-Goal World Championship for the PWC, flagship event of the federation. Rather than holding the event at its own grounds at Pilar and at Palermo in Buenos Aires, however, the Asociación Argentina de Polo (AAP) has awarded it to the new Estancia Grande Polo Club in San Luis, 800 kilometres west of the capital.

Estancia Grande showcased its facilities during the FIP’s 73rd Ambassadors Cup tournament, the weekend before the federation’s annual general assembly in Buenos Aires. FIP Ambassadors flew in from the UK, the US, Brazil, Chile, France, Spain, Switzerland, Australia and China. The overseas visitors combined with players from Buenos Aires and San Luis locals, who provided the ponies, to form eight low-goal teams.

The Palm Beach team, with Joe Meyer of the US as the only Ambassador in their line-up, won the Ambassadors Cup when they beat San Cristobal 14-3 on the final day.

‘Estancia Grande put on an impressive show for us,’ Meyer said after the match. ‘The grounds played well, despite being only a year or so old. The ponies provided by the Argentines were of a good quality for this level of polo. And

the hospitality was outstanding. San Luis should be a great venue for the FIP’s World Cup.’ The Ambassadors Cup and prizes were presented by Alberto Rodríguez Saá, governor of the province of San Luis. The governor’s patronage of the club and strong support for polo from his provincial government were key factors in the AAP’s decision to award the FIP’s 2010 World Cup to Estancia Grande.

The Rodríguez Saá family has dominated San Luis politics for three generations. The present governor and his brother who held the post before him are members of Argentina’s ruling Peronist party, the Partido Justicialista.

‘Estancia Grande put on an impressive show and the grounds played well’ Alberto Rodríguez Saá was a senator and ran for national president in 2007, coming fourth.

Since becoming governor in 2003, with an 85 per cent mandate from the voters, Rodríguez Saá has funded substantial improvements in the province’s infrastructure: the region now boasts one of the country’s best road networks.

San Luis province is situated on a high plateau in the dry pampas region of Argentina in the heart of the country. The town of San

Luis, founded in the 16th century, has a population of 150,000. Until now the area has been off the radar for international tourism, although its nearby mountains and temperate climate are popular with Argentine travellers.

The area is already well-known in international motor sports. Just north of San Luis, encircling a lake in a volcanic caldera, is the spectacular Potrero de los Funes circuit where, early in December, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) staged the final sports car race of the 2010 GT1 world championship. San Luis hopes to attract Formula One racing to the circuit if and when the FIA adds Argentina to its world fixtures.

Estancia Grande Polo Club is half an hour’s drive from the centre of San Luis. It already has three tournament grounds of Tifton grass and a fourth should be ready for play during the PWC competition. There is stabling for 150 ponies and corrals for up to 500 mounts for the 10 teams attending the FIP championships. A large, modern clubhouse with restaurant provides space for PWC hospitality.

Estancia Grande’s inaugural event was in May 2010 when it hosted the AAP’s XXIII Interior Open with Handicap Championship, a medium-goal tournament with 10 club teams.

In July the club staged Argentina’s national youth championships for players aged eight to 18. Now Estancia Grande and the San Luis provincial government are concentrating on arranging the FIP’s Polo World Cup in October.

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hurlingham [ archive ] Shahnama, ‘Book of Kings’ depicting Syavash displaying his polo skills before Afrasiab

the first polo hero

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Modern polo’s oldest and most famous international is the Westchester Cup series between Great Britain and America, first played in 1886 and still going today. If legend is to be believed, however, international competition between players from different nations dates back more than 2,500 years.

An ‘international’ said to have been played between Persians and Turanians of Central Asia in 600BC is, in fact, the basis for polo’s claim to being the oldest of team games. With no archaeological evidence, the extensive references to polo in ancient Persian manuscripts are the best indication that the sport first started in what is now Iran.

Iran’s revered national epic is the Shahnama (‘Book of Kings’), written in the 10th and 11th centuries by poet-historian Hakim Abu al-Qasim Mansur, better known by his nom-de-plume Ferdowsi. This masterpiece of 60,000 verses took Ferdowsi 35 years to complete and covers Persia’s royal lineage from ‘the beginning of time’ through the Arab conquest of the country in the 7th century. Countless individual copies of the Shahnama were produced over the early centuries after Ferdowsi by Persian calligraphers and artists. The manuscripts were lavishly illustrated with miniature paintings, some depicting polo.

Like other historians of his day, Ferdowsi relied heavily upon oral tradition, myth and legend in describing Persia’s rulers, their great battles, royal romances – and polo. His account of that 600BC polo ‘international’ is almost certainly more legend than fact, but it is a tale worth telling nonetheless.

Ferdowsi’s polo-playing hero is Prince Syavash, son of a Persian king. Having survived a series of court intrigues, Syavash went on to lead Persian armies against their

traditional enemies, the nomadic Turanians to the north. Then, faced with further intrigues at home, the prince fled into selfimposed exile with thousands of followers, into the court of his old enemy, the Turanians.

King Afrasiab of Turan received Syavash with honour and, knowing of his prowess on the polo ground as well as the battlefield, the king proposed that the prince lead a team in a seven-a-side match before the court.

Initially Afrasiab proposed Syavash choose teammates from among Turanian players. But the prince of Persia argued that the king’s men would not support him and ‘I shall be left to hit the ball alone’. Afrasiab relented and the prince was allowed to choose his team from amongst his own skilled Persian followers. So the game effectively became an international contest, Persians vs Turanians.

Ferdowsi waxed romantically about the performance of Syavash: ‘Syavash galloped his charger so fast that, as he reached the ball, it disappeared in the clouds of dust… he hit the ball so fiercely that it vanished into thin air… Syavash then changed his horse, dropped the ball from his hand and hit it with the stick in such a way that in an instant the ball was face to face with the moon…’

With the Persians getting the better of their hosts, according to Ferdowsi, the

Turanian players and the king became angry.

Fearing some fatal post-match retaliation, Syavash instructed his team to hold back to let the home team win, in effect throwing the match – better to lose a polo game than to lose one’s head.

Syavash settled in Turan, having been granted land, a palace and the hand of King Afrasiab’s daughter in marriage. In the end, however, his enemies in Afrasiab’s court prevailed and he lost his head after all.

The year 2010 marked the millennium of the Shahnama, the longest epic poem ever written, three times the length of Homer’s Iliad. The 1,000 years were celebrated both in the Islamic Republic of Iran and around the world with exhibitions, seminars and research projects by major museums and universities. They were fitting tributes to one of the greatest works of literature ever.

And in polo, we have Ferdowsi to thank for clues, however tenuous, as to the ancient origins of our game.

The polo-playing hero of the Shahnama, Iran’s epic poem, is the Prince of Persia, Syavash

The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence

The first ever international polo match was not an Anglo-American affair in1886, as most people think, but a game played millennia ago between two Middle Eastern rivals. Herbert Spencer explains

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gonzalo pieres jr.

Ten-goal player.

International polo champion.

Winner of Argentina’s coveted Triple Crown. He’s lived up to his namesake. And made a name of his own.

rolex. a crown for every achievement.

OYSTER PERPETUAL DATEJUST II

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Dubai, 15–18 February 2011

The Julius Baer Group is present in over 40 locations worldwide. From Zurich (Head Of fice), Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Guernsey, Hong Kong, London, Lugano, Milan, Monaco, Montevideo, Moscow, Nassau, Singapore to St. Moritz. w w w.juliusbaer.com

Approved for issue and distribution in the UK by Julius Baer International Limited, London, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Approved for issue and distribution in Guernsey by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., Guernsey Branch, which is regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. Services are provided by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. in Switzerland and Guernsey and by all of the banking, investment advisory or broker/dealer entities of Julius Baer insofar as these entities are registered and regulated under applicable law in their respective jurisdictions. Investment services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the Bank. The audited fi nancial statements of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. are available on request. Persons dealing with offi ces of the Julius Baer Group outside the UK will not be covered by rules and regulations made for the protection of investors under the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and under the rules of the Financial Services Authority.

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