Frederick Howard Mannix

He has a handicap of 6 with the USPA and 9 in the rest of the world, and his team, Alegría, fnished fnalist in the 2013 Argentine Open. Fred Mannix Jr credits an early start to his career and excellent mentors for his considerable success

illUStrAtiOn PHil diSley

I’m a second-generation polo player. I grew up on a farm in Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, and had access to horses from an early age. My father had a rating of 2 goals. He played for the Fish Creek Polo Team and made the fnals of the US Open twice. Fish Creek played in Indio, California, during the winter months and this allowed me to be part of those great seasons early in my career. As a child, I took part in the Pee-Wee kids weekend programme run by Joe Barry, Corky Linfoot, Steve Crowder and Artie Cameron. From these organised practices, I learnt the basics of polo. It was here, too, that I met some of my best friends. In 2000, Eldorado Polo Club in Indio hosted the qualifers for the FIP tournament to be played in Australia and I was selected for the Canadian national team. I was just 16, and this was my frst real big competition and the one that would launch my career in international polo. We ended up playing against the USA for the last qualifying spot and won. It was an amazing game, full of tension and adrenaline, and everyone was so proud of us. I was really thrilled to be part of the excitement and to be representing Canada on the world stage.

During the summer of 2005, we took a Canadian team to play two test matches in South Africa. Our team was 24 goals, so quite a good level for an international match. We played our frst match in Durban – an excellent game with some great horses lent by local players. Our second, in Johannesburg, was equally good fun, and the whole trip was a great way to bond with fellow countrymen.

That year, I also played my frst season of high-goal polo in Argentina, with the famous Araya brothers. Benjamin invited me to take the place of his brother Pepe, with whom he had won the Camerra the year before. After not qualifying for Hurlingham and the Open, I stayed for the rest of the season. I enjoyed spectating at the Open, but this made me even more determined to play in it and, with hard work and a bit of luck, in 2007, I qualifed for the frst time. Though we lost all our games, being included in the best tournament in the world was a fantastic experience and propelled me into the upper echelons of our sport.

I’ve since played in six Argentine Opens with Alegría, reaching the fnal for the frst time this year. With Polito, Hillario and Lucas, we had an incredible team. We all found our places within it and worked well together from the frst throw-in, playing a great style of polo: very open and moving the ball as fast as we could. It gained us a lot of fans along the way!

Over the course of my career, I’ve been lucky to have had several excellent mentors. Julio Zavaleta was my father’s pro for 17 years and they have a great friendship to this day. Polo is a unique world to grow up in and, with Julio’s guidance, I was able to navigate the pressures that are put upon a talented young player. He is a great horseman and taught me the single most important thing to understand if you’re trying to become the best player you can: get yourself mounted. By that, I mean really mounted – to the point where, if you fnd a pony that will improve your string, you buy it. Work a deal in payments or rent it or somehow engineer it so you can play this horse. Building your string is a never-ending pursuit and you will never be satisfed with where you are, but good horses provide you

with time to think on the feld and are a necessity if you want to play on the best teams with the best players and represent yourself in the best way. It’s so rewarding when you get it right.

Another of my mentors was the famous Mariano Aguerre – a champion in every respect. He is both a winner and a great captain, and, during two seasons in Argentina, he moulded me as a player. When I was younger, I was quite selfsh and ball-hungry, but he helped me understand the complexity of the game – that is, how to play within my ability while also being a team player – and made me realise it’s not all about scoring goals.

From playing the Triple Crown down in Argentina, we’ve been lucky to ride great ponies and, from them, we’ve started our own breed. Every year, we’ve been improving our stallions and bloodlines to the point where, today, we have three stallions that played at least one of the tournaments in the Triple Crown and six mares that were in the fnal of the Argentine Open. Mares from Pieres, Aguerre and Heguy are providing the base for expanding our breed, which will hopefully turn into future champions for us to play in Palermo. Although it’s a long and delicate investment of time and money, we’re starting to see some of them make it to the polo feld. Our goal is to have at least one of our babies play the Triple Crown next year – if we manage that, the satisfaction will be immense.

My wife Kelsea and our daughter Brooklyn travel with me throughout the year and I enjoy just being at home with them when I’m not playing. I also spend my free time hunting birds, fshing, playing golf and going to watch my hockey team, the Calgary Flames. And I’m a long-time Miami Heat fan – watching them play basketball in their home city is electric, really exciting. My grandparents still live in Calgary and I like to spend time with them when I’m home. We have a polo farm south of the city and it’s a paradise to retreat to at the weekend. We relax, work out, and simply enjoy being outside. My wife and I are pretty active, so being outdoors is real pleasure.

The feeling of being on a championship team like Alegría is incredible. Once you gain momentum over a season with a good team, through a lot of hard work and careful analysis, you can turn it into a great team, and that’s very fulflling. Polo has given me the chance to play all over the world and that’s been wonderful. Playing a sport I love, with people I respect and travelling to do so is simply the best career combination I can think of.