Summer 2012

HURLINGHAM P OL O M AG A Z I N E J U N E 2 012

THE AMERICAN SEASON

HURLINGHAM

CONTENTS

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Ponylines News from around the polo world, including the Chief Executive’s column

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Eye on Asia The future of polo in Pakistan looks bright, judging by the high-goal season

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Pony Creation Breeder Emma Treichl believes you can ‘grow your own string of polo ponies’

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Cap, Gown and Mallet US college polo has seen its fortunes wax and wane, but a new era is coming

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An Amateur’s View of Polo Eve Branson discusses the link between polo and her Moroccan charity initiative

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British Polo Day An ambitious polo project started by two friends is spreading British heritage and culture around the world

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Champions League We reproduce parts of Carlos Gracida’s thank-you speech from his Museum of Polo’s Living Hall of Fame induction

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Profile: Peter Abisheganaden The FIP tournament director on his role and experience putting on the first FIP Snow Polo World Cup in China

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Action Reports and pictures from across the globe, including the Florida season and Tianjin’s Snow Polo World Cup

Snow Polo and Fine Claret Exquisite wine dinners complemented the exciting match play at the inaugural FIP Snow Polo World Cup in Tianjin

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Archive Was it perhaps Texas and not New York that was American polo’s true birthplace?

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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 Hurlingham Media 47-49 Chelsea Manor St, London SW3 5RZ +44 (0) 771 483 6102 hurlingham@hpa-polo.co.uk; www.hurlinghampolo.com Colour Reproduction fmg (www.groupfmg.com) Printing Gemini Press (www.gemini-press.co.uk)

The Game of Queens Herbert Spencer looks back over the reign of Queen Elizabeth and her enduring support of polo

HURLINGHAM MAGAZINE Publisher Roderick Vere Nicoll Executive Editor Peter Howarth Editor Arabella Dickie Deputy Editor Herbert Spencer Contributing Photographer David Lominska Editor-At-Large Alex Webbe Senior Designer Julia Allen Chief Copy Editor Chris Madigan Copy Editors Sarah Evans, Ming Liu

Cover: Mike Azzuro David Lominska/polographics.com

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

FOREWORD RODERICK VERE NICOLL – PUBLISHER

tournament, where 12 teams competed, in the Action section. In Palm Beach, the season was full of surprises. As luck would have it, Robert Jornayvaz, on his gap year, was able to play in the 26-goal with Cambiaso. Mike Azzaro, our cover star this issue, was supposed to play with Cambiaso but was dropped and then picked up by Zacara. He ended up winning the US Open and being the MVP of the final.

It has been seven years since I started Hurlingham and we have come up with a new look! The re-design brief was to present a modern design that could be transferred across a number of media platforms. I hope you enjoy our new appearance!

On hurlinghampolo.com we are covering all the high-goal days of play in England and will also be streaming a number of games.

For those of you who want to practise your Chinese, have a look at the Chinese site.

It is a wonderful time to be in England. The country is united in celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee and in one of our feature stories, Herbert Spencer pays tribute to her involvement in the game of polo over the last 60 years. After a very wet start to the season, the sun has finally come out and the quality of polo has been very good. Read about the St Regis test match in the Action section, on page 57. A huge thanks should go out to Marc Ganzi for fielding a competitive USA team, which lost in the final seconds of the game.

Hopefully Marc will return to the UK with a team for the high goal next year, and play in the Coronation and the Westchester Cups!

The world is looking towards Asia, and we have included a number of articles that focus on the region. If you like fine wine, you will enjoy reading about the vintages that were served during the dinners at the FIP Snow Polo World Cup in Tianjin. We also cover the

CONTRIBUTORS

Emma Treichl is a housewife and mother – her ‘finest achievement’ – and in between is, variously, an organiser of art exhibitions and art courses, an occasional publisher, a food-fair coordinator and a charity fund-raiser.

Based in Dorset, Emma spends summers playing polo and the winters hunting.

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James Harper started playing polo in the Goodwood Pony Club aged 12 and by 24 had reached 6-goals. He has played for Young England and the main England team. This year he is playing mainly with Irongate (8-goal), Hurlingham Media (12) and Golden Falcons (15). James lives in Midhurst with his wife and son.

Phil Disley has been a cartoonist and illustrator for 20 years. He regularly works for The Independent, The Guardian, Financial Times and GQ. Appreciated by his subjects as well as editors and the public, his work is collected by the likes of David Cameron, Marco Pierre White, Steven Gerrard and Andy Murray.

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Eve Branson is a mother of three and grandmother of 11. She served as a probation officer and MP, is an advocate for child welfare and an author. Eve founded the not-for-profit Eve Branson Foundation, proving training and incomeproducing projects for girls living in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

PONYLINES [NEWS] AUDI POLO AWARDS, A NEW BOOK RELEASE, BEACH POLO WORLD CUP AND MUCH MORE

ONE TO WATCH

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

Robert Jornayvaz is 19 years old and will be attending the University of Virginia this fall, the same university that captured the National Intercollegiate Polo Championships this spring. Jornayvaz’s polo accomplishments might not include a national intercollegiate title, yet, but he can claim being a member of the 2012 USPA Piaget Gold Cup championship team, and also having played with two of the world’s top players in 10-goalers Adolfo Cambiaso and David ‘Pelon’ Stirling.

‘It was an incredible experience,’ says Jornayvaz.

‘I learned so much in such a short period of time from playing with them.’

Currently carrying a 0-goal handicap the young player participated in four 20-goal tournaments as well as all three 26-goal competitions. His Valiente II team lost in the finals of the Royal Salute CV Whitney Cup and won the Gold Cup. Throughout these tournaments, he was splitting his time between the show jumping at the prestigious Winter Equestrian Festival and the high-goal polo.

‘I think having to participate in two equestrian disciplines at this level forced me to concentrate even harder on each of them,’ he said. And judging by his success on the field, his efforts paid off. Alex Webbe

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PONYLINES

CHIEF EXECUTIVE After the worst April since records began, it looked as if May was not going to be any better. However, the weather has at last come good at the time of my writing this, and just in time for the first international of the season and the start of the Queen’s Cup. There has not been much polo action to date due to the poor weather, although there has been plenty of activity off the field. In the second half of April the HPA was delighted to sign a three-year agreement with Audi for the sponsorship of an International series of three matches, at Beaufort Polo Club, Guards Polo Club (for the Coronation Cup) and Chester Racecourse, a new venue, at the end of the season. Audi is now the most significant sponsor by far for the HPA and one of the major polo sponsors in the world.

Prior to the three-match series, St Regis staged the opening international of the year at Cowdray Park. Bad weather meant the match had to be moved from Lawns, although Ambersham 1 provided as good a setting as any for a great day. We are very grateful to Marc Ganzi who put together the USA team that day and it is hoped that it has been a stepping stone to playing the Westchester here in England in 2013, and to persuading Marc that he should play the English high-goal season.

Once again we saw Audi sponsoring an excellent awards dinner at Coworth during the week leading up to the International. It was great to see Jim Haigh and the late Colonel Alec Harper recognised with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

At Guards, the new chairman Jock Green-Armytage, and chief executive Neil Hobday, are to be congratulated for putting in new drainage and combining with Coworth. This should be good news for Guards as it will eventually provide them with two excellent grounds with which to host more home games.

One of the main changes for the HPA has been the decision to realign the England teams and to introduce Young England as a team for ages 25 and under. The idea is to play such a team at the Suffolk Test Match on 30 June and then again at the Audi International Day at Guards for a new Diamond Jubilee Trophy.

Miniatures of the trophy will be awarded to the winners.

In recognition of HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, it was agreed that the Silver Jubilee Trophy would be played for at the St Regis Test match. Congratulations to the England team who ran out the winners by half a goal, the USA having failed to convert a 60 with 15 seconds to go. The Golden Jubilee Trophy will now be played for at the Beaufort Polo Club, and it is hoped to commission a Chester Diamond Jubilee Trophy to recognise that the first international at Chester was played in the Diamond Jubilee year.

On the rules front, it has been decided that little is achieved by the umpires placing the ball for a Penalties 5a or 5b, other than to irritate the players. Players will now be allowed 15 seconds to place the ball themselves for all penalties. So, although we have had a rather faltering start to the season, hopefully we are now set fair for the summer.

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^ AUDI INTERNATIONAL POLO SERIES For the forthcoming UK polo season the HPA, supported by Audi, have together created the brand new ‘Audi International Polo Series’. The series will feature three Internationals for the season at different venues across the country. It will include the newly named Audi International at Guards Polo Club, near Windsor (formerly the Cartier International); the Audi International at Beaufort Polo Club, Gloucestershire; and the first-ever Audi International match at Chester Racecourse Polo Club.

David Woodd, chief executive of the HPA, comments: ‘Audi and the HPA have been working very closely together with the England team and its increased involvement with this International Series is fantastic news for polo.’ Jon Zammett, head of PR for Audi UK, adds: ‘This is a very exciting development. Polo delivers an ideal, high-end, yet hard to reach target audience for Audi.’

The investment by Audi in the Polo International Series, together with its existing sponsorship of the England polo team (pictured), will make the car company the biggest supporter of polo in the UK.

\ POLO IN BRITAIN Author, polo player and surgeon Horace A Laffaye, is on the board of directors of the Museum of Polo and is chairman of the polo Hall of Fame nominating committee. His latest book, Polo in Britain: A History, chronicles the sport’s beginnings in the British Isles in the 1860s through to the summer of 2011. It recounts the development of polo clubs, including the rise and fall of once-mighty citadels of the game; describes the major competitions and many of the lesser tournaments in England and Ireland; and gives particular attention to international contests. Biographical sketches of top players, from early innovators to current superstars, and reflections on current issues affecting the game – including the rise of commercialism

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and the decrease of civility and sportsmanship – make this a vivid panorama of British polo.

PONYLINES

HOOKED ON POLO ^ AUDI POLO AWARDS 2012 On 16 May the Audi Polo Awards were held at Coworth Park, Ascot. Ros Packer, wife of former patron of the Ellerston team, the late Kerry Packer, flew in from Australia to present a new award, the Polofix Outstanding Contribution to World Polo, to Jim Gilmore. Gilmore introduced the Packer/Ellerston set-up to polo and has created what is considered the most influential organisation in polo over the past 20 years. Ros Packer also presented the Kerry Packer Most Outstanding High-Goal Pony Award to Juan Martin Nero’s horse, Chica. Other big winners of the evening were Lyndon Lea’s Zacara team (Lea’s personal performance at the Gold Cup last year, despite playing with a broken hand, earned him The Royal Salute Most Outstanding High-Goal Patron), Facundo Sola, Sebastian Merlos and Brits Ollie Cudmore and James Beim, who was awarded the Audi Most Outstanding British Professional for the second consecutive year. The HPA Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Jim Haigh, chairman at Toulstone Polo Club, Yorkshire, and the late Colonel Alec Harper, HPA secretary from 1971 to 1989. The Thai Polo Club World Dream Team, chosen on the evening of the awards, consisted of (pictured, from left to right) Facundo Pieres, Agustin Merlos, John Paul Clarkin and Juan Martin Nero.

Melissa Ganzi is one of the very few female high-goal patrons in the sport of polo. Her list of championships includes the 2012 Hall of Fame Cup and the Butler Handicap at the International Polo Club in Wellington; Santa Barbara Polo Club’s 2009 Bill Triller 20-goal, the 2007 Western Badge and Trophy 20-goal, and the 2008 Mayors Cup, all of which were played at Santa Barbara.

Additional wins include the 2009 WCT Championship in Wellington, Florida; the 2008 Miami Beach Polo World Cup; the Aspen Snow Polo Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2009; and the North America Cup in 2009. She was also the first woman player to capture the Monte Waterbury Cup (2001).

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

Ganzi was also part of a historic moment in the game last year when she and several other players set a world record for the most consecutive chukkas played, playing 30 chukkas in a benefit match for the Wounded Warriors project in Aiken, South Carolina.

Polo is a family sport for Ganzi, playing with and against husband Marc in both high-goal and medium-goal play. Son Grant and daughter Riley are hooked on the sport, too, and can be found at the forefront of youth polo events throughout the year. The family club, Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington, Florida, serves not just as a training facility for the Ganzis’ teams, but also for frequent tournament venues for all levels of play, including the spring and autum seasons that attract both locals and visiting players from around the world.

Ganzi’s dedication to the sport comes in many forms, from sponsorship of youth polo events and charitable functions such as Best Buddies, to her support of the Museum of Polo and her instrumental part in bringing the Westchester Cup international competition to the United States in 2009 (she donated over 30 horses for the British team to use). Her recent hosting of the Gay Polo League, its first national polo tournament, on her Grand Champions fields, is yet another example of her passionate commitment to polo.

Alex Webbe

\ SUPA JUNIOR SCHOOLS On 11 March I played my first polo tournament with older boys from different schools. I am nine and in Year 1 at Summer Fields School in Oxford, where we play polo. I learned to play in Argentina. The SUPA (Schools and Universities Polo Association) National Junior Schools Arena Championships are held once a year. Ten teams competed this year at the Division 1 and 2 levels. Because players from Summer Fields were absent, I moved to the A team in Division 1. Most of the boys were in Year 3 to Year 5. I played in both Division 1 and Division 2 games. In Division 1, we won our first game, and then drew the second game putting us in the finals. We were energised and ready. We never thought we could make it so far, but we did! In the final, we played Cothill whose team was made up of Year 5 boys. We did our best, played as a team, but they were the better team.

We enjoyed collecting our second-place prizes and look forward to playing again.

Someday I would like to play for Eton or even for England.

Christian Alexander Oberschneider

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PONYLINES

CHUKKAS Harald Link’s Thai Polo leads the RMPA International League (Malaysia) after three tournaments. They have made the last three consecutive finals and are now favourites to win the league, with only one tournament left to go in the 14-goal season.

Asad Jumabhoy’s La Sarita was winner of the Thai Polo Open in January this year, but their results have dipped since Argentine Benjamin Araya broke his collarbone during the Royal Pahang Classic in April. The Thai team will be playing in the Cowdray Park Gold Cup for the second year running.

\ BEACH POLO WORLD CUP Fourteen polo teams returned to Miami Beach for the ninth annual Beach Polo World Cup. The action began on 25 April with a kick-off party at The Raleigh Hotel, introducing the eight women’s teams that would do battle the following day in the Maserati South Beach Women’s Polo Cup. The Heys USA team took the top honours while the Bulgari team finished first in the lower bracket. A press party introducing the six men’s entries was held that evening. Two days of play took place in the 12-goal competition. By virtue of net goals, the Maserati team were eliminated and the Yellow Cab v The Raleigh finals were set when the rains came. The sand arena was flooded and by 11am it was decided to cancel the finals. A Monday match was arranged between Yellow Cab and The Raleigh, but player logistics did not line up and Yellow Cab won by virtue of default. Despite the disappointment of the finals being rained off, players and patrons alike made plans to return in 2013. Alex Webbe

James Mills received the Posthumous Hall of Fame Award in February. He was 8-goals, won the US Open twice, and was a prominent owner and breeder of Thoroughbreds. This tradition has been continued by his daughter Phyllis Mills Wyeth, who bred and owns Union Rags. In the Kentucky Derby, Union Rags started as the second favourite, but had a bad start from an outside gate and never had a clear run, finishing seventh. With no chance of the Triple Crown, Union Rags did not run in the Preakness but went straight to the Belmont on 9 June.

The Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club of Tianjin, China is organising a four team, 24goal invitational with FIP in early October. England, USA, Argentina and Hong Kong are invited. In January 2013 they will stage the second Snow Polo World Cup invitational for 12 teams.

In Florida, the 26-goal is pretty much at capacity with 11 teams.

There are seven 10-goalers and nine 9-goalers in the world, and most are on a team. So, for 0- or 1-goal patrons who want to compete, waiting time is a year and they will pay over the odds for a decent team. For patrons who are 2-goals and above, for which there are only a handful in the world, they can put together a team of three 8-goalers, but then the problem is struggling to find players with good enough organisation to play.

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MOTORCYCLE POLO ‘Moto-polo’, a quirky take on traditional polo that substitutes horses for motorbikes, has seen a boom in popularity in East African countries. Reaching speeds of up to 45mph, players race around a field, one driver and another teammate sitting behind with the mallet. The sport is the brainchild of American expats Sam Dargan and Matt Smith, who in 2008 decided to take advantage of Rwanda’s abundance of motorcycles (which are commonly used as taxis). There are few rules, five players per team, opposing goals and 15-minute quarters with cold beers in between. The sport spread to Uganda last year, when a match also served as a fund-raiser to help pay the legal fees of sexually-trafficked Ugandan women.

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OUR NEW LOOK Hurlingham’s new design includes modernised typography and a clean layout for easy-on-the-eye reading. We wanted to transfer this new aesthetic to a versatile web-based format for cross-platform media outlets, bringing flexibility and distribution capacities to the online, global audience. The magazine’s new bespoke size allows us to transfer content easily into digital format without altering the page layout.

PONYLINES

SADDLE UP WITH...

Mike Azzaro (pictured, with his son), 7-goals, lives in San Antonio, Texas. He began playing polo in 1971 and won his first US Open championships in 1986. He was named Young Player of the Year in 1987, and went on to win five more US Open titles, attaining a 10-goal rating aged 27 (a rating he held for 13 years). In 2012 he returned to the US Open winners’ circle for the first time in 15 years, picking up MVP honours along the way.

What makes polo special for you?

It’s the combination of the sport as an athletic and equestrian discipline, the chemistry you develop with your horse and your teammates. Polo does not celebrate individual accomplishments.

Who do you respect most in polo?

As a sponsor I would say Lyndon Lea, not just because I played with him on his Zacara team but because he is a warrior. He played the Gold Cup this year with a broken hand and was injured in the finals of the Open but continued to play. As a patron he sees to it that his players have an extra two or three horses that give them that extra edge when they go to the field. I respect Cambiaso as a professional because of his vast talent and ability.

LOVE OF MY LIFE...

PONY’S NAME: ANSELMO SEX: STALLION

AGE: 11 ORIGIN: ARGENTINA

The 11-year-old stallion of Sebastian Merlos, Anselmo, was named Horse of the Year following the 2012 Palm Beach International high-goal season. Anselmo played five seasons at Pilara in Argentina before coming to the United States.

During the course of the 2012 season, he was played by Merlos in 20-goal competition and by brother Agustin in 26-goal tournaments.

Anselmo was named Best Playing Pony in the 20-goal Ylvisaker Cup earlier in the year, and then came back to carry Agustin Merlos into the 26-goal tournaments. ‘He’s always been a very

intelligent horse,’ said Sebastian Merlos. ‘He’s very calm – he always plays the same. My son plays him in the Avendano Cup and even my daughter rides him.’

The character of this horse and his playing abilities are not his only assets. Four of his daughters are playing in 26-goal action in the United States.

‘This is the first generation of his offspring competing here [at International Polo Club Palm Beach],’ said Sebastian Merlos. ‘It’s very rare to see a father and his daughters playing on the field at the same time, and in the same game!’

Anselmo will be heading back to Argentina after the Palm Beach season where he can get back to work on breeding the next generation of top polo ponies.

Alex Webbe

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM, ANDY SMITH

[ POLO MOURNS SBU DUMA In May this year we were greatly saddened to hear of the untimely death of one of Hurlingham’s former cover stars, South African polo player Sbu Duma (read our Summer 2009 issue online). The 25-year old was attacked and fatally injured just days before he was due to travel to the UK to train for the summer. A former stable boy, Duma had climbed his way up the polo ranks through immense talent, passion and dedication, catching the attention of the BBC and the Maybach Foundation who supported and mentored him in his equestrian career. In 2008 Duma was awarded Most Valuable Player after an historic match that saw his team win the All Africa Cup at Inanda, Johannesburg – the first victory for an all-black South African team.

He had competed many times abroad since, and had great potential to reach the level of the world’s top polo players. Duma was, and will remain, an inspirational role model to all. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends and mentors in the polo community.

What is your most memorable polo game?

The semi-finals of the 1995 Argentine Open when I was playing on the La Mariana team with Sebastian and Pite Merlos and Milo FernandezAraujo against Chapa II, winning by 22-21. I’ll never forget the standing ovation I received at Palermo and the sound of spectators chanting my name. Although we eventually lost, I will never forget that moment. This year’s US Open win, the first in 15 years, brought that feeling back to me.

What have you been up to lately?

Very little. I was geared up to play on the US team in the Westchester Cup in 2009 when an accident sidelined me for most of the season. Last year I suffered a fall. I’ve really only played about three months of polo in the past two years. Maybe my stock will go up after this year’s Open win.

Alex Webbe

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CAP, GOWN AND MALLET US college polo has seen its fortunes wax and wane. But, asks Henry Grabar Sage, could a renaissance be on the way?

The crowd at the Oxley Equestrian Center in Ithaca, New York has started to cheer. After a dismal first chukka, in which the University of Virginia (UVA) outscored the home team Cornell Big Red 8-0, the teams have switched horses.

With both teams riding Cornell ponies, a sort of home-field advantage kicks in, and Cornell knock in two goals unanswered. The crowd of over a hundred, starts yelling and clapping. A chant of ‘Go Big Red’, rises from the bleachers.

But the euphoria is short-lived. The Cavaliers find their footing and ride to a 29-12 victory, and a spot in the men’s finals on Sunday. There are some impressive highlights – Mauricio Lopez’s volley for the 13th goal in particular – but Virginia’s strength is their efficiency. Counterattacking, in particular, they are fast and they do not miss chances.

I watched the game with Texas A&M coach Mike McCleary, who has won national championships with three different schools over 40 years.

‘This is the roots of it,’ McCleary said, looking on as the Cavaliers concluded their display.

‘Everybody’s always saying, what good is the I/I? What does it do for polo?’ Interscholastic/ Intercollegiate polo, or I/I, is the United States Polo Association’s (USPA) department for high school and college polo programmes. ‘If we don’t

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back our youth players,’ McCleary concluded sombrely, ‘the sport will die.’

He and many others think the future of polo in this country depends upon the success of college programmes like these. We are in the midst of a college polo renaissance: the number of college programmes has grown from six men’s teams in 1973 to 62 programmes today, 38 of which are women’s teams. College polo has been instrumental in getting women into the game. But according to the USPA, despite the boom in college play, the number of people playing polo in America has hardly changed.

You might think, from the numbers, that polo is becoming a fixture at American universities.

Nearly 1,000 kids compete every year in high school and college polo. But creating and sustaining a polo team is expensive and only a few American schools have teams that can compete at the highest level. Of the five dozen college polo teams in existence today, only the top tier can boast of having their own horses and their own arena.

Fewer still have what can be called a fan base and only a handful have won a national championship.

Diego Nuñez, a Harvard senior on the polo team, expressed a widely held view that there is a divide in college polo. ‘There are two tiers, in my mind,’ Nuñez told me. ‘Schools who can recruit and

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who can compete on an intercollegiate level, and kids who learn as much as they can in four years.’

In terms of the sport’s growth, the lower level is the more dynamic. A recent success story is Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) programme, which SMU undergrad Enrique Ituarte started three years ago. Ituarte is from Mexico, but attended boarding school at Indiana’s Culver Military Academy. Culver is the most historically successful team in scholastic polo, the level beneath college polo. Ituarte went to the national championship four times with Culver, and lost each time.

As a freshman at SMU, Ituarte convinced Culver coach Tom Goodspeed to join him in Dallas. With Ituarte’s vision, and his family’s generosity in supplying horses, Ituarte and Goodspeed started the school polo team. Three years later, helped by the play of former Culver polo team captain and SMU sophomore August Scherer, they had arrived at Cornell, competing in the national championship tournament. A first-round loss did not lessen the achievement.

The story is unusual only in that the team found success so quickly. The closest thing to a constant in the development of a college polo team is that it depends on the commitment of one or two people. Universities provide ‘club sports’ funding – usually a few thousand dollars – and the

TALK

Left Harvard men v Yale at Jack Wills Varsity tournament, Guard’s Polo Club, UK, 2011. Below UVA men v Westmont in finals of the USPA Intercollegiates, 2012 Right University of Pennsylvania’s Meredith Shea at the USPA mid-state regional tournament in Ohio, 2012

TRISH ORNDORFF/LEAP OF FAITH PHOTOGRAPHY, FRANCIS HINKLE, JACK WILLS

USPA has set aside $30,000 annually for ‘start-up and enhancement’ grants of $2,000 each. But institutions don’t create polo teams, students do.

The University of Pennsylvania is another newcomer to the college polo scene. Meredith Shea, a junior, started the team in December 2010, during her second year. Local polo hero Lezlie Hiner, whose Work to Ride programme coached Polo Training Foundation’s 2011 Male Interscholastic Player of the year Kareem Rosser, and won the 2011 Interscholastic championship, agreed to coach the team. Shea posted fliers on campus and organised training sessions for the new recruits. But while the young Penn teams practise in Hiner’s barn in Fairmount Park, they travel farther for four chukkas of polo than most of us would for a family reunion.

‘There’s been a lot of travelling,’ Shea said, ‘because we don’t have the capacity to host.’ This season, the team travelled for games against Vassar (3h15, one way), Yale (3h30), and the University of Massachusetts (5h15). At the USPA mid-state regional tournament held near Cincinnati (9h50) this March, Penn got its first win.

Ituarte, Shea and their counterparts at Brown (polo team founded 2011), Idaho (2005), and Vassar (2001), are resurrecting a college polo

tradition that is more than 100 years old. Strategic connections make the sport possible, in the form of alumni support, institutional grants and local club collaboration. But there is no template for success, and the sport’s oldest teams, like its newest, have had to seek new and innovative support systems.

The first formal, American college polo game was played in 1907, when Harvard met Yale at the Myopia Polo Club, 30 miles north of Boston. The teams played there again last fall, but this is no annual ritual. While both of these colleges, with their reputation for catering to the American aristocracy, seem like the perfect staging grounds

The actor Tommy Lee Jones is a benefactor of the Harvard team and hosts players at his Texas ranch

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for polo, each has struggled mightily to keep its team afloat. Harvard’s current iteration is only six years old; Yale’s team is the oldest in the country but as I wrote in the spring issue of Hurlingham, it narrowly survived a recent crisis.

These universities once boasted some of the best polo teams in the country. Yale taught and trained Harry Payne Whitney and Winston Guest, men credited with putting an American stamp on the game. In the Twenties and Thirties, the national title always went either to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell or West Point. But after World War II, with the termination of the US Cavalry programme, part of polo’s institutional foundation vanished. The Reserve Officer Training Corps had used polo to train officers at many American universities, and the death of that tradition put college polo in a bad way. By the early Seventies, there were only six men’s teams remaining.

But a new model, if it can be called that, was emerging. In 1952, a group of students and faculty members at the University of Virginia founded a polo team that operated with total financial independence from the school. Playing on what had been a cornfield near Charlottesville, the team ran on student dues and donations.

The horses came from the students themselves and from benefactors. By the Sixties, the team

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Yale 2011-12 men and women’s polo teams

was consistently finishing in the top three of a shrinking field of college polo teams.

Duncan Huyler, the USPA committee chairman for I/I, thinks Virginia’s model is about as good, and as stable, as it gets. ‘The ideal is some form of alumni support,’ he told me. ‘Schools like UVA – they have an indoor arena, outdoor arena, 70

College programmes have grown from six men’s teams in 1973 to 62 today

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who graduate with an addiction to polo and no polo family to come home to.

‘That’s why this sport is so important to us,’ said Bobby Isakson, an Alabama native who plays for SMU. ‘It could be 10 or 20 years before we’re able to afford to play again.’

Huyler and the USPA are trying to decrease the waiting time, during which other, more accessible hobbies might supplant polo. ‘We’ve got to get the kids back into the game,’ Huyler said. ‘A lot of kids don’t come back. It’s time-consuming, it’s expensive – but you understand what a rush it is.

If you like the sport it’s the best thing there is. How do we keep the kids in the game?’ The USPA tries to keep recent graduates on membership rolls, and bring them back to umpire games and coach starter teams. Alumni events like Yale’s are part of that, too. But whether these polo newcomers become polo lifers is largely out of their hands.

‘Our coach likes to say it’s a narcotic sport,’ said Nuñez, who had never played before coming to Harvard but has spent summers on Tommy Lee Jones’s ranch. ‘Once you get to a certain point, it’s something you can’t imagine yourself not doing.’

‘That’s my number one reason for working hard,’ added Elizabeth Lebow, a sophomore at Cornell who transferred from Kentucky to play polo. ‘To support my polo habit.’

THOMAS BURNS

horses, all paid for by alumni and student dues, with no help from the university – that’s as close to an ideal as you can come.’

One of Huyler’s goals as I/I committee chairman is to double the number of teams by 2020. ‘We want to take clubs that haven’t been involved in high school or college polo and get them involved,’ Huyler said. ‘Or college teams that don’t have high school programmes; high school teams that don’t have colleges.’ The sport’s limiting factors are horses and places to play, so by

making the most of those resources, the USPA can encourage as much polo as possible.

Alumni support is crucial, too. The actor Tommy Lee Jones, for example, is a great benefactor of the Harvard team, and hosts players at his Texas ranch each summer. At Yale, I found that the returning graduates of a Saturday afternoon Yale Polo alumni day were mostly young, and unlike many alumni events, came not only to reminisce, drink Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and hopefully donate to the programme, but also to get on horseback and play.

Like many teams unlikely to compete for the national championship – Yale’s last was more than 20 years ago – Yale Polo has a low barrier to entry.

Polo has always struggled with an elitist reputation and college polo, particularly its less competitive teams, may be its most democratic incarnation.

Crocker Snow, who coaches the Harvard team, estimates that what students pay in dues at Harvard cover about a quarter of the operating costs. Yale’s dues for varsity players can run to over a thousand dollars a year, but that is not much more than the dues for certain campus sororities or fraternities. And it is a tiny fraction of what polo costs in the real world. This is the reality that has dawned on Yale’s recent graduates, and also those from all of the country’s college polo programmes

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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Legendary player Carlos Gracida was inducted into the Museum of Polo’s Living Hall of Fame in February this year. Parts of his speech of thanks is reproduced here

Carlos Gracida standing with all the trophies he has won

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in life became better, not only in polo but as people.

At one moment we had a 37-goal team representing Mexico and all of them were students of my father.

Another turning point came when I was 12. My father always spoke about his memories of playing at Meadowbrook in the Forties, and I remember trying to visualise what a 10-goal player looked and played like. Then, the two Dorignac brothers came to Mexico and I watched Frankie Dorignac score six penalty shots out of six sixties and a penalty five from the middle of the field. I thought, my god, if I’ve got what it takes to be a 10-goal player I better start practising.

The biggest turning point in my polo career was being invited by Steve Gose to play with the Retama team. Steve was the biggest polo promoter and had a club with 16 polo fields. You cannot imagine what that looks like. It’s a dream. I remember one really funny story, when he invited me to play with Memo when he was 7-goals, Steve was 1, Tommy Gose was 1 and I was 3. After we played the 12-goal Nationals and won, Steve said to me, ‘Boy, we are

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going to win the US Open some day with this team.’

I thought, this man is completely out of his mind! Six years later we won the US Open. Thank you Steve.

I’m a great believer of being in the right place at the right time. And that translates for me with having great teammates and great horses. First of all, I played with Memo in the USA. He opened the door for me. He won two or three Opens before we played together and conquered Argentina, becoming 10-goals. He was the first foreigner to bring horses from Mexico to Argentina to Palermo. Thank you, Memo. A second great teammate is Gonzalo Pieres. Gonzalo was a visionary, same as Memo, and changed the sport of polo for the benefit of the younger generations. A career highlight came in 1988 when I played with the La Espadaña team with Gonzalo and was lucky to score 10 goals. We won the Open, we became a 40-goal team, and they awarded me the Olimpia de Plata for the Most Valuable Player of Argentina. The funny story is, I didn’t know that this prize existed so did not collect it.

ALEX PACHECO

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you some of the most memorable moments of this long polo career. It’s been 34 years of playing professional. Out of those 34, I’ve been very lucky to play the US Open 29 times.

I started riding horses when I was two years old.

I had no option – and I mean this in the nicest way – because my father had a dream. His dream was for his two sons to become 10-goal players.

I will mention the words ‘turning point’ often during this speech, because there have been many.

The first was when I was working at the stables aged six, and my father gave me the task of watering the horses with my best friend, Moncho. We were skinny guys trying to carry big buckets of water and by the time we reached the corrals, the buckets were half-empty. After repeating this six times, I thought, I don’t want to be a professional polo player. There has to be something easier than being a polo player. How wrong I was... I have to thank my father who was the best teacher I’ve ever known. Everybody he touched

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A month later Gonzalito’s mother Cecilia, told me she had the Olimpia de Plata waiting for me at her house.

I had no idea it was the biggest privilege in polo!

Another teammate I have to mention is Roberto in England. We won the Gold Cup three times out of four. Roberto paid the price of being a younger brother; I made him work so hard! Thank you, Roberto.

1994 was probably my best year, when I won the US Open, the British Open and the Argentine Open. Even better was winning the Triple Crown in Argentina with great teammates like Mariano Aguerre and Adolfo Cambiaso. I also had the privilege to play with great players like Joe Barry, Bart Evans and Mike Azzaro, who for me has been the greatest American player for the last 30 years.

I also have to mention some of the sponsors.

People who support polo in a huge way are obviously Steve, Billy Ylvisaker – who created Palm Beach Polo and Country Club – and Peter Brant, a great competitor and teammate, who brought more sponsors than anybody can imagine. I see Pat Nesbitt here; we played the Pacific Coast Open.

And obviously John Goodman, who, by creating

Thanks for the privilege to be part of this group of heroes I’ve heard of since I was five

IPC, keeps polo going. Tommy Boyle, thank you.

You gave me the last win at the US Open.

I love the horses more than the sport itself.

Some of the greatest in the last 30 years include La Fortuna, played by Tommy Wayman, and Gonzalo Pieres’s Burrito and Levicu. I had a mare called Nony Nony who I won the Gold Cup in England with seven times. And Mr Polo with Memo.

Marsellesa was the only horse I have ever seen play three complete chukkas in Palermo, without changing. Luna was another fantastic mare.

I want to thank all of my childhood friends from Mexico that are here. Thank you Monica, my

girlfriend, for being here. Rubén, you were a great teammate and have been like an older brother, so thank you. Now I am going to go with the close family. Javier, thank you, he has been a bullfighter.

You pushed me to study and helped me finish high school. Memo, you’ve been a great captain, great player and a great brother, thank you. I have to thank my ex-wife Carmen, for supporting me with my career and for giving me two wonderful kids, Carlos and Mariano. I want to tell them how much I love them, how much I admire and respect them. I want to play polo with you guys; I played polo with my father when he was 65! Last but not least is my mother, Maria. She taught me good manners; not to be a good loser but to be a gracious loser and never give up.

And to the new and young polo players: follow your dreams. And remember, dedication, dedication, dedication. There is no other way to make it.

Thank you to the organisers, thank you to the committee for giving me the privilege to be a part of this wonderful group of heroes that I have heard of since I was five years old. And now, I am a part of that.

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TALK

DINNER AND A SHOW At the FIP Snow Polo World Cup 2012 held in Tianjin, officials, players and spectators enjoyed a series of extraordinary wine dinners During the inaugural FIP Snow Polo World Cup held from 2 to 12 February in Tianjin, China, Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club Hotel hosted a series of seven dinners featuring wines from top estates, as well as spectacular entertainment throughout the evening.

‘The idea of these wine dinners, like the Metropolitan Polo Club itself, is about bringing a high-quality lifestyle to Tianjin,’ explained Harvey Lee, vice-chairman of the hotel’s parent company Goldin Group. ‘The Snow Polo World Cup provides chukka after chukka of thrilling action in the afternoon. After a day’s excitement, nothing comes better than good food and wine.’

Featured wine estates of the dinners included Goldin Group’s own Pan Estate in Napa Valley (previously Sloan Estate) and Bordeaux’s Château

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Latour, Château Angelus, Château Cheval Blanc, Château d’Yquem, Château Cos d’Estournel, Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Palmer.

The menus were prepared by Edward Voon, the young executive chef of Le Pan at Metropolitan Polo Club Hotel, whose long list of accolades include ‘World Culinary Master’ and being named

by Restaurant magazine as one of the top 10 most innovative chefs around the world.

The menus incorporated an ancient Oriental five-element concept (metal, wood, water, fire and earth). Chef Voon explained, ‘These five elements not only represent the basic elements of our life but they also signify holistic well-being. According to Chinese feng shui, the five elements must be balanced in order to achieve good health and good fortune.’ A typical five-element menu includes

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courses such as gold ingot-pressed foie gras with passion fruits (metal); roast venison loin with tubers (wood); line-caught striped bass à la plancha’ (water); charcoal-grilled master wagyu (fire); and chocolate in different preparations and served with winter truffles (earth).

Wines for the dinners were expertly paired by Francesco Lee, president of wine venture at Goldin, in consultation with the châteaux. ‘In order to link up and showcase the five courses, wine of the highest quality is imperative. Being a wine enthusiast myself, I am more than excited to meet this challenge of finding the most suitable châteaux as well as doing the wine pairing,’ said Lee. Indeed, Metropolitan Polo Club has such close relationships with Bordeaux châteaux that this was already the second time for Château Latour, Château Cos

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Left and opposite Performances by the hearing-impaired dancers of the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe. Below 1982 Grand Vin de Chateau Latour was just one of the spectacular wines served to guests

Q&A: FRANCESCO LEE, PRESIDENT OF WINE VENTURE AT GOLDIN GROUP

d’Estournel and Château Palmer to host wine dinners at the club.

On pairing the wines with the food, Lee continued, ‘Food and wine pairing is an amazing job. Edward and I worked together with all the châteaux in an attempt not only to present the best vintages but also to deliver the best marriage with the food. We are very proud that château directors and winemakers co-host the dinners and shared their philosophies with us.’

Food and wine aside, guests were also well entertained. At the Château Angelus dinner, for example, the entertainment programme included operatic recitals by the Buenos Aires Opera Company, a show by renowned magician Peter Marvey, and performances by the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe. The latter’s ‘Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’ was featured at the closing ceremony of the 2004 Athens Paralympics and is performed by 20 hearing-impaired dancers to imitate a Chinese goddess with a thousand hands.

With over 2,000 guests attending, the scale of the series of dinners, as with the Snow Polo World Cup, was unprecedented in China. Chef Voon said, ‘In my career as a chef I have never prepared so many dinners with so many guests in such a short period of time. Delivering quantity and quality at the same time is a most difficult job for any chef.’

Judging from the smiling faces of the guests, however, Chef Voon can rest assured there is no question that his job was well executed.

What was the biggest challenge of organising these wine dinners?

Sourcing was difficult as there were around 300 to 400 guests each night and all the fine wines chosen were mature and delicious, such as Château Cos d’Estournel 1982 and Château Angelus 1994. Timing and temperature management are crucial.

Decanting according to the ages – which can be as wide apart as 20 years – and serving all guests within 10 minutes is not just a conscientious task but a precision art.

How popular is fine wine in China?

The majority of middle-class and high-networth Chinese know what glorious vintages such as 1961 and 1982 are, and what the 1855 [Bordeaux] classification is. In five-star hotels in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, over 50 per cent of the tables are being served with fine wines. Chinese people love to learn about fine wines through tasting.

Most of them taste from the top of the pyramid such as Château Pétrus and I see people are moving to try second growths.

What are the goals of the Metropolitan Polo Club as far as wine is concerned?

To have a seven-star cellar. We aim to be the

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best in terms of diversity, quality and depth. Our cellar will have rare and fine wines from around the world with excellent provenance and much sought-after drinking gems from the 19th and 20th centuries. Our objective is to let our members access the world’s finest wines easily from our cellar and enjoy them as they try them.

Can you list the best wines served at the wine dinners?

We served six to eight wines from each château and all were the best of the world’s fine wines. They were excellent representatives of each château’s special character such as Palmer 1983, Mouton 1986, Latour 1982 and d’Yquem 1975.

Which was your favourite wine among those served at the wine dinners and why?

My favourites were d’Yquem 1967, Mouton 1990 and Latour 1990. The latter is my favourite because of its perfect balance, width and deep fruit as well as its secondary aroma profile. D’Yquem 1967 met perfectly with crackling pork belly on the menu, with its elegant acidity breaking through the pork belly’s fat and enhancing its flavour. Mouton 1988 is just entering into the best drinking window because its fruit and floral content, including blackcurrent and violet, show good strength while the tannin is ripe but softened.

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TALK

EYE ON ASIA Judging by the latest season, the future of Pakistan’s polo is in good hands, says James Harper

The author teaching army officers and soldiers at the Mona Depo horse stud, a four-hour drive north-west of Lahore

Once you get over the goodbyes and the ‘keep safe over there!’, it’s onto the plane with the thought, here we go again! I’m travelling to Lahore, Pakistan where I’ll spend the next six weeks playing their ‘high-goal’ season 12- and 14-goal tournaments.

It’s my third time here, but my first experience of playing for the Pakistan Army. On the previous two trips, I played for some Karachi-based patrons and couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to play for, so I’m a little anxious, to say the least, to meet my new team at the Lahore Polo Club.

Luckily for me, it’s another fantastic group of players. Along with the club’s supporters, they would do anything for you and are always checking if we, the foreign pros, are okay. I couldn’t feel more welcome.

Once I’ve picked through the hundreds of horses you get given to try every day, it’s a matter

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of keeping those horses just for you and finding some tack that fits. And then I’m ready to go.

Ideally, you arrive four or five days before you play your first game, otherwise it’s a big shock to just jump on and go, as views on what constitutes a good horse can vary.

Again, luckily for me, the army has their own field so I can play chukkas with the local army guys to get used to my horses. Play resembles a cross between the Pakistan mountain polo and farm chukkas in Argentina: flat out with no rules. Interesting!

The ‘high-goal’ season begins with two, one-week 12-goal tournaments with six teams and then two, one-week 14-goal tournaments with seven teams, followed by the 14-goal Open, which is essentially the only tournament everyone wants to win. This lasts for two weeks and everyone plays everyone.

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So it’s game on. With the volatile political situation in Pakistan, if we wanted, we could have a hundred guys with AK-47s walking around with us and 24-hour security, but I have always felt safe. I visit Pakistan with the thought that there is nothing I can do if it did go pear-shaped. There is no point worrying: what will happen will happen.

The other foreign pros with me on this trip were Gaston Moore, Raul Laplacette, Vieri Antinori,

About 30 hardcore fans and players come to every game and stay on until the night

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Manuel Crespo, Gerardo Massini, Ignacio del Tour, Santiago Mendivil, and Simon McLaren-Tosh as the main pro umpire. Everyone seemed to get on thankfully, which is normally the case over here.

This year, more than most, there seemed to be a big gap between a few of the teams’ horsepower

in comparison to the rest. A few of the main sponsors, the Sufis and Naveed Sheikh, have been going to Argentina buying three to six horses every year for almost five years now, and it’s starting to show. I think it’s going to kick the other patrons and players into gear and I think you’ll begin to see a lot of the local guys coming to England and going to Argentina to buy horses over the next few years. As always, it comes down to horsepower so, finally, they have all realised something needs to be done to compete on a level basis, which is great for Pakistani polo. The team of Naveed Sheikh, Raul Laplacette and Santiago Mendivil, with A N Other – depending on the handicap of the tournament – were by far the most successful of the season, winning one of the two 12-goals and all three of the 14-goals.

Things are looking good for the future of polo in Pakistan. The army is working on three new fields in Lahore, there are a few others spread across the country, and the Lahore polo club fields are always improving. A youth development

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polo school has also been set up by some of the fathers who are working hard to improve the future of the sport in Pakistan. And there is just the right number of people desperate to learn to play polo, which isn’t as straightforward as just joining and buying a horse. During the high-goal season you would have about 30 hardcore fans and players at every game and staying on until the night discussing the day’s play. For at least three months of the year they all live for polo and it’s really a great thing to see.

For anyone looking to travel playing polo, or to any of the pros that get asked to go to Pakistan, it is a great country to visit. You couldn’t meet a nicer group of people, with some of the most wonderful characters looking after you. Polo is on the up in Pakistan and it is a great country to see, with many eye-opening experiences to be had. Thanks to General Pataudi, the Pakistan Army and all the local guys that made my trip, yet again, a truly memorable experience.

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Below Learning to spin in the Atlas Mountains Left Eve with a cashmere goat; the fibre is used for garments

AN AMATEUR’S VIEW OF POLO Eve Branson heads to a polo match, and plans one for her own charity foundation You must be somewhat perplexed as to what part polo plays in the Eve Branson Foundation. Let me explain the connection.

It started in 2006, when I persuaded my son Richard, to buy a magnificent kasbah in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains. He consented, but only on one condition, that I look after all the poverty-stricken surrounding villages. Most of the villages are without water and electricity, with high illiteracy rates. Girls leave school at 13 with few job or life prospects.

The Berber villagers set great store by selfreliance. So I decided to teach them to make crafts that we could sell, then gradually they would not only become independent, but be able to pass their skills on for generations to come. The mud-baked brown village opposite the hotel looked like a good place to start.

Despite the hotel manager’s fears that we’d not be welcome, the next day, with an Arabic-speaking friend, we ventured over the river, passing only a toothless granddad. His smile seemed kind enough as he led us to his wife, who welcomed us into her house; hens scurrying by, a cow tethered in her kitchen. Hospitality abounded as we sat on her floor drinking mint tea.

Would any of the girls like to learn to knit? Her face lit up. ‘Three girls at least!’

I hastened home to teach myself ‘one plain, one purl’! Three girls have now turned into 30. Similarly we have taken on more impoverished local villages.

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To date, the enterprises we have set up include a carpet workshop and a craft house run by local villagers.

During this period, ex-polo player Roy de Lisser, invited me to the Gold Cup at Cowdray. I was fascinated but glad to have my friend and member of Windsor Guards explain the intricacies of the game, an even better idea was to invite me to a match at Windsor.

Hence I found myself watching not just the odd game of slovenly dressed polo players riding sluggish ponies – oh no, there were handsome, virile young men dressed in white jeans with high shiny leather boots! Their Argentinian polo ponies were equally immaculate – perfectly groomed, skin glistening, ankles bandaged and tails plaited.

The whistle blew and they were off; full gallop, hooves pounding, voices shouting while another chukka played on.

Meanwhile, I sat watching from my polo player’s car – he called me his ‘Stick Chick’! I’d hoped this was an endearing name, until I realised I was in charge of his numbered sticks – a frightening responsibility, lest I handed him the wrong one!

But how wonderful on that hot May day to witness this dangerous, extravagant sport. Inside the car was my briefcase, bulging with all the details of the great match that I’m hoping to organise in October: The Moroccan Guards v Windsor Guards. However, Richard’s last words before he

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left the country were ‘DON’T do anything until you find a sponsor.’ To date, no sponsor!

Having forgotten my field glasses that day, I was unable to cheer on the winner. So I wandered off to see what went on nearby – row upon row of smart horseboxes, ponies pawing the ground impatient for their grooms (who shouted at each other in a variety of languages and bandaged their ponies’ legs). The whistle blew – a rider was down, lying motionless and the ambulance advanced – the rider was soon up and another chukka took place.

Game over, ‘Stick Chick’ was out of a job, while the ponies were led back to their enclosure –bandages off, tails unplaited, a wash down and a drink, before being taken back to their stables anxious for yet another day!

It was a day to remember indeed! But now my priority is to organise The Moroccan Guards v Windsor Guards. We are hoping for sponsors galore and ‘Stick Chick’ will once more be at the ready to perform whatever the riders may want!

This match is planned to be held at Jnan Amar Polo Resort, 15 minutes outside Marrakech, on 6 and 7 October 2012. It should be a great match which we are hoping will become a yearly event.

Not only will it be fun, but it will also help the villages in the Atlas Mountains.

For more on the Eve Branson Foundation, email info@simonliebel.com or call 020 7731 4366

PROFILE

PETER ABISHEGANADEN Being asked to act as FIP Tournament Director at the Snow Polo World Cup in Tianjin provided some unexpected challenges, as Peter Abisheganaden recalls ILLUSTRATION PHIL DISLEY

Getting the snow job was a bit of a surprise.

When I started receiving emails from New Zealand Polo Association president Gordon Gibson, about an international tournament in February, I thought he must have the wrong person. I didn’t know anything about it until about a week later, when Asad Jumabhoy asked if I was free in February to act as FIP Tournament Director at a World Cup tournament. It was an honour I couldn’t refuse.

Finding out it was a snow polo job was another surprise. In the days when God was still a boy I had played some outdoor polo while at university in Canada. I thought, ‘how hard can this be?’

Conceit is a wonderful virtue.

I met FIP’s Council of Administration in Buenos Aires and was officially appointed by FIP a day before the General Assembly. A week later, I was in Tianjin, very jet-lagged but conducting the tournament draw.

It was fun to work with Derek Reid, Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club’s director of polo operations. I’ve known Derek for a few years, when he has played in Malaysia or I have played in Western Australia. Fortunately Derek is a workaholic, and very good at what he does.

Having run the Zone D play-offs in June 2011, I knew exactly what Derek was going through.

It is never easy to run a tournament of this size and stature. There is a lot of stress and you are responsible for the smallest of details.

As FIP Tournament Director I supposed I was ultimately responsible for the tournament, but in fact it can only be the host venue’s tournament director that can truly run the tournament. In my view the FIP Tournament Director post is

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a misnomer. In the FEI’s equestrian world, the job title is ‘Technical Delegate’. Indeed the set-up and running of the tournament from the point of view of FIP rules and seeing that there is fairness throughout, is what the job is about.

So the congratulations on the horses, logistics and hospitality certainly go to Metropolitan Polo Club, and especially to Harvey Lee, Rowland Wong, Derek Reid and their people.

The snowfield was laid in early January and I was very glad I was there as we got the contractor to change his method in time to ensure we had a solid layer of ice beneath the snow. Without the ice base, the snow would have been too deep, slushy and unsafe.

There were other issues, some that I had never met before in polo. At first the tournament had been scheduled for 4 to 12 February 2012. Just after the draw, FIP was informed that Metropolitan could not start the tournament on the fourth as it was an inauspicious date. Mr Pan Sutong, the owner of Metropolitan, follows feng shui principles. His geomancer had declared the fourth a terrible day to start the tournament.

Rather than doom the event, we agreed to their suggestion to bring the start forward to 2 February.

Hong Kong played a team to help develop the sport in China and they had a fairy-tale final

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All the countries had to accept this and there was a flurry of emails. It is fortunate that even as an invitational, FIP was able to provide US $100,000 per team to cover expenses and players’ fees where appropriate, with any surpluses being ploughed back into polo in those countries.

Bringing it forward, we would have two days of sitting around blowing warm air on our hands.

Always a sucker for punishment, I came up with the idea of adding quarter-finals to the programme instead of going from the qualifying stage to semi-finals. Four more countries would then have a second chance in the tournament.

Metropolitan jumped at the idea, and spending two days at the Great Wall of China in sub-zero weather was consigned to the feng shui waste bin.

Twelve teams is a large number to host when you are providing all the horses. Metropolitan had 156 horses available for this tournament. We lost less than five per cent in the preparation, a percentage that would have been lower, had the new Martin Collins footing been laid in time.

FIP Horse Master Benjamin Araya arrived in late January and worked very closely with Metropolitan’s trainers to produce 12 groups of horses as equally as possible. That there were generally few complaints about the horses is testament to Metropolitan staff for getting them ready and Benjamin’s skill in grouping them.

In the qualifying stage of three chukka games, each team had 11 ponies. That meant that the players had a pony each and there were two spares per team. After the qualifiers we were able to replace the injured horses and add another to each team, so that each player had three plus a spare to play the three chukka quarter-finals.

PROFILE

Being asked to act as FIP Tournament Director at a World Cup tournament was an honour I couldn’t refuse

After the quarter-finals we offered teams more horses, taking the best from the four defeated teams. The semi-finalists essentially had the best horses of the tournament for their last two matches, which were played over six chukkas.

In all cases draws were done for horses. Not once was a horse arbitrarily allocated to any team.

Contrary to some reports, Hong Kong did not keep the best horses for themselves, but drew for horses at every stage.

One of the biggest factors of playing threechukka matches is that the odd number meant that one team got the advantage of the wind, which some days came barrelling between the twin grandstands like a wind tunnel. Because ends were changed only at the end of chukkas, it meant that on some days there was a wind advantage of a full chukka. Instead of stopping mid-way through the second chukka, a rule that was universally disliked, we resolved it with a coin toss before the start of the match that gave the winner the right to choose the initial, and therefore final direction, but eventually gave the loser the right to choose which team started first if the game went to a penalty shoot-out.

USA went out in the qualifying stages. Losing in penalties to Argentina proved to be very costly as they went out on the who-beat-who rule that FIP uses in World Cup orders of merit. Having

a former 10-goaler like Memo Gracida upset with me for enforcing this order of merit was a refreshing change from the minus handicappers that I am more used to having harangue me.

Zone D champions India never really got to grips with playing on the snow. They joined Brazil, Italy and USA in not making the quarter-final cut, going out after three games.

England was very strong, and one of the best teams in the tournament. That they lost only one match, their semi-final, to the eventual champions is testament of this. Chris Hyde was one of the strongest players on the snow in Tianjin.

Argentina lost Piki Diaz Alberdi to kidney stone pain after just one match. Santiago ‘Flaco’ Gaztambide had to step in for Piki. With Pablo Jauretche at back, and a typical Argentine flyer, Juan Casero playing off 1 goal, Argentina was still a force to be reckoned with.

South Africa played a brand of fast, open, exciting polo that was at odds with the controlled game that the favourites favoured. Perhaps the large size of the field at 150 x 75 yards made this possible. Jean du Plessis was a real livewire but for me it was Tom de Bruin who added the iron to South Africa’s spine when they had to fight.

We worried about the forecast of warm weather for the final weekend. The field definitely played better in sub-zero

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temperatures than the 6 to 10ºC that was forecast. I took the decision to shift the final to become the first game of the afternoon so that they would enjoy the better field conditions. It was a very tough decision to make as we had live television coverage for all matches, and the time of the final had been promoted as the second game of the afternoon.

Having two Zone D teams in the final was fantastic for the region. Hong Kong had been given permission to play a team to help develop the sport in China and they had a fairy-tale final, winning 7-4. England beat Argentina 8-7 in a fiercely fought match for third place.

Terrera won the MVP title well before the final, lighting up the tournament with his personality and skill. A cancer survivor, he embodied a great attitude of living life to the full and having fun.

Have fun, we all did. The nine gala dinners may have seemed a little intense, but it is hard to complain when you are drinking 1986 Margaux and the like, every night.

The ‘additional sponsorship’ aka prize money made things competitive, yet, in the spirit of polo, most teams were generous in their sportsmanship, once a level playing field had been established.

Congratulations to Federation of International Polo and to Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club for producing a remarkable tournament.

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THE GAME OF QUEENS With the inaugural Diamond Jubilee Trophy to be played for at this summer’s Audi International Day, Herbert Spencer looks back at the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and her long-standing patronage of polo

MICHAEL CHEVIS/POLO ARCHIVE

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The high point of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee came on the first weekend of June, with two public holidays giving Britons four days to celebrate. A thousand boats joined the Royal Barge in the largest flotilla ever assembled on the River Thames. Countless neighbourhoods in UK cities, towns and villages held street parties, as beacons and bonfires blazed across the nation from Land’s End to John o’Groats.

In the months before and after the big weekend, the Queen and her consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, were travelling the country visiting every corner of her UK realm. One such official visit, in mid-May, was to Richmond, west London, where local groups gathered to greet them in Richmond Park – on a polo ground.

The royal park’s polo ground, used by nearby Ham Polo Club, was the venue because it provided ample open space for Richmond’s displays and exhibits. The choice of the ground for the festivities also echoed the 60 years of the Queen’s patronage of polo.

Nicholas Colquhoun-Denvers, chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA) and of Ham, had gathered a group of players from the club with their ponies along the royal couple’s progression in Richmond Park. Prince Philip, patron of the HPA, stopped to talk with them and recalled that he had once played polo on the park’s ground.

Prince Philip’s 20-year career as a polo player was largely responsible for the Queen’s interest in the sport, but the tradition of royal patronage dates back much earlier, to the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19th century (see ‘The Royal Tournament’ in the Hurlingham summer issue, June 2011).

As a child, Princess Elizabeth would have had the opportunity to watch her father playing

In 1951, the Queen first presented the HPA’s 1911 Coronation Cup at Roehampton Polo Club

No one has kept count, but it seems certain that the Queen has attended more polo events than those of any other sport

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polo in the Thirties, before he ascended the throne as King George VI following the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936.

In 1947, as the heir to the throne, Elizabeth wed the Greek-born Prince Philip and early in their marriage became a faithful ‘polo wife’.

When Philip was serving with the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean in the Fifties, he took up polo under the tutelage of his uncle Lord Mountbatten, with whom the couple stayed on Malta. Prince Philip is reported to have said that he chose the sport because Princess Elizabeth seemed to prefer watching Mountbatten playing polo, than watching Philip playing cricket.

Back in England, Princess Elizabeth attended polo matches in which her husband was playing and was often called upon to present prizes. She first presented the HPA’s 1911 Coronation Cup at Roehampton Polo Club in 1951.

Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952 and one of her first public appearances after her coronation the following year was at Cowdray Park Polo Club where she again presented the Coronation Cup, watched by a crowd of 12,000.

In 1955, the Queen gave permission for Prince Philip and his fellow players to establish a polo club in Windsor Great Park. The Household Brigade Polo Club later became Guards, of which the Queen is patron and the Duke of Edinburgh president. Over the years the Queen has attended hundreds of events at the club, a short drive through the royal park from Windsor Castle.

No one has kept count, but it seems certain that the Queen has attended more polo events than those of any other sport, including horseracing. It has been said that, on occasion, the Queen appears to be more interested in the ponies at polo than in the players, not surprising considering that she owns and breeds Thoroughbreds for racing.

Meanwhile, the Queen saw her son Prince Charles, and later grandsons Princes William and Harry, take up the sport of her father and husband.

For a number of years her royal stud bred and trained polo ponies for Philip and Charles.

From 1972 it became traditional for the Queen to preside over the HPA’s International

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Left Her Majesty and Prince Philip with Lord and Lady Cowdray in 1951. Below With polo great Lord Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s uncle. Bottom Her Majesty treading in at half-time during a 1970 Royal Ascot Week match at Guards Polo Club, with Prince Philip as umpire

MICHAEL CHEVIS/POLO ARCHIVE, FRED MAYER/ HERBERT SPENCER MEDIA

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Left Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry frequently played together on Charles’s Highgrove team before his retirement from polo in 2006 Right The Queen presenting during GCC Polo Cup at Guards Polo Club, June 2011

TONY RAMIREZ/WWW.IMAGESOFPOLO.COM, HERBERT SPENCER MEDIA

Day at Guards Polo Club, an event that regularly draws up to 20,000 spectators, many of them attending just for a chance to see the sovereign at polo. On the occasions that the Queen has been otherwise occupied, her place has been taken by other members of the royal family, including the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the late Princess Diana and Prince Harry.

In 1977 the HPA marked the Queen’s first 25 years on the throne by inaugurating the Silver Jubilee Cup, a large sterling silver bowl of modern design commissioned by WD & HO Wills, then sponsors of the association’s International Day. For years the trophy was awarded to winners of the second international match at this event.

On the occasion of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, the HPA inaugurated the Golden Jubilee Cup, first presented by her at the association’s 2002 Cartier International Polo Day. In subsequent years the trophy was played for by The Prince of Wales’s Team and the Hurlingham Team.

To celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year, the HPA is inaugurating the Diamond Jubilee Trophy, to be presented to the winners of the match between Young England and Young Commonwealth, at the association’s

Audi International at Guards Polo Club on 22 July. The new trophy is an impressive bronze created by the noted equine sculptor Emma MacDermott. The sculpture, which is about 20 inches high, is of a leopard perched on a rock.

It recognises the fact that Princess Elizabeth was staying at the Treetops hotel in the

For a number of years her royal stud bred and trained polo ponies for Philip and Charles

Aberdares, Kenya, well known as leopard country, when King George VI died and she became Queen. Miniatures of the bronze trophy have also been created and presented as the winners’ individual prizes whenever the trophy is played for.

The HPA has also commissioned me to produce a display marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, with various photographs of the Queen at polo over the years and a review of her patronage of the sport. The display will be shown at several HPA events this summer.

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It seems most appropriate that the glittering trophies marking milestones of the Queen’s reign are now awarded at the HPA’s most important international test matches, as she is still sovereign and chief-of-state of some 30 countries and territories around the world. The Silver Jubilee Cup is played for at the St Regis International and the Golden Jubilee Cup at the Beaufort test. Now we have the Diamond Jubilee Trophy at the Audi International in July, together with the 1911 Coronation Cup, a reminder of the days when the sun never set on the British Empire or on polo.

‘No one has done more than Her Majesty The Queen, together with the HPA’s patron, the Duke of Edinburgh, to raise the profile of our sport both here and abroad,’ said HPA chairman Colquhoun-Denvers. ‘Their presence at our association’s International Day over the years has helped to make this the world’s biggest one-day polo event, which in turn has enabled us to contribute substantially to our Polo Charity Trust and to develop the training of youth in polo.

‘All of us owe Her Majesty an enormous debt of gratitude for her patronage of polo over the past 60 years. The whole of the polo community joins millions of others around the world in celebrating her Diamond Jubilee.’

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PONY CREATION With patience and time, it can be possible to ‘grow your own string of polo ponies’, says Emma Treichl

Mares and foals in the corral of Santa Ana

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If you have time, more time than you imagine, and patience, it is quite feasible and quite rational (I use that term loosely) to provide yourself with a ‘homemade’ string of polo ponies. The rational part, as my husband reminds me on occasion, is the cherry on the cake. A love of horses, rather than economics, has to be the true driving force.

Having played polo for nearly 20 years, when I moved to Dorset in 2002, I found a new and unexpected direction. A fantastic local club, Vaux Park near Crewkerne, Somerset, provided a perfect crèche for young polo ponies. With enough acreage and three irrigated fields for practices at nearby Vaux, I could provide for our polo pony prodigies who come from Argentina with an ability to play but lack only time and space to grow.

I found myself host to these polo debutants, when eight years ago, Santiago Gaztambide suggested I fly his best pony Calidad (veteran of the Open, sibling to Calena, sired by Pucará), back to Argentina for breeding. Combined with stallions that are carefully selected to vary and complement Calidad’s type – from Fandango, Lunatico, Sol, Menguante and Avelino – every year since she has produced on average three to four new foals. They are among the top polo bloodlines in Argentina.

Between September and March her fertilised eggs are transferred to ‘receptor’ mares at the embryo centre in Cabas, Provincia Buenos Aires. So far she has produced 24 foals – of those, seven are in the UK. The pregnant receptor mares then foal at Santiago’s farm, Santa Ana, near Tres Arroyos, 500km south of BA. From there they are sent, at about three years old, to the breaker Horacio Amprimo, near Gonzalo Chaves, about an hour away, where it takes approximately a year, on and off, to teach them the basics.

Once the ponies have completed their training, they then go to Santa María, Santiago’s

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family’s main farm, about 100km south, where they play very slow chukkas with Santiago, various friends and grooms. Only true polo enthusiasts have the patience to deal with these unruly four- to five-year-old ponies.

Finally, when they are ready, they move to Pilar Chico, near BA, the epicentre of the Argentine polo world, for a season of more advanced chukkas and then finally, Dorset. At this stage I take over the care and maintenance of Santiago’s and my ponies. Once in the UK, I work with Alison, my groom, her husband Keith, who is also a breaker, before the arrival of Hugo Piedrabuena, polo groom from mid-April, and Guy Gibrat in May, who will have played the ponies in Argentina.

From April to August, we take it slowly, building the new arrivals physically and mentally.

Initially, the general aim is to ‘civilise’ them. It’s all the basic stuff that any horse needs to learn in order to get around, for example, simple things such as standing still while you get on, waiting at gates while they are opened, and so on. I realise that for polo it is not essential, but if you have to live with a pony who hasn’t learnt, it can become a real headache! I enjoy taking them for hacks and teaching them to walk up and down hills. Although this seems ridiculously simple, it’s something they will never have experienced before, as the pampas are totally flat. It helps their physique, balance and above all, builds trust with the rider. Plus we have a lot of hills in Dorset!

The essential training needed for polo is under the supervision of Guy Gibrat, with the help of Hugo Piedrabuena, both of whom come from Santiago’s operation in Argentina. From my perspective, each year brings the excitement and challenge of new projects.

I still have my old faithfuls who I have collected over the years. Despite their age, they are still going strong. While Guy plays Calidad’s ponies, he also has a string of ponies who have

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This page, top The author at Santa Ana with various colts and fillies. Below Paso, a fouryear-old by Sol at Santa María.

Opposite Hugo Piedrabuena at Parnham with (from left to right) Distinguido, Topolino, Scaramusa, Caramelo, Tango and Figaro

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‘been there and done that’. These ponies are for playing tournaments. The newer ponies also get some tournament experience, but it needs to be carefully rationed. In this way we don’t put too much pressure on the young ponies. I generally keep them for at least two years. Sometimes it is difficult to let them go because just when you think they can’t get any better, they seem to go up a gear. Sometimes I think they know that we are considering moving them on, and so consequently they find a delaying technique!

Finally, the ponies go to Martin Brown’s yard near Cowdray to play higher goal chukkas and maybe a few games with Santiago, to round off their experience. By this time, at approximately six to seven years old, I expect them to have figured out what polo at various levels is all about, and to be fully prepared, mentally as well as physically, for the years ahead. Importantly, a year or two in the UK gives polo ponies an advantage over those that come completely ‘made’ from Argentina. The English style of play, quality of grounds and climate, are all very different from Argentina and have a major impact on the game. It is important for ponies to have time to adapt to these conditions.

Having embarked on the long journey, I have discovered that it takes years to build up a pony’s

confidence and ability, and no time at all to start the reverse cycle. Above all it takes time: you must be patient and be prepared to wait, but at the same time, never take ‘no’ for an answer! The young ponies learn quickly – good habits as well as bad ones. Trying to ‘unlearn’ a negative experience is much harder than simply avoiding it in the first place. In other words, ‘prevention is the best cure’.

I can strongly recommend breeding and training as a highly enjoyable and fulfilling occupation, but it requires a certain amount of dedication. I would encourage anyone who wants to breed to visit their ponies in Argentina at least once a year. I usually go in March, their autumn.

The weather is warm and settled but not too hot.

It is fun to see the foals develop over the years and it is important to see and try the new ponies for export, in order to have a feel for their type and to also check their conformation. My involvement, however, is only one part of a long chain, each link just as important as the next.

It is certainly not to be underestimated how dependent the entire process is on the skill and knowledge of the breaker Horacio, the polo professionals and their grooms; Marcelo, in particular also plays a big part, as do Hugo and Nelson, among others, all of whom are under

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Santiago’s watchful eye. This collaboration is for me just as important as a polo team – the team hidden from view as it were, without whom success is not possible.

Now when I look back at the passing seasons, I can measure triumph not only in tournament results (although that certainly helps) but also in terms of the development of the ponies. I still enjoy competing, although that is not the be-all and end-all. Currently I am just starting to play some of Calidad’s older offspring. I am really hoping that parting will not be too much like sweet sorrow.

This season we will test the market by putting Distinguido, who is now six, and Tango, seven, up for sale – and also perhaps Figaro, seven, later in the season. I hope that our experiment goes well, for both Santiago’s and my benefit. If it doesn’t – and for example, I only cover my costs (increased transportation costs from Argentina have not helped that equation) – I would still feel satisfied as I have had a lot of fun teaching and learning simultaneously, and more importantly, I have had the benefit of some spectacular, if at first green, horses to play on. Finally, at some time in the future, when we finish each pony’s training and they have moved on, I will feel a certain satisfaction of a job well done.

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FLYING THE FLAG As crowds flock to the UK in this year of celebration, British Polo Days communicate the nation’s values of heritage and fair play to audiences abroad

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British Polo Day China was held in Beijing in 2011 at the Sunny Times Polo Club and attracted UK and local sponsors both

Patriotism is fashionable these days, especially for the new generation who see their future in the global marketplace. The story of British Polo Day is an inspiring call to action by two friends keen to ensure that Britain projects its values and identity in an increasingly crowded international space.

Edward Olver and Tom Hudson have created British Polo Day, an ambitious, wide-reaching project founded on a genuine sense of ‘Britishness’. In this Jubilee and Olympic year, when everyone is talking about Great Britain, they have rolled out British Polo Days around the world with the hopes of opening doors and building a network of diplomatic and commercial opportunities.

Olver and Hudson are passionate about the modern relevance of polo, celebrating the history of the game through the traditions and heritage of cavalry officers who originally helped to spread the sport in the 19th century.

Polo is now part of a global luxury lifestyle and with British Polo Days, Olver and Hudson hope to facilitate the movement of blue-chip British brands into a natural and effective association with key individuals in social and business circles in emerging markets around the world.

Olver explained: ‘British Polo Days are like global lily pads, stepping stones into other markets.

A gala party on the Great Wall of China after

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the tournament, for example, is much more memorable than a PowerPoint presentation.’

The project initially began in Dubai in 2009, with the UK launch happening in July 2011.

That event was held at Watership Down estate, the home and private polo ground of Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber, with players and an audience that included HRH Prince Harry of Wales and HRH Prince Rashid of Jordan. Since

The games are always thrilling contests of good, clean, competitive fun polo

then, British Polo Day has taken place in China, Singapore, India, Thailand, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The programme continues, with St Tropez and Germany in summer 2012, and further British Polo Days in Russia, South Africa and Barbados are planned for the future.

After an expatriate upbringing, going to boarding school and university in the UK, Olver spent two years in the City learning the ropes at Deutsche Bank. He then joined the British Army and was in the Life Guards for five years,

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Hudson grew up in Windsor and went to Eton College before joining the British Army in his gap year. It was here that he learned to ride and play polo for the first time. After graduating from Bristol University and studying law in Oxford he moved to the UAE with law firm Linklaters. It was in Dubai that he rekindled his love of polo and it was there that, in 2009, he was asked by Eton College to create an alumni network in the Middle East and an annual event where everyone could reunite – polo seemed the perfect backdrop for such an occasion, given the school’s link with the sport. Hudson turned to Eton’s natural rivals, Harrow, who also had many alumni in the region, including HRH Prince Rashid of

British Polo Day has grown from a two-man team working from a London bedroom to a global business with offices in London and Dubai

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Jordan, Captain of the Royal Jordanian Polo Team. The stage was set.

‘As well as the expats living in the Middle East who I knew would want to come to the event,’ recalls Hudson, ‘British businesses were also keen to be involved, as well as Emiratis, many of whom either attended Sandhurst or at least have property in Knightsbridge.’

Hudson’s planning of this polo event coincided with Olver bringing the Household Cavalry Musical Ride out to the Middle East.

The two met a few months later at Hyde Park Barracks, compared their experiences, and together founded British Polo Day. The first British Polo Day was held in Dubai in 2009 and over the past three years it has become one of the most prestigious sporting and social events in the Middle East, attracting a high-profile, eclectic mix of guests. Lord Waldegrave, Provost of Eton said, ‘It is great that that there is now an occasion where people from some of our great schools and universities can meet up.’

Lord Astor of Hever further commented, ‘This is a unique initiative and rare celebration of the best of British’.

Each event features British polo players from some of Britain’s leading institutions competing against the teams from the host country. Since the end of 2011, the British side has fielded

PHOTO SOLUTIONS, ALEX BRAMALL

leaving as Adjutant of the Household Cavalry.

It was while in the army that Olver conceived and eventually deployed the Household Cavalry Musical Ride to Abu Dhabi in 2009, a project that involved the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.

HH Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, while taking the Musical Ride to Abu Dhabi, described it as ‘an eloquent manifestation of the strong ties between the UK and the UAE, both of which share deeply rooted equestrian traditions and centuries-old passion for horses… Indeed this noble gesture will go a long way to consolidating the eternal bonds of friendship linking our two sisterly nations’.

Olver’s own faith in the event went far beyond a shared affection for the horse, and his experiece with the project inspired him to rethink the ability of British heritage to improve trade relations between the UK and UAE. He recognised that the invitation to take one of the UK’s most iconic and traditional regiments to Abu Dhabi was a demonstration of a deep-rooted relationship between the two countries, and an opportunity to bridge the gap between the two cultures. Following the success of this venture, he then sought to take the idea to other countries. Together with Tom Hudson, the co-founder of British Polo Day, they conceived the plan of action.

Left The British Army team in Abu Dhabi, (from left to right), Major Matthew Eyre-Brook, Gaston Devrient, Doug White and Major Rupert Lewis, in April 2012. Above Elephant polo was just one of many highlights at British Polo Day India, in Jodhpur in 2011

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Far left Saeed Bin Drai with Prince Harry at the UK launch of British Polo Day. Above The British Exiles team sitting on the Great Wall of China. Left Victory went to the British Army team in Thailand in February this year

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Army Team in celebration of the club’s 125th year. The Sultan of Johor was guest of honour, and started an exciting title match after a spirited Eton vs Harrow fixture. The players and sponsors also enjoyed breakfast at Eden Hall (the High Commissioner’s residence) by the kind permission of the High Commissioner, who said it was a ‘wonderful occasion to honour the enduring links between the UK and Singapore.’

Certain events will forever remain in the hearts and minds of all those involved. British Polo Day India was one such event. HH The Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Jodhpur, himself having attended Eton and Oxford, could not have been a more perfect host. From the fashion show on the ramparts of the Mehrangarh Fort and the glittering parties in the Umaid Bahwan Palace, to the elephant polo, lunar eclipse and even the birth of the Maharaja’s first granddaughter during the event, this was indeed a magical and unforgettable weekend of sport, splendour and surprise.

Thailand was equally exotic with Harald Link and Nunthinee Tanner providing the horses at the Thai Polo and Equestrian Club.

A few of the rustier amateur alumni players benefited from the eagle eye of Rege Ludwig, and many had already booked their return flights for further training with the legendary polo instructor and coach. The British

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Ambassador to Thailand, Asif Ahmad, added that, ‘British Polo Day captures the essence of the qualities of Great Britain’.

In Dubai, British Polo Day is now the showcase event at the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, which is under the patronage of Habtoor Polo. This event has truly become one of the most exciting social rituals celebrating British heritage in the Middle East, attracting premier English brands as sponsors. An interesting addition has been camel polo where this year members of the Cavalry & Guards Club took each other on in an amusing spectacle.

British Polo Day Abu Dhabi at Abu Dhabi’s Royal Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club has established a new model, with a spectacular floodlit match and black tie event that supports HRH The Prince of Wales’s Pakistan Recovery Fund. HH Sheikh Falah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club, generously extended an invitation to the British Polo Day team to host the event there. HH Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, himself a distinguished showjumper, awarded the Thesiger Trophy to the winning team, Ghantoot.

Attracting a selection of prestigious sponsors including Land Rover, Coutts and Hackett, British Polo Day has enjoyed international media coverage including the Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar and

PHOTO SOLUTIONS, ANAKE WONGPAITOONPIYA, CHARLIE SAINSBURY PLAICE

teams from Eton, Harrow, Oxford, Cambridge and players from the British Army around the world, who compete head-to-head with local and international teams. The aim of a British Polo Day is to continue the tradition of playing high-quality polo against friends in host countries, while also acting as a platform for businesses in emerging markets.

After three years in the Middle East, the next British Polo Day global destination was China. This was in partnership with the Chinese Equestrian Association and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports. British Polo Day China showcased the traditions of the sport of polo, and saw the likes of Luis Lalor and Marcos Heguy humbled by young British players, as thousands of enthusiastic Chinese supporters cheered the team on in the shadow of the Great Wall.

The British Ambassador to China, Sebastian Wood said, ‘It was a great success, featuring some spectacular Mongolian horsemanship, all on a perfect, sunny autumn day.’ Sir David Brewer, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council added, ‘What better way to promote a great British sporting tradition and British luxury brands.’

The Singapore Polo Club, founded by Army officers in 1886, was the second Asian venue to host British Polo Day, welcoming the British

Above Camel polo was an entertaining addition to British Polo Day in Dubai, April 2012

China Central Television, along with creating strong interest on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

The British Polo Day team, while small, is certainly passionate about what they do, and this is evident in the thought-out execution of each event and the media coverage and film treatment that each receives. The business has developed from a two-man team working from a bedroom in London to a global business with offices in London and Dubai.

Moreover, a British Polo Day encapsulates the history, heritage and tradition of the sport of polo. It creates an opportunity for people around the world to celebrate the ‘Best of British’ in an engaging and positive way.

As Sir Winston Churchill famously said (himself an Old Harrovian and British Army officer), ‘A polo handicap is a passport to the world’, and British Polo Days have continued that tradition for over 50 British players who have played at the British Polo Days, including: Will Emerson (Eton), Ben Vestey (Eton and the Army), Raj Madha (Eton and Cambridge), HRH Prince Harry (Eton and the Army), and HRH Prince Rashid of Jordan (Harrow, Cambridge and the Army).

Lt Col Simon Ledger, chief commentator at the British Polo Days and chairman of the Army Polo Association added that, ‘British Polo Days

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A gala party on the Great Wall of China after the tournament, for example, is much more memorable than a PowerPoint presentation

enable polo to be played as it was always intended to be played and how it should be played. These are groups of friends, such as the Army, who travel to far-flung destinations in the name of polo and end up making new friends in the host countries. By no means amateur players, they do encapsulate the long-lost “spirit of the amateur” and the games are always thrilling contests of good, clean, competitive fun polo.

‘What is more, the British Polo Day team, by partnering with some of the top polo patrons and sponsors around the world have enabled, for once, cost not to be a factor in participation.

Now that really is a good development for polo!’

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ACTION [DRAMA] CATCH UP WITH ALL THE LATEST ACTION FROM AROUND THE WORLD

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

A helicopter dries the field before the final of the US Open

THE ACTION 49

Florida High-Goal Season A rags-to-riches comeback and family showdown were just part of the action

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FIP Snow Polo World Cup The first-ever FIP snow polo tournament in Tianjin, China was a true extravaganza with thrilling action and entertainment

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St Regis International An exciting and close match marked the first time a USA team had played on UK grass in 15 years

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Indian Empire Shield Victory went finally to three-time finalists Emlor C, at Guards Polo at Coworth Park

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Gaucho International Polo For the second year, London’s O2 arena played host to a thrilling international match between England and Argentina

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Julius Baer Beach Polo World Cup Gorgeous sunshine and a 10,000-strong turnout made for exciting beach polo on the beautiful island of Sylt

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Ambassadors Cup Host venue Port Mayaca Polo Club in Florida was the perfect setting for old and new international polo friendships

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Intercollegiate Championships It was a double win for the University of Virginia at the college polo finals

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Latin America Tour Bad weather and political tensions did little to dampen England’s team spirit

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ACTION FLORIDA SEASON: ROYAL SALUTE CV WHITNEY CUP, WELLINGTON, FLORIDA, FEBRUARY-MARCH 2012

FLORIDA SEASON With Mike Azzaro’s rags-to-riches comeback and a thrilling double dose of father-son rivalry, it was all drama and excitement this year, recalls Alex Webbe

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

The 2012 high-goal season at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida was a promising one. With every 10-goaler in the world returning, the prospects for top-level competition were high.

However, after early 20-goal competition highlighted the play of Uruguay’s David ‘Pelon’ Stirling, a handicap adjustment would cause the highly touted Crab Orchard team of Adolfo Cambiaso, Mike Azzaro, Stirling and team captain George Rawlings to implode (Stirling’s 9-goal handicap in the US was elevated to 10). Rumours of back-room dealings and internal dissent proliferated the winter season chatter, but the fact remained that a 27-goal Crab Orchard team would be over the handicap level for the CV Whitney Cup, the USPA Piaget Gold Cup and the US Open.

There was no give on reorganising the team, thus ending a Crab Orchard that had captured three of the previous US Open Championships.

The Crab Orchard team was released by Rawlings and within days both Stirling and Cambiaso were picked up by Valiente patron, Bob Jornayvaz.

‘I thought it would be a shame to see the club [IPC] lose players of that magnitude,’ said Valiente patron Jornayvaz. ‘So I put together a last-minute team to keep them up here for the season.’

Jornayvaz and his son Robert had been competing on separate teams throughout the 20-goal season as Valiente I (Bob Jornayvaz, Toto Collardin, Nacho Astrada and Julio Gracida), while son Robert took the field as Valiente II (Jeff Hall, Santiago Toccalino and Santiago Bottaro).

Bob Sr would be competing in the 26-goal competition with his 2011 line-up that would include Polito Pieres, Miguel and Nacho Astrada.

In an effort to keep Stirling and Cambiaso in Florida for the winter season, he fashioned a team around son Robert that would consist of Stirling, Cambiaso and 6-goaler Alejo Taranco.

ROYAL SALUTE CV WHITNEY CUP Twelve teams took the field for the 26-goal 2012 Royal Salute CV Whitney Cup, the first leg of America’s Triple Crown. Practice time was over; the single-elimination tournament would give the teams an opportunity to feel out their strengths and weaknesses under fire.

Orchard Hill staged a late rally to get past Alegría 12-10; Coca-Cola shocked Audi 14-7;

Valiente I celebrates victory

Zacara sneaked past Las Monjitas, 11-10; and Valiente I dethroned the defending championship Lechuza Caracas team 9-6 on the opening day of the tournament.

Quarter-final action had Valiente I knock La Ensenada out of the tournament with a 15-10 victory. Valiente II’s Cambiaso and Stirling led the team to a 12-10 win over Coca-Cola. Zacara built a two-goal lead in the fourth chukka and held on for an 11-9 win over Piaget. Agustin Merlos scored nine goals in the final match of the day for a 15-11 win over Orchard Hill, setting up the first semi-finals of the 26-goal season.

Cambiaso cranked it up a notch in the first semi-final, scoring eight times and leading Valiente II to a convincing 11-5 win over a disorganised Zacara effort. The family showdown was accomplished when Valiente I managed a 12-11 sixth chukka win over ERG, with Miguel Astrada leading the way with nine goals.

The finals had father, Bob Jornayvaz and Valiente I, against Robert and Valiente II, and the first final of the season would feature 10-goalers Cambiaso and Stirling with Robert Jornayvaz

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(along with Taranco) on the Valiente II team. Bob Sr would take the field with his Valiente I team of Miguel and Nacho Astrada and Pieres.

Valiente I kept the high-scoring combination of Cambiaso and Stirling in check early on, leading 2-1 and 4-3 in the first two chukkas of play.

Valiente tied it up at 5-5 to end the first half.

Cambiaso took the opening throw-in of the second half and raced 150 yards down the field for a goal, 6-5. The Valiente II defence held Valiente I scoreless as Taranco put Valiente II up by a pair of goals, 7-5, to end the chukka.

Valiente II went up 8-5 on a fifth chukka goal from Stirling. Two Valiente I penalty goals and a goal from the field, however, ended the period in an 8-8 tie. Missed shots at goal would come back to haunt Valiente II as Nacho Astrada scored the go-ahead goal, 9-8. A 40-yard penalty conversion from Miguel Astrada ended the match with Valiente I celebrating the 10-8 win.

Pieres was named Most Valuable Player for a number of key defensive plays as well as his aggressiveness on the field. Cambiaso’s Mila was honoured as Best Playing Pony.

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ACTION FLORIDA SEASON: USPA PIAGET GOLD CUP, WELLINGTON, FLORIDA, MARCH 2012

USPA PIAGET GOLD CUP With the first 26-goal tournament of the season in the books, each of the 12 teams in competition got the opportunity to scout their opponents and assess their current horsepower. Victor Vargas remarked that neither the Lechuza Caracas horses nor the players were ready to play after losing their opening match of the Whitney.

‘The horses aren’t where we want them yet,’ said Lechuza 10-goaler Guillermo ‘Sapo’ Caset, ‘but they’re coming along.’

New team line-ups and positions were starting to get adjusted, with the CV Whitney Cup championship Valiente I team being the only lineup to return intact from the 2011 season.

‘I like our chances,’ said Valiente I captain Bob Jornayvaz. ‘We’ve been preparing for this since last season and I’m comfortable that we can win it all.’

A number of other teams in the field might object to Jornayvaz’s assumption, but there were plenty of games to be played before the trophies were to be handed out.

Alegría bowed out early after suffering losses to ERG and Zacara. Audi were out after three

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consecutive losses and La Ensenada were also ushered to the consolation bracket after losing consecutive games to Zacara, ERG and Valiente I. Lechuza Caracas showed early promise with wins over Coca-Cola and Piaget but dropped one-point games to Valiente II and Valiente I. ERG continued to roll with Agustin ‘Tincho’ Merlos lighting up the scoreboard. ERG opened the tournament with wins over Alegría, La Ensenada and Audi, with a strong attack led by 9-goaler Merlos, but got knocked out of the quarter-finals with a loss to Coca-Cola.

It was just a couple of games into the USPA Piaget Gold Cup when Argentine 7-goaler Joaquin Pittaluga was replaced by American Mike Azzaro, and undefeated Zacara team continued their run.

A plucky Piaget team ruined their plans however with a 10-9 upset to make their way into the finals.

Valiente I dispatched Coca-Cola in a 13-10 contest, setting the stage for a rematch of the CV Whitney finals with Valiente II, who had knocked out Piaget, 12-8.

For the second time this season father and son would face off as Valiente I tried to run its tournament streak to two while Valiente II tried to prove that the earlier loss was not down to a fluke.

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For the second time this season father and son would face off in the final

Cambiaso and Stirling floated around the field, mounted to the teeth and having an almost instinctive understanding of each and every move of the other. Robert Jornayvaz and Taranco cleared out the front while Stirling and Cambiaso did their magic.

Cambiaso scored four first chukka goals, converting penalty shots from 30-yards and 40-yards out and adding a pair of goals from the field. Pieres and Miguel Astrada each managed single goals, but Valiente II wanted to make it clear which team was in control of the game. The first chukka ended with Valiente I trailing by two goals, at a score of 4-2.

A goal from the field from Stirling gave Valiente II a three-point lead, 5-2, when Valiente I clawed their way back into the game. A penalty goal from

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Nacho Astrada and a second goal from Pieres cut the Valiente II lead to a single goal, 5-4, as the chukka ended.

Third chukka goals from Cambiaso (penalty shot) and Stirling were answered by a single goal from Miguel Astrada, giving Valiente II a two-goal, 7-5 advantage.

Play intensified in the second half with three of the next five goals coming on penalty shots. Nacho Astrada converted a pair of 40-yard penalty shots and added a goal from the field. Taranco scored twice for Valiente II (once on a penalty shot), and the Valiente II lead had shrunk to a single goal again, 9-8.

The fifth period was another physical encounter with each team trying to control the possession of the ball. Cambiaso scored on a penalty shot, but in the waning minute of the chukka, a defending backhander drove into the back of Cambiaso’s mallet hand, sending him to the ground in pain.

Medics were called and the sidelines were silent as all attention was on polo’s greatest player sitting on the ground and holding his right hand in obvious

Victory was bittersweet, however, as Cambiaso looked on, hand packed in ice

pain. Several minutes passed before Cambiaso remounted in an effort to continue, but it was not to be. After a couple of swings with the mallet, he retired to the sidelines, to be replaced by 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero. The chukka ended with Valiente II on top, 10-8.

Valiente I tried to press the pace in the final chukka, testing the altered Valiente II line-up. Nero was a teammate of both Stirling and Cambiaso the previous year on the Argentine Open Championship team and he was familiar with both the players and their horses. Stirling executed a difficult angle shot for the first goal of the chukka, giving his team an 11-8 lead. Valiente l tried desperately to get on the

scoreboard, as the defensive skills of Nero were put to the test. With two minutes on the clock, Pieres managed to make his way through the Valiente II player for a goal, but that would be where it ended. Valiente II would control the ball and run out the clock in the 11-9 win and the 2012 USPA Piaget Gold Cup Championship.

The victory was bittersweet, however, as Cambiaso looked on from the end of the field, hand packed in ice. The 10-goaler led all scoring with six goals; Stirling added three and teammate Taranco scored twice in the win.

Nacho Astrada scored four times for Valiente I. Pieres added three goals and Miguel Astrada was credited with two in the loss.

Stirling was named MVP and his 11-year-old grey Chilean Thoroughbred Capilla was honoured as Best Playing Pony.

Opposite Bob Jornayvaz (holding cup) joins son Robert with teammates, from left, Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling and Alejo Taranco. Below The 30-goal train: Miguel Novillo Astrada followed by Adolfo Cambiaso and Pelon Stirling

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

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ACTION FLORIDA SEASON: US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS, WELLINGTON, FLORIDA, MARCH-APRIL 2012

US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS Of all the surprising facts surrounding Zacara’s US Open performance – that they managed to defeat defending champions Lechuza Caracas 11-9 in the final, that they were the only outfit in the 11-team field to finish with a perfect record – the most surprising was the return of polo icon Mike Azzaro to the US Open winner’s circle after a 15 year absence.

The former 10-goaler entered the high-goal season without a team after the implosion of Crab Orchard. The elevation of Stirling’s handicap from nine to 10 basically blew them out of the water, forcing patron Rawlings to disband the team and withdraw from the competition. Within hours Stirling and Cambiaso had found employment with Valiente’s Bob Jornayvaz, who created a makeshift team for his 19-year-old son Robert. Valiente II would feature two of polo’s greatest players while the former 10-goaler Azzaro looked for a team.

Azzaro had fallen on a string of bad luck over the last few years, beginning with his fall in 2009, just weeks before he was scheduled to lead a United States polo team against the English in the storied Westchester Cup match.

England’s coach Julio Novillo Astrada was heard to have said that with Azzaro on the field, he was hoping to keep from being embarrassed

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– without him, it was a different story. England went on to win as Azzaro recovered from his injuries.

Less than stellar performances in the last two high-goal seasons saw his 9-goal handicap erode to 7. The creation of the 2012 Crab Orchard team of Azzaro, Stirling and Cambiaso looked to be just the ticket to rocket him back to the top of the heap, but it was not to be, and with the season already underway, the last American to carry a 10-goal handicap was looking for a job.

‘I never gave up,’ said Azzaro. ‘I brought 22 horses to Florida with the intention of playing in the US Open, and I wasn’t giving up.’

It was thought that some subtle friction between Cambiaso and Azzaro might have played a part, but Cambiaso was already on a team, and Azzaro was not. ‘I called Lyndon Lea and pleaded my case,’ said Azzaro. ‘The kid he had playing

Semi-final action was, by comparison to earlier play, some of the most competitive

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back for them wasn’t a back,’ said Azzaro. ‘I told him that I had the experience and would be a good fit for the team. Two games into the Gold Cup I got my chance.’

The Azzaro story entered the polo scene as a third-page item of interest while all eyes were instead focused on the potential return of Cambiaso (who had fractured a bone in the back of his mallet hand) to the Valiente II team, an increasingly dangerous Lechuza Caracas team and, of course, Valiente I. ERG was thought to have a shot at the final tournament of the season as long as Merlos could continue to score, and Audi showed flashes of brilliance, but Zacara did not attract a great deal of scrutiny.

Opening wins over Alegría (15-10), Orchard Hill (15-12) and Valiente I finally had players and teams sitting up and taking notice, and Azzaro’s play was also noticed.

Zacara buried Coca-Cola 13-7 during quarter-final play and struggled for a 14-13 win over ERG in semi-final action in spite of the fact that Merlos outscored Zacara 10-goaler, Facundo Pieres, 11-10.

Valiente II had been keeping Cambiaso out of the line-up in hopes that his hand would be healed enough to be effective. Cambiaso showed up for the team’s game against Lechuza leading up to

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the quarter-finals and did not impress in their eventual 12-10 loss.

Four days later, Valiente I and Valiente II would meet in the quarter-finals with Valiente II losing by three goals, 14-11. Cambiaso was not playing at anywhere near 100 per cent and their Open run had ended.

ERG and Lechuza had also managed to capture quarter-final wins, along with Zacara who pounded Coca-Cola 13-7.

The semi-final action was, by comparison to earlier play, some of the most competitive games of the season. Lechuza needed an extra chukka goal from Facundo Obregon to defeat a resolute Valiente I line-up while Zacara continued its winning way by scoring a 14-13 win over ERG. To say that the finals of the 2012 Nespresso US Open were a showcase for the talents of Azzaro might be a bit melodramatic, but the play of the 46-year-old icon was something to behold.

The interaction between Azzaro, Facundo Pieres, Magoo Laprida and Lea was spectacular.

Facundo Pieres and Azzaro interchanged positions as if they had been playing together for years, and the work of Laprida and Lea at the front end of the line-up allowed for the damage to be done by Azzaro and Facundo Pieres.

Zacara 10-goaler Facundo Pieres scored the opening goal of the game in the first 30 seconds of play on a 90-yard shot through the goal posts, and the game was on. Lechuza responded with goals from Nero and Caset that had Zacara trailing 2-1.

The two teams exchanged a pair of goals in the second with Facundo Pieres tying it up just two minutes into the chukka. Caset answered this with a penalty goal just 60 seconds later. A sure goal was left on the Zacara goal line by Nero as Azzaro then jumped on the ball and carried it the length of the field for a goal, 3-3. Lechuza closed out the scoring with a goal from team captain

Play of the 46-year-old polo icon Mike Azzaro was something to behold

DAVID LOMINSKA/WWW.POLOGRAPHICS.COM

Vargas with just 43 seconds left on the clock.

Lechuza continued to lead, 4-3, as Zacara combined a pair of goals with shutout defence in the third.

‘We had no space (on the field) in the beginning,’ said Laprida after the game. ‘We had no room in which to operate. In the third chukka it began to open up a bit and we got our game going,’ he said.

Vigilant defence and a nose for the ball gave the veteran Azzaro two sterling opportunities in the fourth, and he definitely took them. He jumped a Lechuza player in their end of the field and rode down to score a tying goal, 4-4. Two minutes later Azzaro took advantage of field

Opposite Juan Martin Nero keeps the ball from the men in black Above The talented patrons Lyndon Lea (left) and Victor Vargas

position once again to give Zacara a 5-4 lead that they would take into half-time with them.

‘He (Azzaro) played a great game today,’ said Facundo Pieres. ‘He was a brilliant back and came through at the appropriate times to carry the ball and score.’

Nero picked up the ball in the fourth chukka and carried it through the Zacara defence for a goal, 5-5, but that was when Zacara took control of the game. Goals from Facundo Pieres (penalty shot), Azzaro and Laprida closed out the period with Zacara on top, 8-5.

A determined Lechuza team took the field in the fifth chukka, shutting down the potent Zacara attack and picking up a pair of goals from one of their own 10-goalers, Caset. The period ended with Lechuza trailing by a single goal, 8-7.

Laprida’s second goal of the game extended the Zacara lead to two goals, 9-7, to open the final chukka. Zacara team captain Lea drove the ball through the Lechuza goal posts with an authoritative shot that had them ahead by three goals, 10-7, with Lechuza scrambling to find an answer. Azzaro was closing the door on attack after attack, and Lechuza’s two 10-goalers were having little success. Caset converted a 40-yard penalty shot, 10-8, followed by an offensive rush on the Zacara goal that resulted

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in the ball hitting the goalpost and being cleared out of danger by Azzaro. Zacara managed to keep the play away from their end of the field for the balance of the chukka, celebrating the 10-8 win when the final horn sounded.

The play by Zacara was inspired; the rags-toriches story surrounding Azzaro was complete.

Azzaro had returned from relative obscurity to celebrate his sixth Open championship, and his first in 15 years. Lea had led his Zacara team to consecutive wins in the British Open and the US Open Championships. Ten-goaler Facundo Pieres had unselfishly shared a platform with Azzaro, Laprida and Lea, enabling them to unseat the defending championship Lechuza team, and Laprida performed brilliantly at the front end of the Zacara attack.

Fittingly enough, Azzaro was named Most Valuable Player of the Open, a first time honour for the much-decorated veteran. Lea’s La Lina received Best Playing Pony honours. She was played by Facundo Pieres in the second and sixth chukkas.

A man without a team just months earlier was now standing in the winner’s circle of the most prestigious tournament in American polo – indeed a fairy-tale ending for yet another exciting season of polo in Florida.

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ACTION FIP SNOW POLO WORLD CUP, TIANJIN, CHINA, FEBRUARY 2012

FIP SNOW POLO WORLD CUP Tianjin was the setting for a wonderful winter tournament, reports Herbert Spencer

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wonderland. Luxuriously appointed and lavishly catered, several two-tiered viewing marquees were set up down the length of the snow polo arena. During the tournament’s grand opening ceremonies, 12 microlight planes flew in formation around the arena, followed by 12 powered parachutes flying in with the national flags of the participating teams. The ceremony was officiated by Xiao Tian, deputy director of the People’s Republic of China’s General Administration of Sport and deputy head of the Chinese Olympic Committee; Eduardo Huergo, president of FIP; and Zhang Junfang, vicemayor of Tianjin.

For its first-ever snow polo tournament, FIP invited 11 national associations, members of the federation, to send three-man teams who were

As it rarely snows in Tianjin the Metropolitan club brought in two giant snow cannons

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handicapped from 14 to 16-goals, to compete in China: England, France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. FIP waived its usually strict nationality rules to enable participation by a ‘home team’, Hong Kong-China. With no Hong Kong players of appropriate handicaps, the new Hong Kong Association, a conditional member of FIP, was then permitted to make up a team that comprised of professional players from the other countries participating in the tournament.

The 12 teams drew their mounts from a pool of 156 ponies from Metropolitan’s own stables. ‘The ponies were of a good standard for snow polo and were very fairly distributed,’ commented England coach Alan Kent. ‘I believe the players were all happy with them.’ As teams were eliminated, their best ponies were recycled so, by the finals, the best of the best were in action.

With up to four games a day, FIP reduced the number of chukkas per game to three during league play. The semi-finals and finals were originally scheduled as six chukkas, but FIP tournament director Peter Abisheganaden reduced them to four as it was thought six were

© ACTION POLO

When it comes to hosting international sporting events, the Chinese invariably put on quite a show, as we saw with the Beijing Olympics four years ago. So it was this February, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale, for the Fortune Heights FIP Snow Polo World Cup Invitational at the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club in the north China city of Tianjin.

The Federation of International Polo had impressively created and organised the new tournament especially for the Chinese club in barely six months, attracting national polo teams from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Organisation of the polo, however, was not even half the story in what became a multi-million dollar extravaganza, believed to be the most expensive event in the history of the sport.

Goldin Properties of Hong Kong, owners of the Tianjin club, paid FIP more than US$2.5m for the snow polo tournament, with millions more on the venue, entertainment and hospitality to make this a unique event promoting its mega real estate development in the booming Chinese city.

As it rarely snows in Tianjin, 70 miles south of Beijing, the Metropolitan brought in two giant snow cannons to create an artificial winter

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too much to hold the attention of Chinese spectators unfamiliar with the game.

England’s well-disciplined team of Jamie Le Hardy, Max Charlton and skipper Chris Hyde, a veteran of arena and snow polo, looked favourites in league play, winning all their games and amassing the largest goal difference of all the 12 teams. They went on to defeat New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-China team of Argentines Guillermo Terrera and Martin Inchauspe and Englishman John Fisher dropped only one game, losing a league match 6-7 in a penalty shoot-out against England. This was one of five tied matches settled with penalty shoot-outs. The home team then went on to down France in the quarter-finals.

Hong Kong-China took their revenge on England in the semi-finals, beating them 7-4 to advance to the final. South Africa defeated Argentina 7-5 in the semis to earn their place in the final.

In the final showdown, Hong Kong-China dominated the first chukka, with Terrera and Inchauspe both scoring. South Africa’s Tom ‘Moose’ de Bruin opened the scoring for South Africa in the second chukka, but Hong KongChina continued to keep possession, with Terrera

and Inchauspe both scoring again. South Africa’s de Bruin scored a penalty towards the end of the chukka, but Terrera also converted a penalty to give Hong Kong-China a dominant 6-2 lead when the bell sounded at half-time.

South Africa started to threaten in the third chukka and found their stride in the fourth period to put the home side under pressure. Hong Kong-China maintained their lead, however, and finished the game 7-4 to win the Fortune Heights FIP Snow Polo World Cup to the delight of the Chinese spectators.

A jubilant Pan Sutong, chairman of the Hong Kong Polo Association and owner of the host club, joined his team on the podium as FIP president Huergo presented the glittering silver trophy.

Hong Kong-China’s Terrera, returning to polo after months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for cancer, was named Most Valuable Player of the final.

England played Argentina on the final day to decide third and fourth place in the tournament.

It was a closely fought game with the two teams staying within a goal of each other throughout the match. England led 4-3 at half-time, but the lead changed more than once in the second half. In the end it was England who was victorious, finally downing Argentina by 8 goals to 7.

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The multi-million dollar extravaganza was believed to be the most expensive event in the history of polo

Opposite The teams and umpires line up for the final Below Tom ‘Moose’ de Bruin controls Guillermo Terrera, making space for teammate Jean du Plessis

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ACTION ST REGIS INTERNATIONAL, COWDRAY PARK, MAY 2012

Jeff Hall (in blue) on the ball

ST REGIS Herbert Spencer reports on the first match a USA team had played on UK grass in 15 years

TONY RAMIREZ/IMAGES OF POLO

When the US Polo Association (USPA) included a 1-goal amateur in its national team challenging England in the St Regis International in May, observers predicted a win for the all-professional home side. Those who saw England as favourites, however, did not reckon on the determination of American amateur Marc Ganzi who put together and funded the USPA team.

‘I didn’t come over as a patron, said Ganzi, ‘I came as a member of a four-man national team, out to win.’

And win they almost did, in a highly competitive contest that was only decided in the final minute as England triumphed, beating the USA by 11-10½.

The fifth St Regis International, one of several 2012 tests of the HPA, was the first time a USA team had played on UK grass in 15 years. The test was played at Cowdray Park Polo Club, but with its famous Lawns grounds waterlogged after persistent May rains, the club moved the test to its No 1 ground at Ambersham.

The ambience at Ambersham was more intimate and countrified than the usual set-up at Lawns. The newly resurfaced ground played well, the England and USA teams appeared evenly matched in player and pony power, and the St Regis provided some 2,500 spectators with an exciting match of international polo.

The 23-goal USA team was Ganzi, handicap 1, American-born Paul Pieres, 8, and 7-goalers Nick

Roldan (captain) and Jeff Hall. England fielded a well-practised, 24-goal side with 7-goalers Luke Tomlinson (captain) and James Beim, Malcolm Borwick, 6, and Ollie Cudmore, 4.

‘We were unable to get in a single practice with the full team,’ said the USA’s Ganzi, ‘but we play together in Florida, so know one another’s games.’

Ganzi and his wife Melissa, who own Florida’s Grand Champions Polo Club, play up to 26-goal in the States, alternating to field pro-am high-goal teams under Piaget and Audi colours.

‘Our friends in England were very generous in providing us with mounts, from the Zacara, Ellerston and Dubai strings,’ Mark Ganzi said, ‘and Adrian Kirby agreed for Polito [Pieres] to ride his team’s ponies.’

The USA started with half a point on the scoreboard reflecting the difference in team handicaps. In the first chukka, England briefly took the lead with a penalty conversion, only to lose it when the USA also scored on a penalty. The visitors benefited from an England own goal when Borwick’s pony Fizz kicked the ball through the posts as he was defending. England’s Cudmore scored from the field to leave the USA ahead 2½-2 at the bell.

In the second period the USA increased their lead with a field goal by Roldan. England pulled one

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back with a penalty conversion, then went ahead as Borwick scored a goal from the field. Tomlinson raced straight to goal from the throw-in to put England in the lead 5-3½ as the chukka ended.

Roldan scored a hat trick in the third period with three straight field goals before Beim found the posts and the chukka ended with the USA ahead 6½-6.

A rejuvenated England outscored their opponents in the fourth chukka with two goals by Tomlinson and a third by Beim against a single point by the USA, and the period ended with the home team ahead 9-7½.

England kept the lead in the fifth and final chukka until the USA snatched it back, only to lose it again almost immediately. Then, in the final, dramatic minute, England fouled and the USA was awarded a 60-yard penalty try. Beim blocked the try, the bell sounded and the home team came out the victors, 11-10½.

Lord Cowdray presented the HPA’s Silver Jubilee Cup to England, and Paul James of St Regis Hotels & Resorts presented the St Regis International Cup to the USA team. Nick Roldan was awarded the Most Valuable Player prize while Paul Pieres’s Ralinga was Best Playing Pony. The best-loaned pony prize went to Dubai’s Cruzera, which was ridden by Roldan.

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ACTION INDIAN EMPIRE SHIELD, GUARDS POLO AT COWORTH PARK, MAY 2012

INDIAN EMPIRE SHIELD Three-time finalist Emlor C were this year’s victors, though play itself was less than satisfying, says Herbert Spencer

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The winning Emlor C team

Nine teams competed for the massive trophy that is one of the most historic in polo

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Clinton McCarthy was understandably jubilant as he hoisted the heavy Indian Empire Shield high in the air.

Emlor C is one of two teams fielded by the McCarthy brothers Clinton, 47, and Spencer, 46 (of the Emlor S team). Spencer has played for 20 years and, after successes in medium-goal, now also plays in 22-goal. Clinton took up the sport nine years ago and his wins have included the 18-goal Duke of Sutherland and the 15-goal Victor Ludorum.

TONY RAMIREZ/IMAGESOFPOLO.COM

It was third time lucky for Clinton McCarthy in May as his Emlor C team narrowly defeated the Hanbury family’s El Remanso 8-7 to take the Indian Empire Shield for the first time, playing at Guards Polo at Coworth Park.

The 18-goal Indian Empire Shield tournament is the most popular of the second tier of high goal in the UK, not least because the massive trophy is one of the most historic and unusual in polo. Nine teams were competing for the shield this year.

This was the third time McCarthy’s team have been finalists. In 2010 and 2011, they lost to Guy Schwartzenbach’s Black Bears, who have won the shield no fewer than five times. This year, however, they lost all their matches, leaving it to Emlor C and El Remanso, with brothers Charlie and George Hanbury, to fight it out in the final.

Conditions were not ideal at Coworth Park where Guards Polo Club now runs the show. The No 1 ground was heavy going and caused bad bounces of the ball, but the Guards ground staff had managed to keep it playable through the unforgiving May rains. Ground conditions may have been partly responsible for frequent fouls.

Emlor C drew first blood as their Marcos Araya found the posts two minutes into the first period. El Remanso’s Eduardo Heguy converted a 60-yard penalty to tie the score at chukka’s end.

Araya scored again in the second chukka to put Emlor C ahead. Their Tom Morley scored from the field and converted two penalties, against a single conversion by Heguy to leave Emlor C leading 5-2.

El Remanso reduced their deficit in the third period with a penalty conversion by Heguy and a field goal by David Miller. Then came the game’s best goal: Araya lofting the ball at an acute angle from a good 80-yards out to score. Another penalty conversion by Heguy left Emlor C in the lead 6-5.

In the fourth chukka Heguy equalised for El Remanso with yet another penalty conversion before Morley recovered the lead for Emlor C with a field goal, ending the period 7-6 ahead.

Both teams showed some loose play in the fifth and final chukka and neither scored from the field.

Emlor C’s Morley converted a penalty, then Heguy scored for El Remanso on a conversion in the last minute, leaving McCarthy’s side the victors, 8-7.

It was less than satisfying to see eight out of the 15 goals in the match being scored on penalty conversions. El Remanso scored only once from the field, with all six of Heguy’s points resulting from fouls. Morley was high scorer for Emlor C, but three of his five goals were on penalty conversions.

But a win is a win after all is said and done, and

ACTION THE JULIUS BAER BEACH POLO WORLD CUP, SYLT, GERMANY, MAY 2012

Gastón Maíquez (left) and Thomas Winter battle for the ball

SYLT BEACH POLO Sunshine, blue skies and a great turnout made the perfect backdrop for Audi’s win at the Julius Baer Beach Polo World Cup, writes Christie Fearnside

HOLGER WIDERA

The weekend of 26 and 27 May saw the German island of Sylt host the second Julius Baer Beach Polo World Cup Sylt on the glorious white beaches of Hörnum. The second year that Julius Baer has been title sponsor of the event, this is the fifth year that organiser Kiki Schneider has held the Beach Polo World Cup. This year’s tournament saw leading polo players from Germany, the UK and Argentina competing for the following teams: Julius Baer, Audi, Maus Immobilien, Schloss Göhrde, König Pilsener and Lanson in a round-robin format.

Over 10,000 spectators filled the wide open beaches of western Sylt, and the final day saw glorious sunshine and blue skies. Starting off the day’s proceedings for 5th/6th place, team Julius Baer, consisting of 16-year-old German polo prodigy Lukas Sdrenka, and German 5-goaler, Sven Schneider, were defeated by Schloss Göhrde 6-7½.

The second game of the day saw König Pilsener defeat Maus Immobilien 6-3 in the 3rd/4th playoff match. Five-goaler UK player Jamie Morrison, of team Maus Immobilien, commented: ‘This is the first

time I’ve played in the tournament and it has been a great experience. The weather has been superb and the crowds really supportive.’ Regarding the event’s format, he continued, ‘I’ve played beach polo in Miami and snow polo around the world, and this event is really up there with some of the best arena-based polo tournaments in the world.’

Following an entertaining performance by German disc jockey Markus Gardeweg, the final match saw the tournament’s two highest handicap players pitted against each other: Germany’s Thomas Winter, 5-goals, playing for Lanson, and Audi’s Argentine 6-goaler, Gastón Maíquez. The first two chukkas ended 4-3½ in favour of Audi, with the third chukka seeing end-to-end play and a succession of quick goals, ending 5-4½ to Audi.

In the fourth and final quarter, Winter produced a pitch-length backhand to give Lanson the lead.

However, a quick response by Audi’s Christian Grimme negated this advantage, and they then went on to score once more, bringing the score to 7-5½.

Into the final minute, Lanson pulled a goal back to bring the score within half a goal. With all 10,000 spectators holding their breath until the final whistle,

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Audi was victoriously crowned the Julius Baer Beach Polo World Cup Sylt 2012 champions, beating Lanson 7-6½.

Maíquez, a three-time winner of the cup, commented: ‘This was the toughest final yet. The Lanson team were tough competitors and we had to play very well to defeat them.’

Audi received a beautifully engraved Tiffany & Co trophy, along with the typical Swiss Jakobs cheese, prominent in the western part of Switzerland.

The island of Sylt is an area of natural beauty with over half the island under conservation and, in 2009, the tidal mudflats to the east of the island were declared a UNESCO world heritage site.

In recent years the island has experienced many destructive storms, none more so than in 2011 when many parts of the island were washed away.

The Julius Baer Beach Polo World Cup Sylt supports the Sylt Costal Protection Foundation in helping to raise awareness and support its conservation efforts. At the end of the 2012 tournament, Julius Baer made a €10,000 donation to the foundation to enable it to continue with its cause of protecting the island.

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ACTION NATIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, NY, APRIL 2012

University of Virginia coach Lou Lopez with the women’s and men’s team champions

INTERCOLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS Henry Grabar Sage recounts the joyous double win for the University of Virginia women’s and men’s teams

At the weekends there is generally little life on a college campus before noon, but on a cold and cloudy Sunday morning this April, the entrance to the cavernous arena of Cornell University’s John T Oxley Equestrian Center was crowded with people for the 90th National Intercollegiate Championship.

By 10am, the start of the women’s final, there were roughly a hundred people in the bleachers.

The teams lined up at midfield to hear the national anthem, sung in three-part harmony by members of the Cornell women’s team. When things got underway, the jocular voice of David Drogo, Cornell’s polo announcer of 30 years, chronicled the action and instructed amateur spectators on the rules of the game.

The University of Virginia (UVA) Lady Cavaliers had met the Big Red once before that season, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and won handily. But they

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there was too little time remaining, and the UVA women deservedly took the title, 17-13.

The widely favoured UVA men had trouble early against a dark-horse Westmont squad seeded third.

With both teams riding the University of Connecticut’s ponies in the first chukka, Westmont was the better side. Virginia missed a couple of penalties and a backhanded goal and penalty from Westmont’s Wiley Uretz made it 8-2 by the start of the second chukka.

On Virginia ponies, though, the Cavaliers found their stroke. CB Scherer, Felipe Viana and Mauricio Lopez spread the goals between them in a second chukka as one-sided as the first. Three Virginia goals in the final minute made it 10-9 UVA at the half.

After a couple of minutes of open play put Westmont in the lead, Virginia started to play more efficiently. Scherer put it through the goal on a penalty with 5:36 remaining to equalise. Then it was Lopez at 4:50 for the lead; Viana at 4:06 with a tap-in. Scherer scored again at 3:05, and after a Westmont goal on a penalty two, Lopez and Viana each hit two to close out the chukka at 19-13.

When the Virginia team got their ponies back in the fourth chukka, victory was in the bag. The Cavaliers took it 23-17 for their second straight championship, and the second Virginia trophy of the day.

FRANCIS HINKLE

The men’s team watched the women’s match, drinking yerba maté like gauchos

had lost the championship game to Cornell the previous year, so there was a score to be settled.

The first half was very tight, 3-3 after one chukka and 7-6 to the Lady Cavs at half-time. Virginia’s Isabella Wolf and Cornell’s Kailey Eldredge were the standouts, and their arena-length runs were the brightest moments of a first half in which the majority of goals were scored from penalties.

A sizeable delegation of college polo’s best had been at Cornell since Wednesday, milling around the local hotels, watching soccer at Buffalo Wild Wings and occasionally playing polo. Because not every team had their horses on hand, practising on horses was not allowed, and teams were limited to riding at game-time. The Virginia women, for example, had not been on horseback since their victory on Wednesday at noon over Texas A&M. The Virginia men’s team sat behind me during the women’s match, drinking yerba maté like gauchos and hollering encouragement to their classmates.

In the third chukka, Virginia pulled away with a 3-0 run. Eldredge hit back for Cornell to make it 11-7, but UVA’s Julia Steiner hit a fantastic backshot goal from 20 yards out to quell the opposition. A late rally from Cornell in the fourth chukka brought the Big Red to within three, but

ACTION HPA GAUCHO INTERNATIONAL POLO, 02 ARENA, LONDON , MARCH 2012

England’s Maurice Ormerod (in red) chased by Oscar Mancini (in blue)

GAUCHO INTERNATIONAL London’s O2 arena was the venue for a thrilling match between England and Argentina, writes Herbert Spencer

England defeated Argentina in the Hurlingham Polo Association’s Gaucho International Polo in the O2 arena in March, but not before the two national teams treated some 7,500 cheering fans to a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.

This was the second year of the arena high-goal Gaucho at the former Millennium Dome beside the River Thames in Greenwich, with one of the largest crowds ever to watch an indoor arena international. With a streamlined format concentrating on two international matches, the event drew more hard-core polo supporters this year in addition to Londoners, many of whom were seeing polo for the first time.

Jamie Morrison, son of the late Bryan Morrison, considered the ‘godfather’ of arena polo in the UK, led the England team. Eight-goaler Morrison was joined by Maurice Ormerod, 5-goals, and Gavin Turner, 4-goals. Argentina was captained by 7-goaler Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Figueras who models for Ralph Lauren. Oscar Mancini, 6-goals, and Juan Leiva, 4-goals, completed the squad.

Having lost to the home team in the inaugural O2 event in February 2011, the Argentines were out for blood.

Skipper Figueras appeared much improved after his lacklustre performance in 2011, while

England captain Morrison, despite his experience in the arena, sometimes seemed a bit off his game.

The visitors scored three in a row in the first chukka to take the lead, which they held throughout most of the match. England managed to tie up the game three times in the second chukka, but were behind by five goals in the third.

The home team finally caught fire in the fourth and final period, outscoring Argentina by five goals to two. With just over a minute to go on the clock, England’s Ormerod scored a field goal to equalise at 15-15. Argentina’s Mancini missed a 20-yard penalty shot as the final horn sounded, leaving the score tied.

In the tie-breaking penalty shoot-out that followed, England’s Turner and Ormerod and Argentina’s Leiva and Mancini missed their shots at goal. Then England skipper Morrison rode up to the mark and calmly scored to the roar of the crowd. Argentina’s Figueras final shot went wide, leaving England the winners by 16 goals to 15.

The main event of the Gaucho International was preceded by a match between Scotland and Ireland. Jamie Le Hardy, 7-goals, skippered Scotland with Howard Smith, 6-goals, and George McCorkell, 4-goals. Sebastian Dawnay, 8-goals, was captain of Ireland with Richard Le Poer,

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6-goals, and Siobhan Herbst, 3-goals, the only female player of the O2 event.

The Scotland v Ireland match was considered by some to be more exciting than the main event.

It was all tied up no fewer than eight times, with neither team able to gain more than a one or two goal advantage. Scotland finally pulled away in the last chukka to win 15-12.

Mark Cann of the Combined Services Polo Association was director of this year’s International and Louisa Dawnay, wife of Ireland player Seb Dawnay, organised the teams and their ponies.

‘The HPA’s Gaucho International proved to be an excellent evening to introduce a whole new crowd of people to polo,’ commented HPA chairman Nicholas Colquhoun-Denvers. ‘It was well supported by players and spectators alike, and crowd numbers were well up on last year. There was a great atmosphere and some exciting matches.’

Martin Williams, operations director of the Argentine-themed Gaucho restaurant chain and organiser of the O2 event, was also happy. ‘The increased partnership and relationship with the HPA benefited the quality of the event hugely and I am sure will make it even more of a spectacle in future years,’ he said. ‘We look forward to announcing the date for 2013 very shortly.’

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ACTION FIP AMBASSADORS CUP, PORT MAYACA, FLORIDA, APRIL 2012

AMBASSADORS CUP Port Mayaca club founder and tournament host Stephen Orthwein reports on the kindling of polo friendships old and new

The 77th FIP Ambassadors Cup was held on 13 to 17 April 2012 at the Port Mayaca Polo Club near Palm Beach, Florida. Players representing 10 countries participated on six different teams.

While the tournament did produce a winning team, more about which will be covered later, the overriding significance of the event was the camaraderie and good fellowship enjoyed by all participants.

As in all Ambassadors Cups, horses were generously loaned by local players to the visiting Ambassadors. All visitors felt the quality of horses was excellent. The level of play was also of a very high standard as all of the teams were in the 10- to 12-goal range and the fields were in excellent condition. The six teams played on each of the three game days and enjoyed lunch together in the pavilion overlooking field number one at Port Mayaca. A few also partook in sporting clay shooting.

The Ambassadors Cup was held in conjunction with the US Open Championship being played at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida, and the FIP Council of Administration meeting held at the Museum of Polo on 18 April. The Ambassadors also enjoyed a very active social schedule including the Polo

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Ball. A dinner party was hosted by Russell and Missy Corey and a cocktail reception in their honour was hosted by the museum.

Publisher of Hurlingham magazine, Roderick Vere Nicoll, and his Hurlingham teammates, Carlos Gracida, Carlitos Gracida and Timmy Sharma, were undefeated in all of their games displaying great teamwork and well deserved victories. While the Hurlingham team received the winners’ trophy, each of the other teams was given the privilege to pose for a photo holding the trophy.

It is also noteworthy that as the Port Mayaca Polo Club founder and tournament host, I was given the advantage of being able to pick my teammates, pick the opposition, choose the horses of many of the opposition and hire the umpire, and yet, was still unable to win.

Further, even though I was playing my own horses, while many others were playing unfamiliar ones, I was the only player during the tournament to involuntarily dismount!

The Port Mayaca Ambassadors Cup allowed players to renew old international polo friendships as well as create new ones. The FIP Ambassadors Cup provides an excellent opportunity to promote polo as well as international friendships. If you are given the chance to participate in one, I encourage you to do so.

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ABOUT THE CLUB The Port Mayaca Polo Club began its first season in November 2008. It has five regulation-size fields as well as an 11-acre stick and ball area. The entire complex encompasses 573 acres, with stabling for 158 horses. The club has roughly 25 active members, about half of whom are stabled on site. A number of players from various Wellington clubs also participate in events at Port Mayaca. The club caters to young professionals who enjoy the large area to ride and train horses as well as the high standard of practice games. The season runs from mid-November until mid-April

ACTION LATIN AMERICA TOUR: SANTIAGO, CHILE, MARCH 2012 / BA, ARGENTINA, APRIL 2012

LATIN AMERICA TOUR Despite a backdrop of horrendous weather and political tensions, England’s players performed superbly, writes David Woodd

In April 2011 the AAP’s plans to host an International 22-goal tournament at Palermo fell through at the last minute but later, during the Open, the HPA pledged its support to the AAP’s proposal to try again. At the same time, discussions were held with Lionel Soffia to send an England team to Chile to play a 20-goal test match at Santiago’s San Cristóbel Club. For Chile, it was agreed that our team would play off their HPA handicaps, while in Argentina, they would play off their Argentine handicaps. In the event it was fortunate that our team, all of whom were able to mount themselves in Argentina, were 20-goals on HPA handicaps but 22 on their AAP handicaps.

Hence the team fitted both countries’ wishes and it was anticipated that the polo in Chile would help to prepare the team for the AAP tournament.

Inevitably, the team were at a disadvantage on strange horses and, having tried ponies in a match

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against a Young Chile team on the Saturday, their plans were somewhat disrupted when ponies promised for Sunday did not appear. This necessitated some last-minute changes, with players still trying ponies as the five-minute bell was rung. Perhaps as a result, the team got off to a shaky start, going down by two quick goals in the first chukka, and thereafter trailed throughout until the last chukka when they got to 9-10 with a chance to go level. However, Chile snatched away any hopes when they scored a decisive goal in the last 30 seconds. Obviously the team were disappointed but, still, much enjoyed their foray west of the Andes.

Prior to going to Chile the team had had two practices at La Quinta courtesy of the Tomlinson brothers, and on their return from Chile they held one more practice. They also managed to watch

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the other teams, and the view was that Chile looked strong and Argentina very talented. There had been various comments made about the decision of the HPA to allow the team to play as Rest of the World due to the political tensions in Buenos Aires concerning the 30th anniversary of the invasion of the Falkland Islands. Given the rioting outside the British Embassy on the night before the first game, that was against Argentina, it was clear to those in BA that the decision had been entirely correct.

Everyone knew the game against Argentina would be tough with at least two of their players very competitively handicapped: Juan Ruìz Guiñazú Jr playing off 6-goals (7 in England) and the young 3-goaler Juan Zubiaurre, who had won several tournaments already in 2012. In the event England allowed Argentina to score the first two

ACTION

Opposite Ollie Cudmore scores on Palermo Ground 2 Above Charlie Hanbury receives his prize in Buenos Aires Right Malcolm Borwick backs the ball in Santiago

ANDREA SILVA, EDUARDO GRUNBERG/WWW.IMAGESOFPOLO.COM

goals but then managed to control chukkas two and three and at half-time, although still two goals down, England justifiably felt that they had a chance. However, in the fourth chukka the Argentines out-horsed and outplayed our team by a fair margin – Guiñazú in his red helmet seemed to be everywhere – and put in four goals to establish a substantial lead. England fought back bravely and although Argentina did not extend their lead any further, England were always hard-pressed, having got that far behind. In spite of this, enough of the Argentine goals had been scored from England players’ mistakes to allow the coach to convince the team that if they could eradicate simple mistakes and be quicker to a man, they had everything going for them and could win the remaining two games.

On the Wednesday the skies opened and a storm destroyed a huge number of trees in Buenos Aires and reportedly killed 15 people.

Hence the decision was taken to postpone the Thursday game to Friday and the Saturday game to Sunday. This meant that the support team was severely reduced as the Hanbury and Cudmore parents and John Tinsley were unable to delay their flights due to other commitments. The atmosphere in the England tent on Ground 1 at Palermo for the second game that afternoon was somewhat different from the game against Argentina. There was a real determination to take

In Chile’s defence the ball did appear to ricochet to just where England wanted it to be

the game to Chile and not allow Jamie Huidobro with José Donoso to dictate the pace as they had done so successfully against Brazil. In Chile’s defence the ball did on many occasions appear to ricochet to just where the England team wanted it to be. The England team grabbed every advantage and never let up on the man with the ball, forcing Chile to hit the ball away. England achieved a 6-1 goal lead and although Chile tried hard after half-time to close down the game, they were unable to do so, and with Malcolm Borwick scoring his penalties, and both Charlie Hanbury and Ollie Cudmore very effective in front of goal, the fight back from Chile in the last chukka still left them three goals behind.

With the tournament being played as a league, almost anything was possible on the last day.

England really had to beat Brazil to have a chance of coming second but Chile could win if they beat Argentina by enough goals or came second with a close win. In the event, the England team put in

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another great performance, which unfortunately I didn’t see as I had been unable to change my flight from the Sunday to the Monday. Chile were beaten in extra time by Argentina who won the tournament, and England came a well-deserved second. After the first game against Argentina the consensus was that Argentina were a very good team, which we would be pushed to beat, but after the two games against Chile and Brazil, there was disappointment that the team was not able to have a final against Argentina, as their confidence had built up and they really felt they would have given Argentina a good run for their money, with a good chance of winning.

The team was part funded by sponsorship from Harald Link to whom we are very grateful; part by the HPA, which met the transport costs of the players and some of the main expenses; and part by the players who produced themselves well mounted at Palermo for three matches and at La Quinta for three practices. It is a great credit to those concerned that we were able to field a well-mounted team at that level for international games at Palermo and achieve such good results.

Mark Tomlinson was an excellent captain on and off the field and we are also grateful to Luke Tomlinson who came to Chile to coach the team and then coached the team in Argentina as well.

It is very much hoped that the tournament will become an annual event.

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ARCHIVE

HISTORY GAMES Popular legend has it that New York was the birthplace of American polo – but, asks Herbert Spencer, were the US origins of the sport some 1,500 miles to the west?

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hard-riding westerners 1,550 miles west in the Lone Star state of Texas? Did stick first strike ball in Manhattan or in the small, north Texas town of Denison?

Herein lies a mystery yet to be solved, even by eminent polo historian Horace Laffaye, whose latest book, A History: Polo in the United States, is the definitive work on American polo.

Denison was founded in 1872 as an important railway hub, 73 miles north of Dallas near the frontier with Indian Territory (later to become the state of Oklahoma). Until now, Denison’s main claim to fame is as the birthplace of Dwight D Eisenhower, World War II Allied Commander in Europe, who became the 34th President of the United States. The

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TEXASPOLOCLUB.NET

Sorting historical fact from romantic legend in researching the early days of polo anywhere in the world is never easy. So it is with the beginnings of the sport in the United States in the 19th century.

Historians have always assumed that polo was introduced to the US by American newspaper publisher and sportsman James Gordon Bennett Jr and his New York friends in the winter of 1875/76. They started with practice games indoors at Dickel’s Academy in Manhattan before they first played outdoors on traditional grass grounds in the spring or early summer of 1876.

But was the sport really first played by patrician equestrians in New York – or by

town’s place in the history of American polo has never been fully explored.

Donna Hunt, former editor of The Denison Herald and now a columnist, discovered a 1927 newspaper article that appears to put Denison in the running for honours as the first venue for polo in the US. The article offers no ‘documentary’ proof of early polo in Denison.

It was however written during the lifetime of Denison citizens who were alive in the 1870s, so could have been based on oral accounts, an accepted tool of historians.

The 1927 writer is specific about there being a ‘polo team’ in Denison 53 years earlier, ie in 1874. The article even refers to the exact site of the 1870s polo ground in the town, with its ‘east goal’ on what became West Chestnut Street.

If true, then polo in Denison predates polo in Manhattan by some three years.

But how did Texans even know about polo, much less how to play the game, as early as 1874? The sport had only reached Europe from India five years earlier and, as an esoteric and elitist ‘new’ game, attracted little attention outside a small fraternity of aristocrats and the military. One can speculate that expat Englishmen familiar with polo back home were part of cattle drives into Denison in the 1870s – but that would be more legend than fact.

Even if Denison’s introduction to polo came after Gordon Bennett’s first practice games indoors in New York, the Texas town might well lay claim to holding the first outdoor games on traditional grass grounds. In New York, the Westchester Polo Club was founded in March 1876 and a match was played in May of that year. In Texas, contemporary newspaper accounts refer to the ‘Denison Polo Club’ playing in the same month. Which came first?

‘Clearly the issue is between Texas and New York,’ says the historian Laffaye. ‘But, lacking contemporary documentation, I am reluctant to place one before the other. It is ultimately impossible to ascertain which state was the pioneer.

‘Perhaps soon some newspaper account or a private letter will appear and the mystery will be solved.’