PTSeptember 2009 p6 - 7 News YC
21/8/09
16:14
Page 2
News News in brief
◗ PLAYER OLLIE BROWNE is engaged to Hannah Booth, who used to play at Tidworth and the New Forest. The couple met five years ago at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, when Ollie took a shine, only to discover Hannah had a boyfriend. However, on hearing she was newly single last summer, Ollie took her out on a date. Ollie, 27, got down on one knee at sunset during the couple’s holiday to Juan-les-Pins at the end of July. Hannah, 24, has a polo-playing father, David Booth, and is training to be a teacher. The pair plan to marry in April. ◗ BLENHEIM PALACE in Oxfordshire was gearing up to host a high-goal exhibition match this month, in which Prince William had been invited to lead one of the sides. However, “Polo at the Palace”, organised by the Argentine Alberto van der Mye and planned for 27 September, has been postponed until next year because of the withdrawal of one of the co-sponsors, a Swiss bank. “The concept is still good,” says John Hoy, chief executive of the Blenheim Palace Estate. “It’s disappointing it’s not going ahead this year but I’m optimistic for 2010. They are right to postpone it until they can do it properly. If the initial match is a success, it’s the sort of thing we might run regularly, and we would invest in our grounds to facilitate this.” 6 September 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
This picture, taken at Pony Club polo at Aldershot in 1961, contains faces some readers will recognise. But which ones are which?
How many faces are familiar? ABOVE ARE THE children who took part in Pony Club polo in 1961 – but how many do Polo Times readers recognise? In among them – some flanking Col Cubitt in the middle – are a youthful Nicky Williams, John Tylor, Oliver Langdale, Lavinia Black (then Roberts), Adam Smail and Julian and Howard Hipwood. Perhaps there are others we haven’t spotted? Next month we’ll tell you who’s who. Lavinia, who lent PT the picture, remembers that year – and other early ones – well. Her father, Sqd Ldr Alan Roberts, teamed up with his friend and fellow Ham player Jack Williams to get behind Pony Club in the 1960s. “Dad mowed a field at home [at Englefield Green] and we had practices there with various children,” recalls Lavinia, who has played and umpired all her life. “I started on a games pony called Annie who was tough, strong and brilliant – though I frequently got run away with. “Once, at Aldershot, Hanut Singh came to watch – he sat with my mother and got very excited. I also remember going to Cirencester, where we’d be thrashed by the Hipwoods and the Smails. It’s tremendous how Pony
Club polo has grown, and how the standard has risen.” To the right is a more recent photo – and many readers should know these boys. From left, they are Jack Kidd, Roddy Williams, Oliver Taylor and Avaro Dowding. It was taken during a successful tour of Kenya in 1990. Liza Crisp, who was among their escorts, recalls: “We kept losing Jack – he’d vanish into the African tents!” In last month’s issue of Polo Times, one of the Memorable Pony Club teams from 1990 (top) and 1986 pictures with our obituary of Rupert Thorneloe featured Having spent time in Argentina with not Rupert, but a lookalike. Above is the Hector Barrantes after leaving school, boy himself, in 1986, with his Rendell he stayed on a week to play at Palermo, team-mates. Rupert is next to Lord where he fell from his horse and died. Cowdray; on the far right is James He is remembered at his home club Tomkinson, who continued playing and of Kirtlington each year with the is a joint-master of the Grafton hunt; Stephen Towler trophy, played for next to him is Robert Thame, who ran between a young Kirtlington and a the Dubai high-goal team for years and SUPA team. This year, poignantly, it was continues to play and work in polo. Veronica Thorneloe, Rupert’s mother, Next to Rupert is Stephen Towler, who presented the trophy on 5 July – who also died in tragic circumstances. just days after her own son’s death.
Kenyans youngsters parade and play in South Africa A GROUP OF SIX young Kenyans were among the 60 participants in South Africa’s answer to Pony Club polo – a three-day polo clinic at Jurassic Park Polo Club in Swartberg, which culminated in two contests between the touring Kenyans and their hosts. The Kenyans travelled in convoy from Nairobi by invitation of the South African Polo Association to join the clinic, aimed at 10 to 18-year-olds, now in its sixth year, and run by arena specialist and international polo player, Selby Williamson, in early July. A parade of all 60 participants took place before a three-on-three
Parading, Pony Club-style, to the exotic backdrop of Jurassic Park Polo Club
girls’ game, which the South Africans and Kenyans drew 3-3. It was followed by an equally well-
matched four-on-four boys’ contest, where the nations tied again, 4-4.
Photograph courtesy of Horse and Hound
◗ ENGLAND’S AUTUMN is Argentina’s spring, which can only mean one thing – the Triple Crown is coming up. The warm-up begins this month with the Jockey Club Open (final: 19 September). The Tortugas Open follows (final: 10 October), then the Hurlingham Open (13 to 31 October). Results at this stage will provide a sign of form ahead of the biggest of them all, the 116th Argentine Open (14 November to 5 December). Elsewhere, polo has been working its way round Europe since the climax of UK high-goal. At the time of going to press, George Milford Haven’s Broncos, featuring Pablo MacDonough, were an early front-runner in the 20-goal Gold Cup in Sotogrande (final: 29 August). Also due for completion in August was the Deauville Gold Cup, in which another English side had made a promising start. Cirencester (Nick Britten-Long, Jamie Le Hardy, Santiago Gaztambide and Henry Brett) saw off Hughes Carmignac’s Caroths 17-6 in their opening clash. In Saint-Tropez, Brits Malcolm Borwick and James Beim are leading the line this month in the 15-goal Silver and Gold Cups with Jerome Wirth and Shahe Kalaidjian. South African Gareth Evans played instead of Beimy in the 12-goal Open Du Soleil (final: 30 August). Twelve teams were also scheduled to take part in the Adrenalina Dutch Polo Masters at Vreeland Polo Club, near Amsterdam, on 29-30 August.