POLOBARBADOS
PABLO CRESPIN TAKES THE BALL DOWN THE BOARDS
island. Holder’s Hill is the headquarters of the Barbados Polo Club, the governing body of the sport in Barbados. All polo players are members of the Barbados Polo Club, and the club committee sets their handicaps. The club is affiliated internationally to the famous Hurlingham Club in England, and although most of the playing members are male, the ladies game has been slowly growing in the past decade, mainly from the female side of established polo families. Holder’s Hill has been the headquarters of the Barbados Polo Club for over 50 years after it moved from the Garrison Savannah. Although established in the 1880s, polo never developed much outside a small enthusiastic equestrian community until just after 2000. This was at the height of boom times on the island and several successful businessmen set up their own polo centres. The emergence of Clifton, Lion Castle and Apes Hill polo fields lifted the sport to another level, and the visionary development enticed more players into the sport, and inevitably attracted visiting teams and top class players. The Barbados Open was inaugurated in 2004
by Bruce Bayley at Clifton Polo Field and for the first time high-goal polo was played in competition. The series continues today and over the past decade it has been one of the major highlights of the season. The drive and enthusiasm of the new generation of polo visionaries not only established new polo fields and tournaments, it attracted quality sponsors and visiting teams. The players also invested in new ponies from overseas, especially Argentina, and experienced and knowledgeable grooms came to live and work in Barbados. The transformation was phenomenal, and Barbados polo established a small, but significant foothold on the international polo map as the word spread that this was a great place to visit. The island was already on the radar of regular visitors the Villages Polo Club from Florida and the Cheshire Club from England, two of the long-established relationships that date back several decades. The Barbados polo season starts before Christmas with local chukkas involving the club members and visiting friends. It enables the younger players to get more competitive polo and
Holder’s Hill has been the headquarters of the Barbados Polo Club for over 50 years...
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