POLO Magazine - October 2023

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Recognizable names added to historic trophy

LA Energy

Arena Open to feature top polo, parties and prizes

Presentation Plus

Improved National Polo Center ready for season

No Small Feat

Soccer star switches sports to make Gold Cup history

Get the Edge

Focus on proprioception and the posterior chain

Comeback Crack

Former 10-goaler hopes to return to the biggest stage

Association News

Polo Development’s e-learning platform

Instructor’s Forum

By Julio Ezcurra

Equine Athlete

Conquering colic in performance horses

Polo Scene News, Notes, Trends & Quotes

Polo Development

NYTS tournament managers

Intercollegiate/Interscholastic

Intercollegiate scholarships

Polo in the Pampas

By Lucas Noel

Polo Report

Dispatches from the world of polo

Yesteryears

The life and times of Bob Skene

Obituaries

Polo friends we will miss

David Lominska

THE OFFICIAL BI-MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES POLO ASSOCIATION

Editor & Publisher

Gwen D. Rizzo

Contributing Editors

Sarah Eakin, Lucas Noel, Alice Gipps, Dan Harvey Pedrick, Cristina Fernandez

Editorial Board

Robin Sanchez, Tony Coppola, Tom Biddle, Dawn Weber, Ami Shinitzky

Art Director Gary Lattke

Designer

David Beverage Prepress

Walsworth

Advertising & Editorial Offices

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©Copyright 2023 by United States Polo Association.. No part of this issue may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process without written permission of the publisher. Paul Brown illustrations are ©2023 and are reprinted by permission of Paul Brown Studios, Inc., P.O. Box 925, Hedgesville, WV 25427.

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VOL. 27, No. 5

POLO magazine (ISSN #1096-2255) is published bi-monthly by U.S. Polo Association, 9011 Lake Worth RD, Lake Worth, FL 33467. Periodicals postage paid at West Palm Beach, FL and additional mailing offices. (USPS: 079-770).

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Printed with soy ink.

New Member Benefit

Polo Development LLC has launched an e-learning platform that replaces the existing Poloskilz. The new interface will provide an extensive video and e-learning library of content on topics ranging from ball striking, riding, horsemanship, rules and coaching.

In addition to the existing Poloskilz content, the platform serves as a resource for online courses showcasing drills for both arena and outdoor polo, along with insight from the top players in the world. A consistent stream of new content targeted at helping to develop a player’s skills and knowledge will be made available throughout the year, while virtual events will allow members to connect with specialists in various fields of the polo and equine industry.

Bringing the rulebook to life, the platform also includes comprehensive rules courses on rule types and procedures to aid players in improving their understanding regardless of polo level. Additionally, members can access further content via dedicated player pathways or inquire about

remote player and team performance analysis, receiving swing technique and riding assessments to further enhance their training. The platform also provides an overview of basic horsemanship principles and will include updates on equine safety and care, making it the perfect resource for both beginners and seasoned polo professionals.

On-Demand Events

The USPA Women’s Arena Open returns to the West Coast for the second consecutive year. The tournament will run Oct. 20-22 at Orange County Polo Club in Silverado, California. The women’s competition has gained increased popularity since

Available exclusively to all USPA members, platform access can be found within the member portal on members.uspolo.org under the e-learning button.

its revival in 2016 when the USPA recognized the need for a national tournament celebrating the best of women’s arena competition. The tournament final on Oct. 22 will be available for viewing on-demand.

The new e-learning platform has an extensive video library.

In November, the U.S. Open Women’s Handicap at Houston Polo Club in Houston, Texas, will be played from Nov. 14-19. The tournament was established in 1979 to showcase women’s polo following the inclusion of women into the United States Polo Association two decades earlier. Tournament games will be exclusively recorded by the USPA Polo Network for on-demand viewing.

NPC Winter Schedule

The USPA and the National Polo Center-Wellington are pleased to announce the 2024 NPC winter season schedule, highlighted by the prestigious Gauntlet of Polo, the NPC 16-Goal Championship, U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship and National President’s Cup.

Experience the best polo in the country at one of the most beautiful venues in the world every Sunday from Dec. 31 to April 28.

Celebrate New Year’s Eve with the Continental Cup, the opening Sunday polo match of the season. The competition will conclude the following week with the final on Jan. 7, 2024.

The 2024 Gauntlet of Polo will serve as the premier spectacle of the season, beginning with the C.V. Whitney Cup Feb 9-25, continuing with the USPA Gold Cup Feb. 23-March 24, and concluding with the U.S. Open Polo Championship March 22-April 21. Also included in the schedule is the second edition of the NPC 16-Goal Championship (previously known as the Florida Circuit 16-Goal SuperSeries). Qualifiers will be played

across multiple clubs, with the championship hosted by NPC, April 10-14. The NPC 16-Goal Championship is comprised of four USPA tournaments including the Joe Barry Memorial (Jan. 11-28), Ylvisaker Cup (Jan. 26-Feb. 24), Iglehart Cup (Feb. 23-March 16) and The Outback Cup (March 15-April 6). Each tournament will serve as a qualifier for the 16-Goal Championship, with winning teams advancing to the final event in April. The most prestigious cup in women’s polo in the United States, the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship will once again be hosted by Port Mayaca Polo Club (Okeechobee, Florida), Feb. 3-18. Bringing together the best female players from around the world, elite women’s polo will be highlighted Sunday, Feb. 18, on U.S. Polo Assn. Field One.

In addition, the season will witness the debut of the National President’s Cup at the NPC venue under a new format, uniting some of the most talented 8-goal teams in the nation. The tournament will consist of up to 14 qualifying tournaments held June 2023 through April 2024, with winning teams playing in the National President’s Cup from April 12-21 at NPC.

Save the Date

The Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame located in Lake Worth, Florida, will officially honor its newest inductees at the annual Hall of Fame awards dinner and induction ceremony on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.

The Hall of Fame recognizes players and horses who have contributed to the game in an extraordinary and honorable manner, whether by dedication to the sport or ability and record as a competitor. Inductees are nominated by the public and voted on by a committee of knowledgeable individuals from across the sport of polo.

The Gauntlet of Polo includes the C.V. Whitney Cup, the U.S. Open and the USPA Gold Cup.

The selection process for the Hall of Fame nominees focuses on overall playing record, international appearances and other extraordinary achievements or service to the sport.

The Philip Iglehart Award recognizes exceptional lifetime contributions to the sport of polo, either on a regional or national level, by breeders, trainers, mentors, coaches, club founders and other supporters.

Horses to Remember awards honor the greatest horses in the sport, whose achievements on the field were singled out by contemporary judges.

Charity Empowers Underserved Youth

Great Strides Equestrian Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity recently launched their polo lesson program for underfunded teens. The first group of riders included exceptional young women from the Boys and Girls Club of the Capital Area participating in lessons twice a week at Spa City Polo Club located in Stillwater, New York.

Great Strides is founded and operated by lifelong equestrian Laurie Scott, who envisioned creating a platform where teens can access the transformative power of equestrian sports.

“I believe the discipline of working with horses builds skills that will serve these teens in every aspect of their lives,” said Scott. “With the help of donors we can provide not just polo and riding lessons, but much needed time outside, enjoying the therapeutic benefits of horses.”

Through this initiative, the foundation removes barriers and provides equal opportunities for teens who would otherwise not have access to horses. The lessons at Spa City Polo Club are spearheaded by Argentine polo player Mario Dino Di Salvo.

“Polo players can get scholarships to colleges, and they can travel the world working for polo teams,” said Dino Di Salvo. “We want these teens to know that polo can give them opportunities they never dreamed of before.”

The program not only focuses on equestrian skills, but also instilling values such as discipline, responsibility and teamwork. By offering polo lessons, the foundation aims to enhance the lives of these young individuals and empower them to reach their full potential.

RRP TB Makeover & National Symposium

The USPA is proud to support the polo division of the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, which returns to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, this month.

Presented by Thoroughbred Charities, the event begins Wednesday, Oct. 11 and runs through Saturday, Oct. 14. This year’s polo division will be judged by Chris Stratemann and Robin Sanchez. Preliminary rounds will take place on Oct. 11-12 on an outdoor polo field, with riders performing a shortworking session followed by a stickand-ball session. Saturday’s finale on Oct. 14 will take place in a covered arena and feature short work, a stickand-ball session and a chukker.

The Retired Racehorse Project is a 501(c)3 charitable organization that works to promote second careers for retired racehorses and increase demand for off-the-track Thoroughbreds by fostering their transition into various equestrian disciplines.

The highly-successful event features professional and amateur trainers competing hundreds of off-the-track Thoroughbreds across 10 different disciplines for a total of $100,000 in prize money. At the end, one winner is crowned America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred.

The Thoroughbred Makeover finale will be livestreamed via the organization’s website (therrp.org) Oct. 14 beginning at 8 a.m. EST.

Chairman: Stewart Armstrong President: Charles Smith

Secretary: Chrys Beal Treasurer: Steven Rudolph

Scholarship Winners

Congratulations to the following Intercollegiate/Interscholastic players who were awarded USPA Intercollegiate Scholarships: Will Mudra (Texas A&M University), Elise Pardue (University of California, Davis), Oliver Wheatley (Colorado State University), Brianna Jordan (University of South Carolina Aiken), Julia Schaefer (California Polytechnic State University) and Allie Bushong (Montana State University).

Requirements for application include playing at least two years of interscholastic polo, competing on an intercollegiate team, 3.0 GPA, two letters of recommendation and a short essay. Recipients are selected based on horsemanship, sportsmanship, playing ability, contribution to the sport, academic excellence and character.

Middle School

Do you have a group of youth players in 5th-8th grade? If so, sign up now to host a middle school tournament at your club, now available to be played anytime throughout the year. Contact Emily Dewey for more information or to secure your tournament date.

If you are interested in participating in a Middle School League, look for the schedule at uspolo.org to find a tournament near you. Tournament dates are being added as they are scheduled so check back often.

Ask the Expert

Thank you to guest presenters on the I/I Ask the Expert Summer Series: Dr. Marty Adams, Robin Sanchez, Liz Brayboy, Jenny Schwartz, Cindy Halle, Megan Judge, Jenny Germroth,

Robert Lyn-Kee-Chow, Nicole Bankhead, Lezlie Hiner and Brendon Stenzel. Ask The Expert videos are available on-demand at uspolo.org.

I/I Deadlines

Intercollegiate teams: Tournament entry fees, as well as one of two required regular season qualifying games are due Dec. 1.

Interscholastic teams: All eligibility paperwork, one regular season score sheet, as well as tournament entry fees are due Dec. 1. All regular season qualifying game score sheets are due by Jan. 3.

Contact Ali Davidge with questions.

I/I Magazine

Would you like to submit an ad for the I/I Magazine? Contact Amy Fraser at afraser@uspolo.org to learn more about the rates and requirements for ad submission. Advertising deadline is Nov. 1.

I/I Contact Information: Amy Fraser, Director of I/I Polo afraser@uspolo.org

Ali Davidge, I/I Program Coordinator adavidge@uspolo.org

Emily Dewey, I/I Tournament Manager edewey@uspolo.org

I/I teams: Be aware of upcoming deadlines.

Oana Moore

Staff Spotlight

Carlucho Arellano Executive Director of Services

Name: Carlos R. de Arellano II (I also go by Carlucho, Luch, Lucho, Carl, Los, C-Lo, Carluchin and El Luchador)

Hometown: Wellington, Florida, yes as in (561) and 33414, winter equestrian capital of the world

Years with the USPA: 5

Tell us a bit about what you do for the USPA: I oversee the Services division, which operates as the hub of all USPA functions, maintaining the rules, handicaps and policies within which all divisions, LLCs, clubs and members participate. I am fortunate to have a talented group of staff members within the division, including Membership and Handicap Director Lindsay Greenway, Tournament Manager Kaila Dowd and Membership Office and Operations Administrator Kynzie Watahomigie. We serve as support staff for the majority of the USPA committees. I also get to cooperate in new projects directed by the board alongside Lindsey Ebersbach (Governance), Matt Baran (Communications), Justin Powers (Polo Development) and Fergus Gould (Umpires, LLC).

Do you ride and are you actively involved in the sport?

I ride every day, like I used to, but it is a little different now that I am not a pro. I still like to train young horses, keep my riding legs and feel the wind in my face; there is something special about that. However, now, I share the horseback riding experience with my kids early in the morning before work or just before dark in the evening. If so, how did you get involved in the sport?

I got involved in the sport by following in the footsteps of two absolute polo fanatics: my dad and my brother.

Do you have any relatives involved in the sport?

Oh man, ha ha. I feel like I am somehow related to or affiliated with everyone in polo: my father, my father-in-law, my two brothers, my five brothers-in-law, my niece and nephews, an uncle and all my friends (the USPA membership). Give us some insight into your background. I grew up playing soccer, roller-hockey and fishing every canal and lake in Wellington. I was a mischievous kid, and I crashed my ATV when I was 11, hitting jumps with Tim Greene [another polo kid] in some muddy field. (I think it was the raw land that was there before Villa Del Lago [Polo Club] existed).

I believe the accident was a blessing because that is when I decided to start spending more time riding horses. I developed a tremendous friendship with a gray gelding named Pantera (trained by and purchased from Wellington’s famous Pantera). I went on to study (and play more polo than ever) at the University of Virginia, and I played professionally after that for 20 years.

What are your interests outside of work and polo?

I love my wife and family. I hang out with them. We go to the movies, play games, throw parties, grill out and just share time together. My other soft interests are swimming, studying, fishing and I love watching sports, especially tennis and ice-hockey. I’ll get into a philosophical conversation about virtues, morality and divine filiation with anyone. It interests me. Is there anything people would be surprised to learn about you?

Sometimes I count the palm trees when I am driving down South Shore Boulevard. Is that weird?

If you have a bucket list, what are some of the things on it?

Hike the Inca Trail, El Camino de Santiago, the Grand Canyon on mule or donkey and the Cordillera de los Andes on horseback, all alongside my wife, God-willing. I would like to go back to Wyoming and spend time there with my children and wife and friends. I would also like the opportunity to race Bear Grylls through the Everglades; I think I can take him.

Carlucho Arellano

Staff Spotlight

Ali Davidge I/I Program Coordinator

I have been with the USPA for nine years. A big part of my job is communicating with and supporting clubs with middle school, high school and collegiate programs. Some of my favorite committees I work with are our young alumni group and the Funding and Awards Committees. During the season, if I’m not working on school paperwork and eligibility, you can usually find me at one of the I/I tournaments as a manager. I love getting to meet all of the players we talk to all year round and their parents. I often work with players on their next steps, be that an internship, summer job or what they are thinking about college. It’s a lot of fun getting to support them as they figure out their pathway in polo.

The oldest of three children, I grew up in Culver, a small town in rural Indiana. My parents are both teachers at Culver Academies, a boarding school there. Since there wasn’t much to do, we played just about every sport offered up through high school, including soccer, track, volleyball and basketball.

When I was 7, my parents bought property that had a small four-horse barn on it. At the time, Ed Little, who was head of Culver Academies’ wellknown horsemanship program, was keeping his horses at our barn. When I asked my parents for riding lessons, they said I would have to go out and ask him myself. They didn’t think it would happen as I was extremely shy at the time. I surprised all of us when I marched out and asked if he would be open to giving me lessons. After that,

I started English lessons, and went on to showing in equitation and jumpers. In high school, I attended Culver Academies, which had a polo team, and caught the polo bug there. I did not come from a polo family, but my dad was a hockey coach growing up so he loved it, and always said it was much more fun to watch than my horse shows. After playing interscholastic there for three years

work so whether I am on the road, on the plane or in the hotel, I always have a least one book going. My favorite place to read is in the hammock in my backyard. In the summer, I like to spend time out on the lake with friends and family, either kayaking or on the boat.

Something that my friends always laugh at and find surprising about me is that I refuse to change my animals’

I went on to play at the University of Kentucky.

When I wasn’t in school or playing polo, I worked as a riding instructor at the Culver Summer Schools, which I loved, and led me to double major in equine science and management and agricultural economics in college.

I started working at the USPA after I graduated. It’s been a few years since I played, but I really enjoy being involved in getting others up on their first polo pony.

I am an avid reader. I travel a lot for

names when I get them, so I’ve never actually named any of them. Growing up, my first horse was Judy and my second was Bob. My cat Betsey and dog Tillie also came with their names, so I’m curious to see what other pet names I’m going to end up with.

Something that I would like to do some day is take a road trip across the U.S. and Canada. I’d also love to attend an Olympic Games, not for any particular sport but, it would be a unique and cool thing to be able to witness.

Ali Davidge with siblings Michael and Bridget

For offside shots, put your arm back and keep your eye on the ball. Shift slightly forward and to the right, putting weight in your right leg.

BALANCING ACT

Feeling secure allows you to better control your swing

By Julio Ezcurra

When I teach, safety is always first. To be safe when you hit, you need good balance, strength and rhythm with the horse, so I work on those things. This is something I work on with beginners but also amateurs who want to improve their riding and hitting. Riding is the most important part of

polo, and riding well allows you to hit correctly and control the ball, which is the best feeling when playing.

It is also important to remember, horses are not motorbikes, they have feelings. The left hand has to be sensitive and shouldn’t be used to balance the rider. Gather the reins

when you mount up, making sure they are not twisted and are neither too long or too short. When riding, keep the rein hand low, close to the neck. Former 10-goaler and Hall of Famer Adam Snow uses a tripod platform for balance, meaning both knees hold the saddle while the fist of your rein hand presses on the base of the horse’s neck to start your swing. It will become automatic--as you press on the neck, you start your swing. The more balance you have, the more secure and confident you will feel, which will allow you to start rotating your shoulders more to control the swing and aim for the ball. If you have no balance, you can’t control your swing.

Grip the mallet handle with your fingers, not just your palm which will tend to tire you out. Hold the thumb just above the middle finger, with your pointer finger at the top. There should be space between your thumb and pointer finger, as if you had your finger on a trigger. Tighten your grip during the swing so the mallet won’t turn in your hand but otherwise, only a light grip is needed to hold the mallet in position and will be less likely to wear your arm out.

When you are not executing your swing, keep the mallet straight up in front of your shoulder to keep your arm from getting tired and in a good position to be ready to swing. If you get tired holding it that way, you can even rest it on your shoulder, but always in the upright position. The only time to hold the mallet down is when you are going to dribble the ball or take a half swing.

When you prepare for the swing and while sitting in the center of the saddle, or what I call the comfort zone, move your butt slightly forward out of the saddle. When you are taking an offside shot, shift slightly to the right,

Sergio Llamera

putting more weight in your right leg while gripping with your left knee. Approach the ball so it is positioned parallel to your right foot and about 18 inches away when you make contact. Brush the mallet with the grass as you make contact with the ball. You can practice this without a ball, feeling the mallet head brush the grass. Timing is important when hitting well. Get into a rhythm with the horse and don’t get into position to hit too early. Ideally, you will be in position for no more than half a second before starting the swing.

How fast you are going will dictate how many strides out you will get into position. At a walk it is about one stride out; at a slow canter it is about three strides out; and if you are going

faster, it might be four to six strides out from the moment you start your swing until the ball is parallel to your right foot. If you start your swing too early, you will lose your rhythm and your arm will start to fatigue.

You can practice your timing when you stick and ball, going the speed you usually play but, never go at a speed that makes you feel unsafe.

Look around you then look where you are hitting to before starting your swing. Once you begin your swing, keep your focus 100% on the ball, before, during and after impact. After impact, start your follow-through, continuing your swing in a forward motion and looking up as the ball moves away from you.

When you are ready to swing, extend your arm so it is straight back with your wrist cocked and your left shoulder pointed forward. As your right arm is coming down, keep it straight and on a 30-degree angle as it approaches the ball. As you move the mallet forward in the swing, rotate or straighten the wrist toward the ball to give you the power you need. When you impact the ball, there should be a

Good balance will allow you to fully rotate your shoulders, necessary for making nearside shots.

straight line from the shoulder to the mallet.

Just let the mallet naturally come down from the top of your swing like a pendulum--don’t force it. The weight of the mallet will be enough to move it, and a good follow-through will give you all the power you need.

When making a nearside shot it is pretty much the same thing but a bit more difficult because you have to rotate your shoulders so they are parallel to the horse with the right shoulder facing forward.

Balance is key to get enough rotation so be sure to press your left fist onto the horse’s neck and grip with your knees. Keep your shoulders rotated after you contact the ball so you can complete your follow-through to hit the ball straight.

Julio Ezcurra is a former 6-goal player originally from Argentina. He has played professionally for 30 years throughout the U.S., South America and Europe. After 20 years, he continues to manage and play for Smithfield Farms in Florida and New York, and runs a polo school at Mashomack Polo Club in Pine Plains, New York.

Sergio Llamera

Form a tripod, gripping with your knees and leaning your fist on the base of the neck.

BELLY ACHES Conquering colic in performance horses

With Santiago Mejia, DVM

What can cause colic?

To start, we should understand what colic is. Colic is a term used in veterinary medicine to describe a symptom of abdominal pain, which in horses most of the time comes from the gastrointestinal tract. However, similar symptoms can be seen with pathologies affecting other organ systems, like the urogenital tract.

Colic can be caused by a multitude of conditions, and they can be grouped in general categories such as:

Idiopathic/spasmodic: These are by far the most common types of colic. Idiopathic is a veterinary term for “unknown origin.” Spasmodic colic usually occurs when the bowel is contracting abnormally creating painful spasms (cramping).

Infectious causes: These are usually associated with fevers, sometimes diarrhea, reflux and/or focal to diffused inflammation of the GI tract. Common causes can include parasitism or bacterial, viral and fungal (not very common) infections.

Inflammatory causes: These types of colics exhibit more chronic signs, weight loss, soft stool and poor body conditions. Common causes can include inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), allergies and immune-mediated disease.

Obstructive causes: These types of colics can vary in location, degree

of pain and treatment (medical vs. surgical). More commonly, the large colon is affected at the pelvic flexure by a firm mass of food. However, the small intestines, the transverse colon and the small colon can be affected as well.

Displacements, strangulations and torsions: These types of colics are usually more painful, requiring more aggressive treatment. Displacements occur when a portion of the large colon moves to an abnormal position within the abdominal cavity. When we talk of strangulating lesions, this

refers to the blood supply being cut off to a portion of the intestine. A torsion is when the bowel twists on itself, restricting the blood supply to the affected segment.

What are some of the symptoms you can expect to see?

Symptoms can be generally classified in three categories:

Mild: Horses with mild colic signs will present with mild anorexia (did not finish their food), depression (they are not themselves today), decreased number of bowel movements, intermittently pawing with a front foot, looking back at the flank region, curling the upper lip and/or arching the neck.

Moderate: Horses with moderate colic signs will present with previously mentioned signs either more frequently and/or in combination with repeatedly kicking at the abdomen, lying down with occasional rolling from side to side, sweating, stretching out as if to urinate, and/or straining to defecate.

Severe: More severe cases can present with previously mentioned signs, abdominal distention, profuse sweating, recumbency, constant rolling, body bruising, marked depression and usually having short or absent response to aggressive analgesia and/or sedation.

When is it an emergency and when can you “wait and see”?

An emergency is usually if the horse has very abnormal vital parameters (HR >60 bpm, RR of >40 rpm, fever >101.5 F or abdominal distention), or doesn’t respond to initial medical therapy, that can include analgesia, sedation, stomach decompression and enteral treatments (electrolytes, oil and water); if the horse has been dealing with chronic signs for multiple days without improvement; or if signs

Lip curling can be a sign of discomfort and colic.

are too severe to wait or the horse is far from a referral center (sometimes it is better to send them in when they are still stable).

It is fair to “wait and see” if the horse has a normal physical exam and vital parameters, is producing an adequate amount of manure and responds to initial therapy within four to six hours. What should a horse owner do while waiting for the vet?

Ideally hand walking will help intestinal motility and it can be done as long is it safe for the person and the horse. Some horses will be so painful that they may try to roll while being walked. Food should be removed, but water can be kept in the stall. If the horse is too painful sometimes it is better to keep them in open spaces to avoid casting and inflicting selfinjuries.

Are some colics worse than others?

Absolutely, every time we evaluate a colic we try to differentiate location, severity and chronicity among other parameters that will help us understand the cause of the colic, allowing us to gage our treatments accordingly.

To give you an example, if we are dealing with a large colon impaction versus a small colon impaction or small intestinal impaction, the clinical presentation varies. The large colon tends to be more forgiving and responds better to medical therapy. On the other hand, with a small colon impaction, depending on severity, the horse tends to get rapid abdominal distention and tends to be more painful. With small intestine obstructions, horses tend to be painful, reflux and often need surgery. Ileal impactions in particular, often require surgery. Another example is the equine colon mucosa takes approximately 25% longer to develop severe morphologic damage than the small intestine. In the equine small intestine, the villus tips of the intestinal mucosa is the region most

susceptible to ischemia due to its vascular architecture, which consist of a central arteriole that courses to the villus tip and arborizes.

When should surgery be considered?

I look at several factors: First, degree of pain and response to analgesia. I talk to the owner and referring veterinarians about what they have given the horse, how they responded, how long they have been colicky and how severe the clinical signs are. Usually with this initial information I have an idea of which way it could be heading (medical vs. surgical). However, the decision for surgery vs. medically treating the horse should be made based on a combination of clinical history, physical exam, diagnostic imaging, laboratory results (systemic and abdominal)

and findings of rectal palpation and nasogastric tubing.

Some horses will be more straight forward than others and the decision is easier to make. However, with those that are not as clear we may need a series of laboratory work and ultrasounds to evaluate how things change with time.

If a horse owner chooses not to do surgery, are there any other options?

This is a great question, but at the same time can be tricky. Most of the time when we determine that the horse has a surgical lesion it is highly unlikely the horse is going to respond to medical treatment.

We know based on decades of research that certain laboratory findings will change as the disease process worsens. For example, the

Walking the horse can help intestinal motility, and keeping the horse in an open space can help prevent injury if it tries to roll.

systemic and abdominal lactate will change when there is poor perfusion to the tissues and ischemia is developing. We know when the ratio of abdominal to systemic lactate is two to three times greater, it is highly suggestive that a portion of the intestine is receiving minimal to no blood perfusion. Therefore, the cells die and produce waste products that we measure.

Another example is the transcutaneous ultrasound. With this technology we can monitor many factors that can help make decisions: motility, degree of intestinal edema/ thickening, characteristics of the abdominal fluid, position of the intestines, etc.

Typically, what happens during surgery?

When a horse is taken in for exploratory surgery (laparotomy), we do a systematic evaluation of the abdominal viscera with emphasis on our primary differential diagnosis. I usually try to find the cecum first (home base for me). From there, I start evaluating the length of the small intestine, starting from the ileum up

to the duodenum and stomach. Then I go back to the cecum and follow it to the large colon, transverse colon and small colon.

It is important to evaluate the natural orifices and spaces within the abdominal cavity, such as the epiploic foramen, nephrosplenic ligament, gastrosplenic ligament, etc.

What is the recovery like after surgery? How long does it take for a horse to fully recover? Recovery has many different steps depending on the case. When we talk about a re-feeding plan this will depend on the type of lesion, the location and the procedure performed. For example, a horse that was treated with a small intestine resection and anastomosis will need more time to recover before he can resume a normal diet. We usually give them time to get through the postoperative ileus, then we follow-up with small and easily digestible meals (senior mashes, fresh grass or pelleted forages). On the other hand, when it comes to re-feeding, large colon lesions tend to be more forgiving and they usually tolerate more rapid

re-feeding.

When we talk about wound healing, we use the rule of 1, 2, 3. This is based on a paper by Blackford et, al. 2000, regarding how the Linea Alba heals. Over the first month, the horse should be stall rested with no hand walks for the first two weeks as the skin heals. Thereafter, the horse can have twice daily hand walks/grazing for the remaining two weeks. During the second month the horse can be turned-out in a small paddock (round pen size) starting with four to six hours a day and gradually increasing the time. In the third month the horse can be turned-out in a large paddock, starting with four to six hours a day and gradually increasing the time. Thereafter, if everything looks good the horse can gradually resume training.

It is very important that the horse is evaluated by a veterinarian and the abdomen is palpated every time there is going to be increase in exercise to ensure there are no hernias or abdominal wall defects.

Dr. Mejia performs colic surgery on a horse at Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists.

If there are complications from surgery, what are they?

The most common post-operative complications are colic, ileus, peritonitis, fevers, endotoxemia, laminitis, surgical site infection and intestinal adhesions. Most often based on the presentation, the surgical exploration and the lesion we can anticipate some of the possible complications and start treating them prophylactically, to either mitigate the damage or prevent them from occurring.

Can the horse make it back to their full exercise regime eventually? Could a polo pony go back to playing polo again?

Absolutely, overall the prognosis to return to previous activity is around 60-85%. Many factors can decrease or increase this number, but is safe to say that around 70% of horses will return to the same level of activity. In a paper out of Denmark by Ekstrøm et, al. 2011, they found that the majority of horses (86.1%) resumed or started sporting activities after colic surgery. The proportion of horses that the

owners believed to achieve the same or better performance after surgery was 83.5%. In 89.9% of the cases, owners stated that they would recommend colic surgery.

The results of another study by Menke et, al. 2019, were not as optimistic; horses that survived surgery and anesthesia were assessed and the survival rate after one year was 72.7%. Over 60% of the owners indicated that their horses had reached the same or better level of performance after surgery.

Another interesting paper by Valberg et, al. 2019, looked at the effect of core abdominal muscle rehabilitation exercises (CARE) on return to training and performance in horses after colic surgery. They found that after colic surgery, 81% of CARE horses improved their performance level compared with 7.8% of controls. Core abdominal rehabilitation exercises were safely performed by horses after colic surgery with no reported complications and may have facilitated faster convalescence and improved performance.

In conclusion, the advance in technique, knowledge (backed by science) and experience have improved drastically the survival rates and return to function of horses that experience colic surgery in comparison to surgeries performed 20 years ago. However, we cannot forget that we are dealing with living animals and there are many individual factors that can affect the individual outcomes.

Surgery should not be taken lightly. It is our duty as surgeons to provide all the possible information and explain in detail the process and potential complications of surgery to horse owners and trainers so they can make the best-informed decision based on their individual circumstances (finances, expectations, goals, etc.).

The decision whether or not to take a horse to colic surgery should not be taken lightly, and everyone involved should fully understand and commit to their integral part of the process.

Around 70% of horses will return to the same level of activity after colic surgery.

Kerri Kerley

GIVING BACK Polo match benefits shock trauma center

The Maryland Polo Club in Monkton, Maryland, hosted the 25th Ronny Maher Memorial at its Ladew Gardens field in nearby Fallston.

Maher was a longtime member of the polo club with a passion for polo and other equestrian events. He suffered a fall on Thanksgiving day 27 years ago while fox hunting. He was flown to R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. He had severed his spinal chord and was a vent-dependent quadriplegic. Everyone at the trauma center did all they could for him for nearly six months before he passed away due to complications of his injuries.

The family is forever grateful for the care he received, saying doctors, nurses and staff were there for them at every turn. The family wanted to give back and a memorial polo match seemed fitting because while he was an avid fox hunter, when he discovered polo at age 60, it hit him like a ton of bricks. He just loved it.

“He was at shock trauma for three to six months. They were awesome,” Maher’s daughterin-law Peggy Maher told Fox Baltimore. “They were so good with him, so we wanted to give back to [shock] trauma. They save so many lives.”

Since it began, the match has grown from a small gathering of friends and family to what it is today, with upwards of 600 people in attendance, including some of the nurses that cared for Maher.

The evening match began at 6 p.m. and included the traditional champagne divot stomp at halftime. Attendees enjoyed a delicious dinner, bid on a wide array of items in a silent auction and enjoyed live music by For Your Pleasure. Playing in the event was Cobalt Management Service’s Vlad Tarashansky, Parker Pearce, PJ Orthwein and Max Hempt and Dovecoat’s Tom Huber, Nate Berube, Jake Brown and Liam Driscoll. Cindy Halle was umpire.

Master Sgt. Teresa Harris beautifully sang the National Anthem before the game got underway. Dovecote prevailed 11-8. Jake Brown was MVP and Nate Berube’s Omega was Best Playing Pony.

All proceeds go to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center. To date the event has raised over $1 million for the center.

Maher’s son Ron Maher said, “I cannot thank our generous sponsors, donors, guests, silent auction donors and volunteers for all of their support. This event could not take place without it.” For more information about the event or to donate, visit the website: ronnymahermemorial.org.

Robert Keller

The event has grown from a small group of friends and family to nearly 600.

Lindsey McClees and Holly Pearce

Robert Keller

PASS IT ON Former pro player shares knowledge with others

The Hillside Farm Polo and Pony Club in Richfield, Wisconsin, held a threeday polo clinic, sponsored by the Polo Training Foundation, July 14-16, taught by former 9-goal arena player (5 outdoors) Tom Goodspeed. Those in attendance included adult amateurs, I/I kids, Pony Club members and other youth involved with a variety of equestrian programs owner Margaret Paur offers at her farm.

Goodspeed enjoyed returning to the same city where he first cantered on

and positioning, tactics and strategies; and a coaching scrimmage. Attendees could attend individual sessions or a full day.

The first day was attended by members of the girls’ interscholastic polo team, and lasted 10 hours. A new group of students attended on Day Two, including adult amateurs. The final day had another mix of riders, and included members of the Hillside Farm Pony Club for the noon session.

up with newer students to help them out. I enjoy working with all ages, but I really enjoy working with kids because they are sponges. They hear you say something and they are doing it five minutes later.”

Goodspeed said it was a delight to be around so many young riders who have already developed the very same passion and love for horses he has.

“My entire life flashed through the sparkle of all those young eyes,” Goodspeed said. “Watching young and old that have developed such a wonderful camaraderie through their shared love of horses [was so satisfying]. It was entertaining listening to the wonderful banter and humor ...”

the back of a horse almost 60 years ago, having learned to ride at Donald McCarrol’s Joy Farm, just down the road from Hillside.

The clinic included four two-hour skill-building sessions throughout the day with instruction on the polo swing, hooking and ride-offs; swing review

Instead of setting an agenda, Goodspeed asked the attendees what they wanted to work on.

“It was kind of cool because I helped some of her better scholastic riders and players teach the Pony Club kids,” Goodspeed explained. “I have [the ones with a little more experience] help with the clinic and team them

According to Goodspeed, his time spent at Joy Farm and with various polo schools, teams and clubs takes up so much space in his heart.

“My life purpose has to be a small part of the effort to share such a wonderful passion with others and to help provide a safe introduction to both horses and polo,” he said.

Goodspeed works with Pony Club members on the swing.

Interscholastic members tack up on Day One of the clinic.

CHUKKERS FOR CHARITY Polo match benefits local organizations

Photos by Brenda Black

cards; hotel stays; dinners; and much more.

This year’s attendees donned island inspired outfits. The Best Dressed Women were Troy Solarek, Nicky Dudley and Rebecca Kain; Best Dressed Men were Mark Locher and Mike Riley. The Most Over the Top was awarded to Amy Hobbs; Most Authentic Couple was Jim and Fiona King; Best Dressed Couple was Leslie and David Hacket. The first-place tailgate decorating prize went to Eliza O’Neil.

This year’s co-chairs were Nina Lindley and Falon Viet Scott, avid volunteers for the event and charities. This much-anticipated annual event, which has raised more than $2.6 million since 1996, made a record contribution to the community impact of Saddle Up! and The Rochelle Center in 2022 under Lindley’s leadership, and is set to break that record again this year. Chukkers for Charity is Tennessee’s largest and highestgrossing charity polo match. The event was hosted by Orrin Ingram and Stefanie Latham at Riverview Farm. For more information visit chukkersforcharity.net

The 27th Annual Chukkers for Charity polo match, presented by Medical House Calls, was held at Riverview Farm to a sold-out crowd. The signature event raised record funds for Rochelle Center and Saddle Up!, organizations that provide essential services to people with disabilities in Middle Tennessee.

Prior to the match, actor, coach and singer Dan O’Callaghan performed the National Anthem.

The Colonial Hill Farm team won the match, 13-8, and included players Orrin Ingram, Aaron Barrett, Wes Finlayson and Armando Huerta. Playing for Iron Horse Farms was Whistle Uys, Zulu Scott-Barnes, Tim Kyne and Stevie Orthwein. Uys was named MVP and received a

timeless collection watch donated by King Jewelers. Zulu Scott-Barnes’ Lantana, was awarded Best Playing Pony and given a blanket provided by Tennessee Equine Hospital.

Attendees enjoyed a tropical-themed day, “Passport to Paradise,” with a silent auction and a tropical tiki hut VIP lounge. Guests could also take advantage of the IV hydration station hosted by Medical House Calls. At halftime, guests helped stomp divots on the field and kids enjoyed the annual stick-horse race.

Silent auction items included a $13,000 Kubota Sidekick RTV; $7,500 Dormie Network Golf Membership; a guitar signed by Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, Dan & Shay, Amy Grant and Sheryl Crow; Jewelry; clothing; gift

Kids enjoyed the annual stick-horse race at halftime.

Guests bid on a guitar signed by several artists in the silent auction.

COLLEGE POLO TOUR A journey of camaraderie, friendship and adventure

By Marco Marsans, Yale University

This summer, 11 students, representing eight universities and six countries, participated in the second iteration of College Polo Tour, an immersive cultural exchange between college-aged polo players from around the world.

Co-led by Georgetown polo coach Gustavo Fraga-Errecart and Soledad Secchi, director of CPT, the trip expanded on friendships and memories formed last Thanksgiving when members of the same cohort traveled to Argentina for the firstever tour. This time, the itinerary featured 18 chukkers across Spain and Morocco, in addition to daily equine and cultural experiences.

As a newcomer to the group and the sport, I didn’t know what to expect. However, the team’s instant camaraderie and good humor quickly assured me I’d made the right decision.

The trip started with an expedition to Morocco. Bright and early, we loaded mallet bags into the back of our 11-seater van and drove to Tarifa, where we boarded a ferry to Tangier. Waiting for us on the other side was Mustafa, a chef-turned-tour-guide who speaks eight languages (and, I might add, was dressed impeccably in yellow from head to toe). Over the course of an afternoon, Mustafa showed us the Casbah, the souk, and took us for a camel ride.

The next day, we continued southward until reaching La Palmeraie Polo Club, an oasis owned by the Hermès family. Upon arriving, we were greeted with saddled horses, which we took for a stroll along the club’s private coastline. Before long, the stroll escalated to a gallop. Imagine, rolling dunes to our left, the ocean to our right, an Atlantic breeze coursing through our hair and

nothing but empty beach stretching to the horizon. We stared at each other in disbelief. None of us had ever experienced something like it. Later, following a spectacular lunch, we made teams and geared up for chukkers. Game time! The match was exhilarating in a way only polo players can understand.

The remainder of the trip took place in Spain’s polo capital, Sotogrande. We played at Iridike and Puente de Hierro Polo Clubs and watched polo at Santa Maria and Ayala Polo Clubs.

To celebrate the end of the trip, the group attended a flamenco dinner performance on the beach. We all danced together till sunrise.

As I wrote this on the flight back to New York, I was filled with nostalgia and gratitude for the events of the previous week. No two people in our group were the same and that’s precisely what made it so fun. Everyone contributed something unique and indispensable. I think I speak for the group when I say we all have a place in each other’s homes, whether Kentucky, Florida, Buenos Aires or Shanghai. These friendships transcend CPT, and I can’t wait to see where they take us.

The College Polo Tour returns to Buenos Aires, Argentina in November.

Eleven students from eight universities participated in the second College Polo Tour.

Isabella Bianca Wintersteiger

RIVAL SCHOOLS Oldest alumni polo match supports college teams

After a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the oldest alumni polo match in America returned.

The 36th edition of the Harriman Cup, pitting graduates from Yale against University of Virginia, was played at Bethpage State Park in Bethpage, New York. U.S. Polo Assn., the official apparel partner, supplied team jerseys and support for the match.

Taking the field for Yale was former 10-goaler and Polo Hall of Famer Adam Snow, Sam Clemens, Peter Elser, Chelsea Messinger and Leila Chang, while UVa was represented by Joevy Beh, Kylie Sheehan, Tariq Dag Khan, Adam Klopp and Connor Finemore. Snow wasted no time in putting Yale on the board early in the first chukker, but a penalty conversion by Beh level the teams once again. Snow kept

up the pressure, knocking in three unanswered goals and Clemens converted a Penalty 2 to give Yale a 5-1 advantage at the half.

Virginia attempted a comeback in the second half with Sheehan taking over for Khan. Beh got another point with a soaring Penalty 4 but, Snow put two more between the uprights, giving Yale a 7-2 lead in the final chukker. Playing hard until the last second, Sheehan broke free to score UVa’s only field goal just seconds before the final bell tolled. Yale took the 7-3 win.

To date, Yale has won 16 times to Virginia’s 18. The only tie was in 1992 when the teams scored 21 goals each. At the start of the awards ceremony, Beh received a plaque from the Harriman Cup board honoring his late brother Chevy Beh, who played in past

Harriman Cups for Virginia. Beh made a monetary donation to the Harriman Cup, commemorated each year with the Chevy Beh MVP award.

Snow was named this year’s MVP and received a Dos Banderas polo saddle, which he donated to the Yale collegiate program. Snow also received the Harriman Cup Award, given each year to individuals who have made significant contributions to the world of polo and embody the leadership, public service and staunch advocacy for equestrian sports characteristic of the tournament’s namesake, W. Averell Harriman, a 1913 Yale graduate, polo player and former governor of New York.

Chetan Krishna’s Yara, played by Sheehan in the last chukker, was Best Playing Pony.

Prizes were also presented for Best Tailgate, Best Hat, Best Dressed Man and Woman and Best Dog. All winners and polo players received bottles of wine courtesy of Quinn Rosé. The Best Dressed winners also received custom-made collegiate loafers by JP Crickets.

Winners were: Genevieve Chase, Best Hat; Christopher Leake, Best Dressed Man; Claire Lukas, Best Dressed Woman; Kat Thomsen and Patty Grayzalia, Best Tailgate; and Winnie the Corgi, Best Dog.

The Harriman Cup is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the sport of polo and supporting the collegiate polo programs at Yale and University of Virginia.

Annika Connor, Aysun Yalcinkaya, Leckie Roberts and Matt Paco

Best Dog Winnie

John Sanderson

John Sanderson

HIGH ACHIEVERS Collegiate players earn Academic All-Ivy honors

Cornell intercollegiate polo players

Patricio Fraga-Errecart and Lea Jih Vieira have earned Academic All-Ivy honors as part of the 2022-23 At-Large Team that recognizes top student athletes in non-Ivy League sponsored sports. A total of 34 Ivy League standouts received the honor.

Institutions nominated one student athlete from each of its non-Ivy

major. He played on the men’s polo team, scoring multiple goals in four games during the school year and was an alternate at the National Intercollegiate Championships. Vieira, from Frederick, Maryland, also recently graduated. She played on the women’s polo team, starting every match. She was Cornell’s leading scorer last season and represented USA at

MAKEOVER RRP features polo ponies

Horseman from around the country will gather at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, Oct. 11-14, to showcase their off-thetrack Thoroughbreds in one of 10 disciplines, including polo.

League sponsored sports--women’s archery, women’s equestrian, sprint football, women’s gymnastics, women’s polo, men’s polo, women’s lightweight rowing, women’s rugby, coed sailing, women’s skiing, men’s volleyball, women’s water polo and men’s water polo--to be included on the Academic All-Ivy At-Large Team. Student athletes must be in good academic standing to be eligible for the award.

Fraga-Errecart, from Potomac, Maryland, recently graduated, and was an information science

the Intercollegiate College Cup and helped USA win at the SUPA International Cup in England.

Previous Cornell Academic AllIvy honorees include polo players Elizabeth Wisner (2010, 2011), Anna Winslow (2016), Dan Shaw (2018), Hanna Noyes (2018), Ben McClintic (2000, 2001), Ignacio Masias (2016, 2017), Jef Markle (2004), Bobby Harvey (2009), Sara Gompf (1999), Emma Eldredge (2017), Max Constant (2011), Tom Banks (1999) and Harriet Antczak (2004, 2005).

Nine horses in the polo division have entered. Matuz Polo from Florida will show A Little Tappy (Tapiture x Celibration Time) and Bold Empress (Grey Swallow x Charlie’s Angel); River Mountain Farm in Kentucky has Gorman (American Freedom x How Nice); Megan Weir-Leven from Pennsylvania has Heidi T (Klimt x Awesome Lily); Peter Cumming from Michigan has Lets Race Ladys (Sidney’s Candy x Mahala) and will be competing in Freestyle as well; Laura McEvoy from California has No Eres Tu Soy Yo (Smokem x Love Dare) and is competing in show jumping too; Buck Schott from Kentucky has Phlox (Dolphus x Cacahuatita); Miguel Questel from Ohio has Sam and Sy (Jaish x Speightster); and Jolie Liston from Georgia has Susans Novela (Constitution x Usually Super).

Aside from the competitions, seminars on neurological exams and body condition scores will be held; there is a stall decorating contest; a Barrels & Brew night, featuring West Sixth Brewery and local food trucks; a competitor party; and a makeover finale VIP area, including breakfast and a buffet lunch.

The finale, which includes winners from each discipline, will be livestreamed at therrp.org.

Patricio Fraga-Errecart Lea Jih Vieira

SUMMER FUN Heroes, disco featured at Denver Polo Club

in their best disco attire. A tailgate competition had attendees decorating their tailgates with plenty of shimmer and flower power. Classic cars were also on display.

In August, club awards were given. Winners were Marianne Lythgoe, Best Groom; KC Schmeits, Most Improved; Leandro Floccari, Best Polo Professional; Valentino Pedano, Best Junior Player; Luke Clarke’s Gogo, Best Horse; Kim DeLashmit, Foundations Award; Ruben Coscia, Sportsman; and Rick Rask, MVP.

The Denver Polo Club in Sedalia, Colorado, had a busy summer, highlighted by events held in conjunction with polo matches and its annual year-end club awards.

The USPA Lt. Governor’s Cup, also played as the Centennial Cup, was held over July 4th weekend. Fittingly, the club honored military and first responders, including police officers and firefighters. Hailing it Heroes Day, the club thanked Colorado Heroes for their service to the community with polo matches, patriotic tailgating, live music, food trucks and more.

Later in the season, the club held a Disco Sunday tailgate party with an exhibition match. About 400 groovy people attended the event, dressed

Stephen Martin

Scott Woolcott

Scott Woolcott

FIP AMBASSADORS CUP

California club hosts polo players from four countries

The Wine Country Polo Club in Santa Rosa, California, welcomed players from Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Mexico for the 113th FIP Ambassadors Cup, June 21-25. Last held at Wine Country Polo some 30 years ago, this year’s event again shows that polo is a catalyst for international fellowship and a globally recognized sport. The visitors included FIP ambassadors Ronald Zurcher and Pedro Castillo, both former show jumpers; Michael Egan; Miguel Calzada Mercado; and Victor Setien. Each visitor was placed on one of six teams, playing off two roundrobin semifinals with the winning teams advancing to the final.

In the semis, Carneros (Juan Martin Fernandez Llanos, Carlos Rivas, Vineet Sharma, John Ziegler) and Stone Tree Ranch (John Bickford, Michael Egan, Vladimir Rivkin, Keith White) topped their respective round robins.

In the final, Stone Tree Ranch led 3-1 after the first, however, Carneros flipped the script in the second chukker, tallying four times while holding Stone Tree silent, and taking a 5-3 lead.

Carneros kept the momentum in the third, adding two unanswered goals to lead by four going into the final chukker. Stone Tree rallied, with John Bickford and Keith White cutting the difference to two with half the chukker left to play. Stone Tree struck again but two goals by Carneros ensured the win, 9-6.

Earlier in the day, Wild Oak Saddle Club (Carlos Armenta, Pedro Castillo, Juan Dulevich Uzal, Brian McFall) topped Griffin Polo (Ciro Desenzani Benussi, Paul Griffin, Jose Tomas Jara Vargas, Ronald Zurcher), 4-2, and Trione (Micaela Saracco, Victor Setien, Henry Trione, Martin

Vidal) got the best of JRD Saddlery (Mehrdad Baghai, Jens Lermusiaux, Miguel Calzada Mercado, Collin White), 5-2.

Following a traditional asado, field owner Victor Trione, club president Paul Griffin, club manager Vladimir Rivkin and event organizer Mehrdad Baghai presented trophies to the finalists. Carneros players received specially-crafted FIP belt buckles while Stone Tree Ranch went home with bottles of Barcelo Rum.

The weekend also included lunch and wine tasting courtesy of Tamber Bey Vineyards (Calistoga, California) and a formal dinner at La Pigeonnaire, a beautiful French residence owned by Yves and Claudine Lermusiaux.

The tournament drew a large crowd.

Paul Griffin, Ronald Zurcher (Costa Rica), Miguel Calzada Mercado (Mexico), Vladimir Rivkin, Victor Trione and Michael Egan (Canada)

YOUTH PLAY DAYS

Meet the dedicated NYTS tournament managers

The National Youth Tournament Series program provides a framework for USPA clubs to host advancedlevel junior events, providing youth players an opportunity to play with and against their peers. Qualifier tournaments are held throughout the year, culminating in the NYTS Championships in the fall.

NYTS qualifier tournaments are USPA circuit events hosted by individual clubs around the country and supported by USPA Polo Development. Working with Polo Development staff, NYTS tournament managers play an integral role in the success of the NYTS program and qualifier season.

Often traveling to several clubs throughout the season, our dedicated tournament managers provide onthe-ground assistance to clubs, as well as help the USPA in upholding the NYTS tournament conditions.

Meet a few of our NYTS tournament managers:

Kerri Kerley

Beth Supik

Beth Supik is a remarkable individual with a wealth of experience, spanning multiple disciplines within the equestrian world, including steeplechase, polo, Thoroughbreds and hunters.

Hailing from a lineage firmly established in horsemanship, Supik brings her experience playing and umpiring to her role as an NYTS tournament manager. Having initially started as tournament manager in the intercollegiate and interscholastic program, Supik’s passion led her to contribute her expertise at the NYTS Championships, where she lent a helping hand with vet checks and horse care throughout the event.

Today, Supik’s adventurous spirit finds

her traveling to tournaments across the United States for NYTS qualifiers, and her role at numerous NYTS and I/I Championships is a testament to her dedication.

Tony Condo

As Cornell University’s (Ithaca, New York) polo coach, an I/I umpire and NYTS tournament manager, Tony Condo’s commitment is apparent. His own polo journey kicked off in 2003, during an adult beginner’s polo clinic hosted at Cornell University, where he worked as a facility manager and assistant director.

Over the years, his involvement evolved, encompassing roles such as umpiring and coaching students of varying levels while striving to refine his own playing skills.

With a remarkable 13 seasons of teaching and coaching experience, Condo’s dedication shines through as he imparts his wisdom to first-year, junior varsity and varsity players of all riding and playing backgrounds. His love of coaching has paved the wave for success in the I/I and NYTS programs.

Beth Supik, right, with Vlad Tarashansky at the Virginia Polo Center in Charlottesville

Tony Condo at Cornell

Emma Blackwood

Emma Blackwood is a true powerhouse who seamlessly juggles her roles as an accomplished equestrian, attorney and dedicated polo player.

Her passion for the sport was born at Southern Methodist University in Texas, and it continues to flourish. Beyond her professional excellence as a corporate attorney, Emma won the 2020 Feldman Cup, an I/I alumni tournament, and was recognized with the Horsemanship award. A steadfast advocate for youth polo, she remains deeply engaged with I/I and NYTS, channeling her expertise and enthusiasm to shape the next generation of players.

Violeta Escapite

Violeta Escapite wears the hat of club manager at Midland Polo Club (Midland, Texas) and polo office manager at the bustling Eldorado Polo Club (Indio, California). But, there’s more to Escapite than meets the

eye. In addition to these roles, she is the driving force behind Eldorado’s junior program, orchestrating junior polo every weekend. From leadline to advanced, she ensures the sport thrives.

Escapite’s help with junior polo extends beyond California as she travels to manage NYTS tournaments across the nation.

Her polo roots run deep; her husband is a full-time professional player and her son’s participation in NYTS make them a true polo family. With meticulous attention to detail and a knack for handling diverse personalities, she shines as an invaluable asset to the NYTS tournament manager team. For information on the NYTS program, please email NYTS@uspolo.org.

Kerri Kerley

Janelle Ross

Emma Blackwood

Violeta Escapite

PASSION PAYOFF Intercollegiate

players rewarded for efforts

Photos by David Murrell

Several Intercollegiate/Interscholastic players were recently awarded USPA Intercollegiate Scholarships.

These athletes join Grace Mudra, Kaylin Bender, Vlad Tarashansky, Taylor Nackers, Elizabeth Leudesdorff, Josie Dorsey, Connelly Cashen, Alana Benz, Liliana Gonzalez, Marisa Carelli and Lindsey Morris as award recipients for the 2023-2024 school year.

Requirements for application include playing at least two years of interscholastic polo as an active USPA member, competing on an intercollegiate team, maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA, and providing two letters of recommendation and a short essay. Recipients are selected based on horsemanship, sportsmanship, playing ability, contribution to the sport,

academic excellence and character. The funds awarded to players are paid directly to the student’s institution for their tuition and are renewable for up to four years.

Congratulations to these outstanding student athletes and good luck in their college careers!

Elise Pardue and Will Mudra

Will Mudra

Hometown: Bellville, Texas

IS Team: Houston Polo Club

IC Team: Texas A&M University

Year in school: Freshman

I’m looking forward to being able to play with different players and overcome challenges to be the best I can be for me and my team.

Elise Pardue

Hometown: La Quinta, California

IS Team: Empire Polo Club (Freshman), Sutter Buttes Polo Club (Sophomore), Eldorado Polo Club (Junior), Lakeside Polo Club (Senior)

IC Team: UC Davis

Year in school: Freshman

Major: Political Science

Where polo becomes a stressful and serious sport, I/I polo has always been, first and foremost, fun. I deeply appreciate all of the experiences I’ve had playing interscholastic polo and feel very lucky to have met so many amazing people in the process. Playing I/I polo made me a better player, leader and person, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Oliver Wheatley

Hometown: San Diego, California

IS Team: Lakeside Polo Club

IC Team: Colorado State University

Year in school: Freshman

Major: Political Science

When I think of I/I polo, the first thing that comes to mind is a giant family, like a large school of fish who move together, ensuring the safety, success and happiness of every member involved. Family is what I/I polo means to me.

Thanks to the program, I have formed bonds and relationships that will last a lifetime. The I/I community is limitless and the opportunities it presents are equally as infinite. Additionally, I/I polo allows individuals to play what is quite possibly the world’s most expensive sport for almost nothing, creating equal opportunities for all participants.

Brianna Jordan

Hometown: Aiken, South Carolina

IS Team: Aiken Polo Club

IC Team: University of South Carolina - Aiken

Year in school: Freshman

Major: Graphic Design

What I am looking forward to most is playing against old friends that I’ve played with in interscholastic, but also building relationships with new players who I’ve never met. One of the things I am very eager to do is play six chukkers instead of four. This brings a new element to the game that I am excited to explore!

Julia Schaefer

Hometown: Newton, Massachusetts

IS Team: Harvard

IC Team: Cal Poly

Year in School: Freshman

I/I polo has allowed the development of lifelong skills such as perseverance, grit and humility. The equine side of polo is an escape from all reality, which has benefited my academics significantly, as well as provided an outlet to develop some of my greatest friendships.

Allie Bushong

Home: Ramona, California

IS: Lakeside Open Varsity

IC: Montana State University

Year in school: Freshman

Major: Cellular/Behavioral Neuroscience

Receiving this scholarship really means a lot to me, not only as a representation of my interscholastic team, but also in the same way that I/I continues to make this all possible. I am paying for college and my two horses on my own, so any additional funds help.

FAMILY SILVER Recognizable names added to historic trophy

Six teams lined up to compete in the historic Silver Cup, which dates to 1900, played at Santa Barbara Polo Club in Carpinteria, California, from July 30-Aug. 13. In the end, it was Brookshire that took the title in an exciting final against defending champion BSI.

Eventual MVP Peke Gonzalez really wanted to win the title. “It is one of the most important tournaments in the U.S. ... My father also won it so that helped to get me more

motivated,” he said. “The team atmosphere was amazing because we were all looking to have a big win in the season.”

BSI (Ben Soleimani, Keko Magrini, Rodrigo Andrade, Inaki Laprida) was the only team able to defeat Brookshire (Scott Wood, Paquito de Narvaez, Gonzalez, Tomas Panelo) leading up to the final, narrowly edging it, 12-11, in the first match of the tournament. Brookshire prevailed in its next match, topping A Team (Santino Magrini, Vaughn Miller

Shelley Heatley

MVP Peke Gonzalez and Best Playing Pony Cinco

David Lominska

Jr., Felipe Viana, Matias Magrini), 13-9. The 12-11 defeat of Farmers & Merchants Bank (Will Busch, Lucas Criado, Pelon Stirling, Matt Walker) in its third match ensured a spot in the semifinal where it met Antelope (Grant Palmer, Lucas Escobar, Pipe Vercellino, Matias Torres Zavaleta). Brookshire was able to pull out the 13-11 victory to advance to the final.

On the other side, BSI won its second match, 13-11, this time over Klentner Ranch before narrowly falling to Antelope, 1312. The 2-1 win-loss record put them in the semifinal where it doubled up Farmers & Merchants Bank, 16-8, to advance.

A Team, the only all-pro team, and 2021 winner Klentner Ranch (Justin Klentner, Gallego Martinez Ferrario, Jesse Bray, Santi Wulff) were uncharacteristically eliminated in preliminary play and did not make the semis.

BSI was unable to carry the momentum into the final and stumbled in the first half, only able to break through the Brookshire defense once.

“From the very beginning, from the first throw in, we felt confident,” Wood said.

“Our biggest strengths once we started playing and finding a system was having a good rotation,” Gonzalez said. “We could all play any positions, so if for any reason someone ended up in a different position than he was used to we could adjust that mistake quickly and not change the team’s system at all.”

Paquito’s father Paco de Narvaez and Martin Muñoz coached from the sidelines. Gonzalez’s father and grandfather also help Peke with his game.

“[My dad and I] talk on the phone after each game and he helps me a lot with the horses and my polo. He knows me better than anyone so I listen to him a lot,” Gonzalez said.

“[My grandfather] doesn’t say much during the game but he comes to the barn and tells you things you did well and the things you did wrong or comments about how the horses played. He knows a lot so I try to take as much advice from him and learn.”

Wood was tasked with staying with Iñaki Laprida. “I knew I had to be back with Iñaki as much as I could and hold him for one or two seconds extra so my guy could get a break.”

“Scott did a great job defending. He helped us a lot during the game,” said Panelo. “We were quite organized defending and I think that was the key.”

Panelo added to Brookshire’s one-goal handicap with a Penalty 6 conversion in the first chukker. BSI managed to shutdown Brookshire in the second, with Rodrigo Andrade finding the goal, but Brookshire came alive in the third. De Narvaez struck first, followed by his cousin Gonzalez. Panelo got in on the action with a goal and de Narvaez ended with a Penalty 3 conversion, giving Brookshire a comfortable 6-1 lead at the half.

Keko Magrini, left, led BSI with five goals. Here he sends the ball past Brookshire’s Tomas Panelo in the final.

David Lominska

“We knew we were playing against a very strong team ... so our [strategy] was to be on top of them in every play and not give them any time or space to play their game,” Gonzalez said. “We tried to shut their game down as soon as possible, and when we had the ball, tried to play our game.”

If BSI was going to have chance, it would need to make some changes. Keko Magrini’s father Matias helped coach. The words of advice seemed to inspire Magrini who went on to score five times in the next three chukkers.

He scored a Penalty 2 in the fourth, while the team shutdown Brookshire. But Brookshire’s offense kicked back into gear in the fourth, determined not to lose the momentum.

Gonzalez scored a goal from the field and Panelo sunk a Penalty 2 and a field goal to increase the lead to 9-2. Magrini scored back-to-back goals, including a Penalty 2 in response to keep the team in the game. Despite trailing by five going into the final period, BSI was not quite ready to throw in the towel. The team benefited from a Penalty 1 and Magrini found the target once again. Brookshire wasn’t going to make it easy, and a run from Panelo resulted in a goal. Magrini tallied again but, despite a valiant effort, time ran out and Brookshire was the winner, 10-7.

Peke Gonzalez was named MVP for his efforts and his 10-year-old gray gelding Cinco was Best Playing Pony.

“He’s a really special horse. Apart from being one of my best

ones, he has played with my dad, then Maureen [Brennan] and now with me ...” said Gonzalez. “It is a nice trophy to win, not only because of the horse but also it reflects the work that [grooms] Lalo [Ugatre] and Cayetano [Chavez] do every day.”

While this was a first Silver Cup win for the pros, this was the third title for Wood, who won it in 2002 and 2011 when his team was called ERG. In the latter victory, he played with Paco de Narvaez. Gonzalez’s father Mariano Gonzalez also won it, etching his name in the trophy in 2001 with Windsor Capital and 2017 with Work to Ride. The Panelo family name is also engraved on the trophy. Panelo’s brother Joaquin won it in 2016 with Farmers & Merchants Bank.

It was also special for the cousins to share the win. “I haven’t played with Paquito before. He’s really funny inside and outside the field so we had a really good time playing together,” Gonzalez said. “[My grandparents] were in Santa Barbara watching us ... and were extremely happy. It was a great moment for the family.”

Brookshire celebrated a second victory a week later in the America Cup and went on to add the Pacific Coast Open trophy to their collection in a remarkable season for the team. For Gonzalez, it was even more special when he received the Skene Sportsmanship Award for the season, as well as the Molly Quigley Best String.

Cousins Peke Gonzalez and Paquito de Narvaez with their grandparents

Marisy and Daniel Gonzalez

Shelley Heatley

LA ENERGY Arena Open to feature top polo, parties and prizes

The California Polo Club in Los Angeles, California, is gearing up for this year’s U.S. Open Arena Polo Championship, Dec. 1-10. Played at the 12- to 16-goal level, the best arena players in the sport are expected to compete, all vying for a chance at the possible $100,000 prize money up for grabs.

Early Days

The tournament dates to 1926 when Charles E. Danforth donated the trophy. At that time, the Indoor Polo Association of America was separate from the U.S. Polo Association and the tournament was simply named The Open Championship. The tournament was played until 1933 before being shelved for the next six years. It returned in 1940 but, was not played again for another 40 years. By then, the original trophy was nowhere to be found so Hal A. Vita Sr., then a member of the USPA Arena Polo Committee, donated a cup for the newly re-established tournament.

Tournament Returns

The tournament’s 1980 comeback was held at the Chicago

Avenue Armory, thanks to Dick Tauber and Art Mertz, cofounders of the Polo Club of Chicago who leased the facility and began holding a series of arena tournaments. “They had polo down there every Saturday night and were by the Navy pier and right across the street from big hotels,” remembers Tom Goodspeed, a former 9-goal arena star. “They would have walk-in crowds of 4,000 people because they were located right downtown.”

The armory, a big cement structure, had stabling for about 50 horses on the bottom floor and the arena was above that. Players would drive their horse trailers alongside the building, unload the horses on the sidewalk and take them down a ramp to the stables or up a ramp to the arena.

Excitement for the return of the historic tournament was running high, attracting local players as well as those from Hawaii, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Peter Baldwin shipped horses from California and Goodspeed and his horses traveled from Connecticut in mid-December to take part.

The Arena Open will be held in December at the California Polo Club arena, outside Los Angeles.

Four teams competed, each playing the other teams, and the team with the best record took the title. In the end, Joy Farm (William Stevens, Richard Warren, James Stevens) of Milwaukee won the Open while Maui took the Handicap title, which was played for simultaneously.

Goodspeed played again the following year, losing 10-9 to the Joy Farm team of Billy Stevens and his two sons, Charlie and Jimmy. Goodspeed had learned the game at Joy Farm.

“My hero when I was a kid was Billy Stevens. He was 8 goals and should have been 10. I wanted to be as good as Billy Stevens,” Goodspeed said. “It was a long 17-hour drive back home to Connecticut with the horses in the winter when you lose by a goal.”

Members of several other families went on to have their names etched in the trophy. Billy Sheldon has three wins, one with his nephew Shane Rice (2007). Sheldon’s son Jared had two wins and is hoping for his third this year, playing alongside his cousin and Spencer Hurtt.

“Winning this tournament is always high on my list.

… Winning with Shane would be a childhood dream come true,” Jared Sheldon said. “We have won national tournaments together in high school, and to do it in the biggest arena tournament in the U.S. would be amazing.”

The Seager name is also engraved on the trophy multiple times, 2002-2004, the first time with Adair Seager and the last two years with his daughter Fiona, the only woman to win the tournament.

Goodspeed won the title in 1982, the first of a record seven titles over a dozen years and on both coasts. He was also runner-up numerous times, including in 1986 when his Comancheros team, including a young Sunny Hale, fell to Burbank Pet’s Dan Healy, Joel Baker and John Kuhn. It was the first time a woman competed in the event and the team narrowly lost by a goal.

“[Sunny] could ride and handle the ball,” Goodspeed remembers. “She was one of the most impressive young players I’ve ever played with in the arena.”

The Elusive 10

Goodspeed went on to reach 9 goals, surpassing his hero’s rating but he admits reaching 10 goals in the arena did not come easily. Only four people have reached the pinnacle of the sport in the arena in the past 133 years: Winston Guest (1929), Clarence “Buddy” Combs (1951), Joe Henderson (1989) and Tommy Biddle (2012). Goodspeed says others, including Billy Stevens and Bil Walton, certainly deserved to be 10. Goodspeed attributes the lack of 10 goalers to politics and the fact that, for a long time, the indoor Handicap Committee was merely a subcommittee of the outdoor Handicap Committee.

According to Goodspeed, when the committee considered raising an arena player, they would send a member of the outdoor committee to watch a single game.

“Doc Walton was a big advocate for arena polo at the time. Joe [Henderson] went to 10 and deserved to be 10, and there

Buddy Combs

Winston Guest

Tommy Biddle Joe Henderson

were a couple other players in pro arena polo that should have gone to 10,” Goodspeed said.

Doc Walton recommended that Goodspeed and Bil Walton be raised to 10. Goodspeed said the committee sent one of its members to watch a match during a high-goal event in Reno and instead of raising the two, they ended up lowering Henderson.

“We played a lot of good arena polo through the year during the LA days. We showed our stuff and were playing 22 games a year at the 20-goal level. We worked pretty hard and were passionate. I had the credentials to get to 10 but was never recognized for it,” Goodspeed said. “I won Arena Opens in every part of the country and many other arena tournaments. I won 17 national championships in the arena and was obviously dedicated. I wasn’t the only one. Bil Walton was the watermark we were all using, and Dave Offen was incredible in the arena.”

Today, arena handicaps are decided by a separate

committee of players involved with arena polo that doesn’t answer to the outdoor Handicap Committee.

Arena Events

Back then, there were a lot of arena leagues and plenty of talented professional players dedicated to the high-goal arena game. Today, while there are a few high-goal arena events, they tend to take a back seat to outdoor polo. The higherrated pros largely focus their energy on outdoor events and only a few participate in the occasional arena tournament or international match.

This year, the FIP added to its lineup an international arena tournament, which was held in Argentina in early May. After a solid performance, the favored U.S. team of Jared Sheldon, Miguel Torres and Jack McLean lost the final in an overtime upset to France.

In January, another U.S. team (Patrick Uretz, Felipe Viana, Tommy Biddle) fell to England, 19-13, in an arena test match for the Bryan Morrison trophy. The U.S. has been successful in the last four Townsend Cup matches against England, played every few years.

Currently, the highest-rated American players are Biddle, Kris Kampsen and Nik Roldan, all 9 goals in the arena. Four others are close behind at 8 goals: Mike Azzaro, Pelon Escapite, Jeff Hall and Felipe Viana. At 33, Viana is the youngest of the top seven players and all of them almost exclusively play outdoor polo.

Jared Sheldon and Rice are both currently rated 7 goals.

“I feel that I am one of the best arena players in the U.S. and [the Arena Open] is my chance to showcase that and continue to raise my handicap,” Jared Sheldon said.

“I’ve been playing more arena than usual this year, which has been fun. With captaining the U.S. team in the FIP World Cup this year, I feel like I am ready to go when the tournament comes around. I also am traveling to O.C. Polo to train with Spencer and play as much together as possible.”

Handicap Committee Chairman Robin Sanchez has taken up the baton to grow and promote arena polo, helping organize arena leagues between regional clubs in Texas and

Jared Sheldon, shown here, is hoping to take the title this year along with his cousin Shane Rice.

California, which have been extremely successful. This year, the Texas Arena League drew over 50 teams between six different levels, from beginners to 6- to 9-goal.

This format has been a great place for players to get started in the arena and move up to play better polo. The interscholastic/intercollegiate program has also been a great place for players to get started in the arena, and the alumni tournament, The Feldman Cup, helps to keep players involved after they graduate.

Coast to Coast

Since it’s revival, the Arena Open has shifted between the East and West Coasts but, Goodspeed points out that players from one coast rarely travel to compete when the tournament is on the other coast, limiting participation.

“There were a few names bouncing between the East Coast, Midwest and West but, I was one of the few,” he said. “There wasn’t the national collection of talent. You either locate the tournament on the East Coast and draw those players or you locate it on the West Coast and that’s a totally separate group of players.”

From 2000 to 2006, it was played on the East Coast, then it alternated between the East and West Coasts until 2012 when it landed in Long Island. It stayed there until 2019. It wasn’t played in 2020 and moved to California in 2021, drawing six teams, the most in many years. The winning

team included veteran Rob Payne with up-and-coming players Vaughn Miller Jr. and Will Walton, son of Bil Walton, all traveling in from Texas.

Coming Up

It was played in Virginia last year and now returns to the West Coast. California Polo Club President Rodney Fragodt is hoping to continue the momentum from 2021 and entice players on the East Coast to travel in for the tournament. With a minimum of eight teams, which would be a record number, prize money will reach $100,000.

“I think if they can get the eight teams they are shooting for, that would be amazing for arena polo,” Jared Sheldon said. “The money, hopefully, will be a nice bonus to being able to put my name on the trophy again.”

Scheduled for early December, the tournament will be held during a down time for most professionals before winter seasons gear up. There are some horses available for lease, allowing players to compete without having to ship in, and there will be social events surrounding the tournament, including a charity dinner. With lofty goals to raise $250,000, proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit Polo Players Support Group.

To enter a team, for more information or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Dr. Katty Wong (californiapoloclub@gmail.com).

The club aims to raise $250,000 for Polo Players Support Group at a charity dinner during the event.

Alliy Moyer/Phelps Media Group

PRESENTATION PLUS Improved National Polo Center ready for season

Chrissy Koecheler

Last year, the United States Polo Association completed the purchase of the core assets of International Polo Club Palm Beach. The facility encompasses 161 acres and includes five regulation polo fields, a stadium, a catering and event space, restaurant, a cafe and bar and a clubhouse shop.

Rebranded as National Polo Center-Wellington, the center opened its inaugural season with the XII FIP World Polo Championship last October, and soon after, started its winter season with a series of 16-goal events, followed by the Gauntlet of Polo, the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship and Florida Circuit 16- and 8-goal Series Championships.

At the start of the summer, the USPA board reflected on the season and examined what could make the club even better. Now looking forward to its second season, the club has completed several improvements to the facility.

“We recognized right off, if we were going to have a premium facility, we needed to have premium polo fields and so a lot of effort was put in, starting last summer on all the existing fields,” explained USPA President Charles Smith, who also chairs NPC Polo Operations LLC. “That was all concurrent and leading up to [the reintroduction] of Field 2.”

The previous owner had built a polo arena with seating on Field 2. Returning the land to a grass polo field required significant work, including removing very deep concrete pilings and a rock base used below the arena, moving and

reestablishing an underground drainage pipe, spraying the area to kill off weeds, bringing in dirt and sand, laser-leveling it and creating a crown for drainage and finally, sprigging it. In addition, to make the overall facility more presentable, they replaced the fence along the road leading to the property; they renovated the entrance, including paving the initial part of it; and did substantial work on the stadium, including cleaning and painting it. A concrete sand storage area, now concealed by a hedge, was also built so sand piles would no longer be dumped along the side of the main drive leading to the back fields. This will be more efficient and allow the area to be kept cleaner.

“We worked through the whole property to make it something ... that the USPA membership and the polo world would be proud to drive into,” Smith said. “That has been a real focus and continues to be a focus.”

In an effort to make Field 2 more prestigious, similar to the Argentine Polo Association’s Field 2 at Palermo, a new scoreboard will be installed at the south end of the field, with an electronic timer and scorer and room for team and player names to be listed. Plans are to eventually add a covered viewing area between Fields 2 and 3 with seating where special events could be held.

Other than one practice game to test it, Field 2 has yet to be played on and will be unveiled this season.

Field 2 has been returned to a grass field after years of housing an arena. It was evaluated by the Westchester Cup team last spring, then tweaked a bit. It will be unveiled in 2024.

David Lominska

Dedicated trailer parking areas are being strategically placed between the fields. It will be safer for the horses and allow drivers to maneuver in an out easier.

“The Westchester Cup team played on it ... to evaluate how it was. ... We found a few things we needed to do so we did a little more work on it,” Smith explained.

After the torrential rain that washed out the U.S. Open final at halftime last year, the resulting mud made it apparent that the parking area between the club facilities and Field 2 needed to be upgraded.

The subsurface in that area has been improved and more functional grass was planted. Further, two new road-based aisles will better handle traffic coming into and out of the parking area.

Another parking area that is being revamped is for the horse trailers. Smith said in the past it has been somewhat haphazard, so dedicated trailer parking areas will be strategically placed between each of the fields. This will allow the trailers to have a safe place to park and can be turned around without tearing up the ground, especially if bad weather moves in.

All the polo fields are now on a regularly-scheduled maintenance program, something Smith says has been

neglected in the past. They receive extensive fertilizing, watering and aerating throughout the year.

“We made a lot of progress in one year and we will continue to make progress on them,” Smith said. “They were in a much-improved shape last season and they’ll be even better this season because [field superintendent] Drew [Summerill] has a ... program ... with all the things you need to make the fields good. He’s been working on all the fields throughout this year, so they should all be in really good shape next year.”

On the hospitality side, many improvements have been made, including renovating and enlarging the kitchen in the Mallet Grill to accommodate more people. Additionally, floors were renovated, the bar area was refurbished and bar stools and chairs in the dining room were replaced . The pool area by the Mallet Grill was also expanded. By removing an older playground and adding pavers, they were able to add a private dining space and cocktail lounge, allowing 100 seats to be added.

We worked through the whole property to make it something ... that the USPA membership and the polo world would be proud to drive into.”

CHARLES SMITH

Chrissy Brahney

In the pavilion, the interior has been repainted, awnings and furniture has been cleaned up and mullions were removed from the doors to open it up and allow an enhanced view of the polo field.

A storage building was also added behind the pavilion to allow furniture to be stored when not in use, such as for weddings and private events when organizers sometimes want to bring in their own furniture.

The improvements have made the club more appealing, allowing it to host more events all year long.

“We are going from about 25 or 30 events to over 50 events in the pavilion, including galas and weddings,” said Tim Gannon, chair of NPC Hospitality Operations Inc. “We have a hot air balloon [festival] coming Nov. 10-12 with 5,000 people [expected] a day for three days. So, we have huge events in the fall when it’s usually dead. We’ve been working very hard to animate the polo center, not just during season, but ... off season in November and December.”

The china and silverware has also been replaced in the dining rooms and menus have been revamped. Additionally, a cafe has been built around the tennis courts, and the fitness center, spa and bathrooms have a fresh coat of paint. The pool, spa, fitness center and tennis courts will now be open almost year-round to better accommodate club members. The stadium has been cleaned up, technology has been

upgraded and additional staff has been added to make food and beverage service more efficient for box seat holders. Gannon said compared to other social clubs in the area, club membership is a great value.

“You have all the amenities, you get a 25% discount on box seats and you have access to the wine dinners and speaker series we do,” he said. “Really, you are joining a group of people in the equestrian community.”

The 7th Chukker, which previously was only open to club members, will now be open to the public six nights a week. However, club members will have priority reserved seating. “We are targeting the polo community to bring them back, to bring in all the polo players and make it a real clubhouse for the polo community to feel very comfortable in,” explained Gannon.

“We are trying to make sure we appeal to a broad spectrum of USPA membership. We’ve made a concerted effort to go beyond the Gauntlet,” Smith added. “Last year we had the 16-goal series, which got a lot of other players involved. We had the Women’s Open final, and this year we are going to re-institute the 8-goal National President’s Cup, with the final of that on the same weekend as the final of the Open. We are just trying to get a wider exposure to all levels of our membership.”

The Mallet Grill kitchen has been renovated and enlarged and about 100 seats have been added to the outdoor dining area surrounding the pool.

Chrissy Brahney

NO SMALL FEAT Soccer star switches sports to make Gold Cup history

By Sarah Eakin • Photos by Alice Gipps

Kayley Maria Smith set her sights on a career as a sports professional early in life but it wasn’t polo that she had in mind. That aside, this summer, playing in her first high-goal tournament at 26 and just six years after taking up polo, she hit the jackpot, winning the Cowdray Park Gold Cup for the British Open Championship as part of the UAE polo team, a feat witnessed by some bemused family members. It was the first ever polo experience for some of her uncles and cousins but, when Smith’s dad told them that her Gold Cup victory was like winning England’s Champions League in soccer, they understood. In polo, this was a big deal.

The bewilderment stems from Smith coming from a nonpolo family and from her initial path towards professional

soccer, having grown up playing in the garden--in goal--with her dad and her brother. “There never was a Plan B,” she said. “Football was my life.”

At 20, she decided on a soccer scholarship in the States where women’s soccer was more developed and ironically, landed one in polo country, at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

“That’s what’s really weird,” she said. “There was a polo club 20 minutes away and I had no idea. Even if I did know it was there, I didn’t know a thing about polo.”

The UAE polo team came to this year’s English high goal with a rare second shot at success. The 2022 English high-

UAE’s Lukin Monteverde, Kayley Smith, Sheikha Maitha, Lucas Monteverde, Barto Castagnola and Tomas Beresford

goal UAE lineup was able to take the field again with Tommy Beresford, Lucas “Lukin” Monteverde Jr., Barto Castagnola and their patron HH Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. They had high hopes.

“It’s the second year,” said their captain Beresford, who not only won the Gold Cup this year but also captained England

to victory in both the Westchester Cup in Wellington, Florida, and the Coronation Cup on England’s Smith’s Lawn. “Obviously we are a very young team. We are hopefully maturing by the game and I think we’ve got better horses this year. We’ve brought quite a few more over from Argentina. Lukin is only 17 years old and Barto is only about 21 and I’m 26 so we are a young team but, we are fit and ready to go for the season.”

Smith, who always loved horses, discovered polo when her sister came home from university having played for fun on a college team. They started playing at a local club and Smith never looked back, staying in England to play polo at university rather than going back to her soccer scholarship.

She had been on the sidelines as a substitute in 2022 and did not take the field except for practice. Beresford and Lucas Monteverde had approached her for the role of understudy to Sheikha Maitha. Smith was a sought-after 0-goal commodity and an appropriate choice given Sheikha Maitha’s championing of women in sport.

“She’s a huge supporter of women in polo and when she sees someone that’s passionate, that wants to improve and wants to do well and work hard, she’s all for it. It’s quite often the case that patrons pick up the boys first so it’s great to have someone like Maitha. If she sees that drive in you then she is your biggest supporter,” Smith said.

UAE made it to the Queen’s Cup semifinals by beating their eventual Gold Cup final opponents, Dubai, in the quarterfinals in what Beresford described as one of their better games.

Kayley Smith marks Jeta Castagnola in the final. Teammate Barto Castagnola follows behind.

Kayley Smith was right at home warming up with a soccer ball before the final.

Losing to La Magdalene in the semis put an end to UAE’s Queen’s Cup campaign and, unfortunately for Sheikha Maitha, subsequently, a hard fall in practice left her sidelined for the start of the Gold Cup. It was time for Smith to come off the subs bench.

“We didn’t know how severe [the fall] was but I had an idea that I might be playing,” said Smith. “And then the next day it was, ‘you’re in the team practice so on you get.’ They told me that I’d have the first game for sure. We didn’t know when Maitha was going to come back. So, at that point I just took it game by game.”

Smith had played high-goal practices throughout the season under the tutelage of UAE coaches Lucas Monteverde and Jacinto Crotto, but taking the field for the opening game of the Gold Cup against a strong Black Bears team, built around Juan Martin Nero, still proved daunting. “The first game was one of the toughest,” said Smith. “We knew going into that game it was going to be tough against Black Bears. They are a four-man team. Guy Schwarzenbach [Black Bears team owner and son of former team owner Urs Schwarzenbach] is a very tough player for his handicap. He’s been playing that level of polo for years so that was quite intimidating. You can mentally prep and practice on the field but it’s not until you actually get out there to play that you get in the rhythm.”

UAE claimed the opening win but unlike their final opponent Dubai, lining up Camilo “Jeta” Castagnola, team owner Rashid Albwardy, Rufino Bensadon and Beltran Lauhle, they were not undefeated on the road to the final.

“Unlike the Queen’s Cup, we got off to a strong start and we won in our first few games and we found ourselves in quite a good position,” said Beresford, whose string had been fortified by the return from injury of one of his top horses, Primera Dama. “And whenever we start feeling a little bit complacent, we don’t play as well. That was when we lost a league game against King Power.”

UAE had regained momentum by the semifinals, beating a Facundo Pieres-led Park Place, 18-9. Primera Dama’s input was recognized with the Best Playing Pony prize.

Dubai, the youngest team in the tournament with an average age of 22, came through with a 15-12 defeat of Marques de Riscal, a team pivoted on Guillermo “Sapo” Caset. The final added another dimension as the Castagnola

UAE team captain Tomas Beresford, here with Jeta Castagnola, realized his dream by winning the Gold Cup.

UAE coach Lucas Monteverde congratulates Kayley Smith after the win.

brothers squared off against each other. Their father, former 10-goaler Lolo Castagnola, as Dubai coach, was in the end zone.

“You have that added pressure as you’ve got Barto vs. Jeta, two incredibly talented players, and that closely related, coming up against each other,” said Smith. “We were all so happy to be in the final but, we weren’t done yet. We wanted to win it and so, the pressure was on. Everyone went into it very positively which was amazing. It was a group effort, just keep pushing, don’t give up. And that made a difference going into the final.”

UAE triumphed, 12-11, with Lukin Monteverde providing the winning goal in the closing seconds. Barto Castagnola was given the accolade of MVP and his horse Solar took the Best Playing Pony award. His brother Jeta, a blaze of supreme talent on the English polo fields all summer, rounded out the tournament as top scorer on 54 goals.

Smith’s Gold Cup win launched her into the history books as the first female amateur to put her name on the coveted trophy. Professional Nina Clarkin won it in 2003, making Smith the second female player to take the podium.

It was also a special win for Beresford, whose polo heritage is deep and stems from his Chilean uncles Gabriel and Jose Donoso and his father Charles Beresford. He was also on his home turf at Cowdray, having grown up in the town of Midhurst and on the fields of Cowdray Park Polo Club. Even though the international wins were huge, it was winning the Gold Cup that brought a longtime dream to reality.

“Obviously competing and representing your country is always a very proud moment and it’s an honor to be on the field and a responsibility I didn’t take lightly. Luckily, results came our way,” he said. “But, I don’t think anything can quite compare to winning the Gold Cup. It’s always been a dream of mine and with how competitive the season was with 15 very competitive teams, out of the eight quarter finalists, from six or seven of them, you wouldn’t be able to pick who was going to win.

“I would say it’s similar to how the Argentines have the Argentine Open as their main goal. This has always been my main goal because it’s the British Open and it’s always been a dream so it’s very nice to finally achieve it.”

For Smith, it’s Plan B from now on. After spending some time in Wellington, Florida, last winter working for polo player Timmy Dutta, and later spending time with her close friend and fellow polo player Hazel Jackson, she plans to return this fall to play in a women’s tournament in Texas, her first competitive appearance stateside.

“I started playing polo six years ago,” she said. “Five years ago, I was like you know what, I’m going to put myself around Cowdray and give it a go. I bought a horse off a patron. I got a really cheap deal and then I just worked a day a week for free to pay the horse off. Since then I haven’t stopped. I’m 100% going to carry on. I don’t think I’ll ever top the Gold cup but, I’d like to think that there will be something else good that will come.”

Kayley Smith holds steady against Park Place’s James Harper in the semifinal.

GET THE EDGE Focus on proprioception and the posterior chain

By Caroline Brockman (NASM certified trainer) & Daniel Coleman

All polo players--amateurs and professionals alike--seek an edge over the competition. That is the basis of competitive athletic sports. In polo, players constantly strive to improve their riding, hand-eye coordination, swing, as well as knowledge and strategy for the game, so they can score more goals than the other team! Fitness is part of that competitive edge. Liberty Hall Polo Club (Rixeyville, Virginia) now includes fitness training for its polo players of all ages. To gain training efficiency, a few years ago, we began researching strength training and fitness for polo riding.

With a lot of time spent on the Internet, we realized there is not much in the public domain on fitness specifically for polo. What is available for equitation does not translate well to a performance sport like polo.

In the U.S., riding is generally learned and taught by riding, with an emphasis on form over function. Students are often told the path to learn to ride well is through “wet saddle blankets” since there is no replacement for time in the saddle. While that may be true, riding for polo requires confidence and a well-balanced seat. Riding instruction is

Liberty Hall

mainly focused on form, (heels down, eyes up) and riding aids (hands, seat, legs,) not on development of the core strength and proper muscle development needed to execute proper form and queues through those aids.

Riding and playing polo are a full-body workout. The exhaustion that novice riders display, even ones in otherwise excellent shape, is evidence of that. What is not obvious is that unmounted training and skill development can shorten the timeline to competence and advance a player’s skill set without merely the time, commitment and mileage on horses.

Serious athletes in all sports know that excellence is not only obtained through drills, practice, game film and knowledge of strategy, but through development of their bodies and minds even when they are not practicing or doing drills. Competent strength training with a focus on physical awareness as well as nutrition and proper mental health are significant factors in the success of high-level amateurs and professional athletes alike. To enhance muscle effectiveness and promote proper physical engagement, athletes and players must build a mind-muscle connection and muscle proprioception.

Proprioception, otherwise known as kinesthesia, is the body’s ability to be aware of muscles, tendons and joints, and to sense movement, action and location on demand. The greater the muscle proprioception, the more effectively

the rider can engage one muscle or group over others and the more effective a rider can be across the board. This enhancement of physical ability directly translates to more effective horsemanship, greater resilience in the face of injury and overall increased performance.

Riders often default to the anterior chain or the front of their body, which includes the quads, hip flexors, pectorals, biceps, etc. and neglect the posterior chain or the back of the body, which includes the glutes, hamstrings, back and triceps. Generally, the form taught in many riding programs overdevelops the anterior chain, while polo and other performance sports require development of the posterior chain. To perform optimally as an athlete, develop and utilize both. At Liberty Hall, we have developed a full-body workout program for polo athletes. This program not only focuses on the development of the posterior chain but also helps to enhance proprioception, expedite skill development and increase athletic performance on and off the field.

Before starting any new exercise routine, consult with your physician to determine if it is safe for you to do so.

The following program is an example of the recurring workouts at Liberty Hall, and may not work for you.

Generally, workouts take about an hour using free-weights, such as dumbbells and kettle bells, which are available in basic sets from 5 to 25 pounds for under $200, resistance bands (about $10) and an inflatable stability ball (about $15.)

While riding is important, strength training will help you be a better rider and player.

Kerri Kerley

Upper Day 1:

• Upright Rows

• Bent Over One Arm Dumbbell Row

• Dumbbell Lateral Raise

• Arm Circles

• Military Press

• Reverse Flies

Lower Day 2:

• Walking Lunges

• Single Leg Dead Lift

• Step-Ups

• Side-to-Side Lunge

• Single Leg Glute Bridge

• Banded Monster Walks

Upper Day 3:

• Overhead Tricep Press

• Rotating Bicep Curls

• Chest Press

• Tricep Kickbacks

• Cross-body Hammer Curls

• Dumbbell Chest Flies

Lower Day 4:

• Bulgarian Split Squats

• Single Leg Dead Lift, Planted Foot

• Goblet Squat

• Hamstring Curl

• Posterior Leg Raises

• Single Calf

Abs Day 5:

• Ball Pass Extensions

• Crucifixes

• Ball Extension w/ Alternating Heel Taps

• Vertical Ball Lifts

• Knees to Chest on Ball

Each exercise should be done in three to four sets of 10 to 15 reps. Rest in between sets should be brief, 45 to 90 seconds. Aim for fatigue of the desired muscle group by the time each exercise is finished. Fatigue does not include compensation,

Liberty Hall students demonstrate walking lunges with weights.

momentum or poor form as these will diminish the efficacy of the workout. Priority should be placed on proprioception and building the mind-muscle connection with intentional targeted movements. Physically touching the targeted muscle during the exercise can aid in this.

Fully control the entire range or spectrum of the movement in each exercise:

• Go up and down and in and out.

• Use good posture, good form, a tight core and intentional breathing.

• Find the correct weight to appropriately tax each muscle group. Going super heavy not only predisposes lifters to injury, but also causes massive compensation through other muscle groups and encourages compromise in form. Use lighter weights when beginning to maximize form. Only increase weight when optimum form is ingrained and will not suffer with the added weight. Heavier weights and/or faster speed are not the intention. The subsequent compromise of correct form and the increased risk are not the goal of the workout.

• If fatigue occurs too early, lower the weight or number of reps. If, at the end of each exercise, fatigue has not occurred, increase weight, reps or more carefully focus on form and intention.

• Flat, stable-soled shoes should be worn for weightlifting (Vans, Converse, No Bull, etc.).

• It is important to maintain mobility, range of motion and

flexibility as an athlete. Prior to working out, as well as prior to playing or practicing, it is important to stretch and warm up. Targeted mobility workouts are readily searchable.

• Prioritize and maintain a consistent program of rest, hydration and nutrition appropriately. Athletes get out of their body what they put into it. As athletes with performance expectations, seek to optimize each component for the best physical and mental output.

Video descriptions of the individual exercises can be found on the club’s website: libertyhallva.com/fitness

To conclude, riders and competitors constantly strive to improve their craft. Relentlessly, they research the best equipment, practice skill drills, increase saddle time and so on. And while each of these avenues can add tremendous value to their competitive ability, an often overlooked and severely undervalued facet of improving their capability as riders and players is their individual fitness. Specifically, by approaching fitness with intention, tuning proprioception and focusing on what and how you train, you can improve riding and polo performance.

Liberty Hall’s exercise plan as presented has improved player stamina, riding efficacy, as well as play and competitiveness across all the teams we coach at the club. As a reminder, always seek advice from certified professionals before beginning any exercise routines, particularly if you have any health or fitness limitations.

Prior to working out or playing, stretch and warm up your muscles.

Chest presses are part of Liberty Hall’s Upper Day 3 workouts.

COMEBACK CRACK Former 10-goaler hopes to return to the biggest stage

By Lucas Noel •

by Sergio LLamera

A group of young and hungry led by one of the best and most experienced players of this century. A team with a 28-goal handicap supported by La Dolfina organization and the collaboration of La Aguada structure. A foursome that will seek to earn its place in the elite of Argentine polo from the qualifier tournament. The Cañuelas team and Miguel Novillo Astrada will have a great challenge ahead of them in the spring of the southern hemisphere: to bring back to Palermo one of its great champions at 49 years of age.

What motivated you to try to return to the Triple Crown?

Last year, I played in the Cámara de Diputados Qualy, the Jockey Club Open and the 20-goal tournaments. I try to maintain the level and continue to play high handicap professionally in the United States. Playing in Argentina always helps you to keep the rhythm, playing at this level is very important. So, when the guys invited me, I said yes. I was delighted because I enjoy playing at this level. I have a group of horses confirmed for that level of polo, so I am very

Photos

Miguel Novillo Astrada, competing in the Argentine Open in 2007

At

49 years old,

Miguel Novillo Astrada looks to return to the Argentine Open.

GROUP A

Alegria

Rufino Bensadón (8)

BenjamÍn Panelo (7)

Santiago Cernadas (7)

Frederick Mannix Jr. (7)

Don Ercole

Segundo Bocchino (7)

Ignacio Toccalino (7)

Kristos Magrini (6)

Santiago Toccalino (8)

El Overo Z7 UAE

Lucas Monteverde Jr. (7)

Victorino Ruiz Jorba (7)

Teodoro Lacau (7)

Cruz Heguy (7)

Qualifying Tournament

GROUP B

Nuestra Tierra

Santiago Loza (7)

Alejandro Muzzio (8)

Santiago Laborde (6)

Jared Zenni (7)

La Irenita II

Juan Jauretche (7)

Valerio Zubiaurre Jr. (7)

Matias Mac Donough Jr. (6)

Alfredo Cappella Barabucci (8)

La Fija

Manuel Elizalde (7)

Ezequiel MartÍnez Ferrario (7)

Mariano González Jr. (7)

The winner of each group plus the best runner-up (this position will be defined by penalties) will advance to one of two playoff matches. The playoff match-ups will be determined by a draw. The winner of each playoff match will play the Argentine Open in Palermo.

excited. I haven’t played the Triple Crown for several years. You always dream of coming back at some point, and there is always the incentive of playing with a good team.

How did the Cañuelas proposal come about?

I was in Palm Beach talking to Adolfito (Cambiaso) back in February or March and he asked me what I was going to do during the Argentine season. And then he asked me if I would enjoy playing with the Cañuelas team. I was very

enthusiastic about the proposal. Adolfito then asked the boys to see what they thought about my inclusion and they accepted. I truly like the boys’ desire to qualify and improve. I think I can help them and besides, I have a very good vibe with everyone, so we decided to go ahead.

Compared to other tournaments you have played, how complex is the qualifier?

It is a tournament that has a very good level and it is very difficult because the teams arrive very tight with their preparation time and previous work. I think that now, with all the points system, next year we will be able to see better teams. But this year, the time will continue to be very limited. For me, in the last few years, it has been complex for the teams because they have to assemble very quickly and the players have very little experience together. Being able to practice together is fundamental to getting into a rhythm and for the players to combine and understand each other well. The team that manages to qualify is the one that works from the very beginning of the tournament. If a foursome goes from lesser to greater, it is late in finding its rhythm. Teams have very little time to prepare. Either you get it right from the first game of the competition or it is really very difficult to qualify.

What analysis do you make of the group’s rivals, particularly La Esquina, with the Laprida brothers, and the balanced La Cañada, where all four members are rated 7 goals?

I think the Qualy this year will be very difficult because they are teams that know each other, especially Laprida’s side. They have been playing together for a long time and have participated several times in this tournament and the Triple Crown. They have experience and so I think they

Miguel Novillo Astrada won the Tortugas Open in 2004.

have an advantage over us. We are going to play the Jockey Club Open first to get to know each other and get a little bit of previous performance. But, they have the advantage because they know each other and have already played together and for such a short tournament, I think that is very important.

What are you going to ride, taking into account that participating in the qualifier makes the season’s schedule tighter?

The best I have, the most playing horses. The Qualy is a short tournament and, if you manage to advance, then you immediately go to Palermo. And since the Qualy is so difficult, so short, you can’t risk saving anything because if you do, you won’t go through. My idea is to put the best from the first minute. Each player will take his horses. Obviously, the collaboration of La Aguada will help. But, there is also La Dolfina to provide some horses in case they are needed, mainly for Gonza Ferrari and Pedrinho (Pedro Zacharias). So, you could say that we will be rescuing horses from everywhere!

Do you like the qualifier format to define the two places and the crossings in the final?

Yes, I think the format is good because there are many teams. I think it’s good that it’s shorter. As I mentioned before, you lose a game and you are out; it is hard, but I think it is fair. It is good that the best teams of each [group advance to the playoffs] and the best second [place] team

plays in the [playoff] to determine the two teams that will go to the Palermo Open.

What about the change in the Triple Crown tournament schedule? It was necessary. I think it is a good idea because Hurlingham has fewer and fewer fields and has to use the Association’s venue. Then, all the polo of the Qualy and the other tournaments on those same dates were concentrated in the AAP fields in Pilar. In this way, Pilar can be used earlier and released for the other tournaments. It is very logical since Hurlingham has only Field 1 and the tournament was practically played in Pilar. It is something we had discussed with the players a long time ago: grab the Tortugas fields with a better [surface], at a better time of the year. I think it helps much more to play each tournament in each club and not all of them are played in Pilar.

Miguel Novillo Astrada will be the only Palermo champion and Triple Crown winner out of the 36 players who will participate in the qualifier. That is how transcendental his name is in polo. With his current 8-goal handicap and at 49 years old, he will go in search of a new adventure and make a comeback to the highest stage that both locals and foreigners, to a greater or lesser extent depending on whether they are rivals or not, will surely enjoy watching.

Miguel Novillo Astrada plans to play his best horses, as he did when his family team won the Argentine Triple Crown in 2003.

FAMILY BREED La Dolfina horses highlighted at La Rural

By Lucas Noel •

by Sergio Llamera

A beautiful bay mare, Dolfina Chacarera is proudly displayed at the venue of the Sociedad Rural de la Argentina in Buenos Aires, the annual Agricultural show. Dolfina King commands respect with his gait and arouses the admiration of spectators and judges. The name of the breeding indicates the quality of the animals, who were named Grand Champion female and male respectively. Their exceptional genetic background is a guarantee. Chacarera is the daughter of Maharaja and Dolfina B07, a Cuartetera clone, and King is son of

Adolfo ‘Poroto’ Cambiaso Jr. and his younger sister Myla have been in charge of riding the horses from the family’s breeding operation. Their father Adolfo Cambiaso cannot hide the pride in his smile, in every expression of his body language. There can be no more concrete summary of his legacy, both professional and personal. His children and his horses; both recognized and awarded. For Adolfo

Cambiaso, the event at La Rural means an enormous pleasure as a breeder and a formidable satisfaction as a family man. There must be few events that offer so much to the best player in the world.

How much does it mean to you, someone who has won so much, to be present at the livestock exhibition at La Rural?

First of all, I enjoy it very much and it is very nice to share it all with the family. It is something I like to do a lot with my family and, obviously, I also like to show breeding in general

Photos

Dolfina El Boeing and Cana Monjita Coronada.

Poroto Cambiaso and La Dolfina Chacarera, this year’s Grand Champion mare. Poroto, 17, said she is the best horse he has ever ridden.

and the different stallions. Beyond winning or losing, I really enjoy this family activity. Myla and Poroto ride; this year Mia didn’t, but in general she does. It is something we share a lot as a family and it is very nice.

I also like that different people get to ride. This year Jenny (Luttrell, from Cotterell Polo) also came with us. She came to breed with us at La Dolfina and she also came to ride. She came all the way from Idaho just to be present during the days of the

presentation at La Rural to ride her mares from La Dolfina’s breeding. It is an event that I always liked and that today I share a lot with my family. Whenever I can, I come because I am happy to be here, happy to come to compete, to show horses, and for the kids to ride. It is one more activity of our vacations. Each one of us chooses horses and we make internal bets on which ones will go further, and lately Poroto has been winning.

For La Dolfina, the exhibition at La Rural has always been a great presentation platform. Why do you think other organizations don’t do it?

I don’t know, I see it as an incredible platform. I am also interested in the importance of taming horses well, and when you go to La Rural that taming gets special attention. That seems very good to me and we have drawn many positive conclusions by taking horses to La Rural. From a personal point of view, I see it as a great family plan that we share.

I never pay much attention to what the others do. I always try to do the

A proud father, Adolfo Cambiaso, right, accepts awards for his horses shown by his children.

Cousins Barto Castagnola and Poroto Cambiaso, both competitors, chat during the exhibition.

best I can for my organization. Beyond everything I enjoy, it was always positive for us. It’s not just about going to win, but it’s very positive to take horses for that kind of taming. In fact, I took a lot of them knowing that many were not going to win, but I consider that all the ones that went are going to play polo. And that, ultimately, is what is important.

Tell me about Chacarera, who made such a good impression on the judges and spectators. When can we see her in Palermo?

La Chacarera needs to go through the learning process to play polo. All the horses that go to La Rural are 2 or 3 years old. They only play Triple Crown when they are 6. She still has three years of learning ahead of her but, she has a promising future. I like the mother very much, obviously but, also the father, Maharaja is giving me very good results.

What did Poroto tell you after riding her?

He told me that he had never ridden anything better than that horse in his life of trying horses from La Dolfina, neither in the countryside nor in La Rural. He was convinced that she was going to win and that she is going to have a great future in the long-term.

Are there any horses that have participated or won at La Rural and then have been successful in high-goal polo?

Most of the horses that have won have played important polo: Lufthansa, Boeing, Primicia, Baila Conmigo even went to the final last year as a 5-yearold. La Rural is a great platform for us.

This year, the Argentine Polo Horse Breeders Association registered 140 participating horses, a record number. Likewise, the AAP also usually puts together extremely attractive activities both for fans and

for people who discover polo in this exhibition that has been held annually in Argentina for 135 years.

In this edition, the entity that regulates the sport in this South American country organized a match on sand in the center court of the venue with historical names of different generations. The blue trio was formed by Agustina Imaz (World Champion in 2022), Santiago Harriott (grandson of Alfredo, one of the best polo players of all times) and Marcelo

Pascual (Ambassador of Argentine polo in the world); while the white trio was formed by Milagros Fernández Araujo (four-time champion of the Women’s Open), Rodrigo Rueda Jr. and Ernesto Trotz (six-time champion of the Palermo Open).

The Argentine polo party at La Rural is always complete. And with the participation of the Cambiaso family, the stellar presence is never missing.

Myla Cambiaso, 12, competed with a young polo mare and was applauded by the audience during the riding portion.

USPA NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS

CHAIRMAN’S CUP

8 to 12 goal | Myopia Polo Club | South Hamilton, Massachusetts | July 14-23

Final score: 11-8

Winner:

Del Rancho/Glenn Farm (Sam Clemons/Dennis Carrion-Diaz, David Strouss, CB Scherer, Nachi Viana)

Runners-up:

Kingswood/Longmeadow (Ari Dogani, Parker Miller, Federico Wulff, Rulo Trotz/Segundo Caimi)

MVP: Rulo Trotz

Best Playing Pony: Nachi Viana’s Beto

Del Rancho/Glenn Farm battled through the Chairman’s Cup, entering the final undefeated. In preliminary matches, it beat Husaria Galaxy (Grace Grotnik/Yaz Grotnik/James Grayken, Amanda Poor, Tommy Huber, Manuel Mazzocchi), 17-12, before edging Kingswood/Longmeadow, 10-9. Kingswood/Longmeadow prevailed in its other games against Seagulls (Michael Wales, Stephen Burr, Alan Martinez, Justin Daniels), 11-8 and 11-10. It met Del Rancho/ Glenn Farm again in the final, but the outcome was the same.

Del Rancho jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first seven minutes and increased the difference with each chukker, ending the half ahead 8-3. Rulo Trotz was injured early in the fourth and replaced by Segundo Caimi. Kingswood rallied in the second half, matching Del Rancho 1-1 in the fourth and outscoring it 2-1 in the last two periods but it was unable to overcome the early deficit and Del Rancho had the hard-fought win.

Del Rancho/Glenn Farm’s David Strouss, Sam Clemens, CB Scherer and Nachi Viana

Jacqueline Miller

NATIONAL EIGHT GOAL

4 to 8 goal | Beverly Polo Club | The Plains, Virginia | July 20-Aug. 13

Final score:

9-7

Winner:

Pineapples & Pussycats/Point to Point (Audrey Wilde/ Nelson Gunnell, Bautista Micheletti/Vasco Iriarte Sr., Merrall Echezarreta)

Runners-up:

Santa Aurelia (Barry Henderson, Charles Muldoon, Gonza Fucci, Zak Coleman)

MVP:

Bautista Micheletti

Best Playing Pony:

Juan

Pineapples & Pussycats/Point to Point had a tough early go in the National Eight Goal. They fell to Highfields (Isabella Wolf, Duilio Diaz, Francisco Rodriguez-Mera, Michael Liss), 8-7, in overtime in their first match. They managed to top Royal Bank Canada (Bob Parr, Wyatt Harlow, Juan Sánchez, Martin Ravina), 12-11, in another overtime match before falling to Santa Aurelia, their eventual final opponent, 8½-7.

Santa Aurelia sailed through the preliminaries, topping Dragonfly (Andrew Hertneky, Bauti Peluso, Alfredo Guerreño, Marcos Bignoli), 6½-5, Pineapples and La Mariposa/141 (Annalise Phillips, Omid Rajaei, Tano Vial, Nico Eurnekian), 10-9.

Highfields finished the preliminaries, 3-0, as well but was unable to play the final, giving Pineapples & Pussycats/ Point to Point a second chance against a strong Santa Aurelia team, and they made the most of it. They topped Santa Aurelia, 9-7, in an exciting match led by the hot stick of Bautista Micheletti.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez’s Galleta, played by Gonzalo Fucci, was Best Playing Pony. She is shown here with Marisa Bianchi, Dylan Cortez and Fucci.

Rebekah Pizana

Carlos Gonzalez’s Galleta, played by Gonzalo Fucci

REGIONAL PRESIDENT’S CUP

4 to 8 goal | NYC Polo Club | Patterson, New York | July 31-Sept. 4

Final score: 8½-8

Winner: Amaro (Scott Sorbaro, Esteban Matuz Hernandez, Antonio Aguerre, Kris Kampsen)

Runners-up:

Caledon (Darien Huang, Will Kayat, Pipe Miguens Casado, Esteban Panelo)

MVP: Kris Kampsen

Best Playing Pony: Pipe Miguens Casado’s Retina

Amaro rolled through the Regional President’s Cup at NYC Polo Club, stopping every other team in its tracks. Five teams competed in the event.

Amaro’s first victory was over Roxbury Raiders (Josh Silverman, Adam Justin, Shane Rice, Tommy Biddle), 6-2. Next up, it downed GTFO (Mike Zacharski, Dig Singh, Valentino Echezarreta, Pedrito Guiterrez), 9½-6.

Moving on to the semifinal, Amaro narrowly edged NYC Polo (Zach Grob, Sam Ramirez, Nando Morganti, David Kuhn), 9-8, in a tough match.

The other finalist, Caledon, was also undefeated. It topped GTFO (7-4) and NYC Polo (9-7½) in preliminary play before slipping past GTFO (4-3) in the semis.

The final was a battle, ending with a half-goal separating the teams, but that was all Amaro needed to win. Amaro’s Kris Kampsen was named MVP while Pipe Casado’s pretty bay mare, Retina wore the Best Playing Pony blanket home.

Caledon’s Esteban Panelo closes in on Amaro’s Kris Kampsen.

Leighann Kowalsky

REGIONAL PRESIDENT’S CUP

4 to 8 goal | Beverly Polo Club | The Plains, Virginia|

Aug. 10-29

Final score: 12-9

Winner:

Royal Bank Canada (Bob Parr, Wyatt Harlow, Juan Sánchez, Martin Ravina)

Runners-up:

Dragonfly (Andrew Hertneky, Bauti Peluso, Marcos Bignoli, Alfredo Guerreño)

MVP:

Juan Sánchez

Best Playing Pony: Martin Ravina’s Last Dance & Bauti Peluso’s Macarena

After a slow start to the season, Royal Bank Canada found its rhythm. The team didn’t count a win in the first tournament, started to gel in the second and capped off the third with a win.

Facing Dragonfly in the final, Royal Bank Canada jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first seven minutes. Dragonfly fought back, cutting the deficit to two in the second and just one, 7-6, at the end of the third.

The teams continued to battle, maintaining a one-goal difference, 9-8, going into the final period. Royal Bank Canada increased the pressure, outscoring Dragonfly 3-1 in the last seven minutes to take the Regional President’s Cup title. Juan Sánchez led Royal Bank Canada with 10 goals, including six from the penalty line, earning MVP honors.

Calling Dragonfly the most balanced team in the tournament, Sánchez said, “We needed to put a lot of pressure on them and finally, that worked. We changed the strategy and ... played the best game of the season.”

Royal Bank Canada’s Bob Parr, Wyatt Harlow, Juan Sánchez and Martin Ravina

Rebekah Pizana

EASTERN CHALLENGE

12 to 16 goal | Beverly Polo Club | The Plains, Virginia |

Aug. 12-Sept. 4

Salamander’s Manuel Sundblad waits for a chance to take the ball from Core Real Estate’s MVP Lucio Ocampo.

Final score: 15-12

Winner:

Core Real Estate (Andrew Baldwin, Trevor Niznik, Lucio Ocampo, Tano Vial)

Runners-up:

Salamander (Bill Ballhaus, Manuel Sundblad, Tolito Ocampo, Wil Ballhaus)

MVP: Lucio Ocampo

Best Playing Pony: Tolito Ocampo’s One Sugar

With four teams in the mix, Core Real Estate stumbled out of the gate, before charging ahead to win the Eastern Challenge title.

In its first game, Core fell to Salamander, 10-8. It managed to narrowly win its next outing, topping Beverly Polo (Elizabeth Keys, Sterling Giannico, Nicolas Sivori, Mateo Vallejos), 14-13, in overtime thanks to a golden goal by Lucio Ocampo. Eleven days later, it edged Pineapples & Pussycats/Point to Point (Audrey Wilde, Nelson Gunnell, Vasco Iriarte, Bautista Micheletti, Alan Martinez), 12-11, in another terrific match that kept spectators on the edge of their seats.

It faced Salamander again, this time in the final, and was looking for redemption. The teams fought back and forth in a thrilling first half, tied after the first two chukkers and with Core narrowly ahead, 6-5, at the half. Scoring three goals in each of the last three chukkers while holding Salamander to seven, Core Real Estate was able to hold on to the advantage until the final horn.

Rebekah Pizana

USPA NATIONAL ARENA BRONZE CUP

0 to 4 goal | Brandywine Polo Club | Toughkenamon, Pennsylvania | Aug. 17-19

Final score:

La Jefa 37; Five String Farm 25; Boothwyn 24

Winner:

La Jefa (Jill Hunt/Peyton Hunt, Kylie Beard, Joaquin Arguello)

Runners-up:

Five String Farm (Pamela Patton, Cindy Halle, Martin Eddy) and Boothwyn Pharmacy/OneMagnify (Katie Mitcham, Alan Medina, Joaquin Vilgre La Madrid)

MVP:

Joaquin Arguello

Best Playing Pony: Martin Eddy’s Adam

La Jefa sailed through the USPA National Arena Bronze Cup at Brandywine Polo Club, topping both other teams in the event by at least a dozen goals.

With three teams in the tournament, the teams played a round-robin over two days with scores carrying over from one day to the next. Teams had a mix of newer players with seasoned professionals. Games were played in the evening under the lights with food trucks and wine for the record crowds to enjoy.

The tournament capped off the summer arena tournaments. “This win was special because it was the last of three arena tournaments at Brandywine. We won the first two and we really wanted to win all of them,” MVP Joaquin Arguello said. “Jill and Peyton are newer to polo so it was extra special. It’s a fantastic start to their careers and Kylie’s as well, as an up-and-coming player.”

Martin Eddy’s Adam, a pretty chestnut gelding, went home wearing the Best Playing Pony blanket.

Tisa

Della-Volpe

La Jefa’s Joaquin Arguello was MVP.

AMERICA CUP

16-20 goal | Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club | Carpinteria, California | Aug. 20

Final score: 11-10

Winner:

Brookshire (Scott Wood, Peke Gonzalez, Tomas Panelo, Nachi Viana)

Runners-up:

Farmers & Merchants Bank (Will Busch, Lucas Criado

Sr., Pelon Stirling, Juan Curbelo, Luckitas Criado, Alonso Andrade Gamez)

MVP: Tomas Panelo

Best Playing Pony: Lucas Criado’s LAC Cosmico

The America Cup match, formerly the Sixteen Goal, was also played as the second preliminary match of the Pacific Coast Open.

Alonso Andrade Gamez put FMB on the board but a pair of open-goal penalty conversions by Tomas Panelo put Brookshire on top. Panelo added two more penalty conversions in the second, while holding FMB to a single goal by Will Busch. Nachi Viana and Panelo combined for three goals in the third, answered only once by Lucas Criado, giving Brookshire an 8-3 lead.

Pelon Stirling received a red card, putting him out of the game in the third. At the half, Luckitas Criado replaced Stirling and Juan Curbelo took over for Gamez.

Criado sunk a Penalty 3 in the fourth but Panelo answered. FMB outscored Brookshire, 3-2, in the fifth to edge closer. FMB kept the momentum, rallying in the sixth with three unanswered goals but ran out of time and Brookshire held on for the 11-10 win.

Brookshire’s MVP Tomas Panelo

David Lominska

Dispatches from the world of polo

HURRICANE BOB The life and times of polo player Bob Skene

By Dan Harvey Pedrick

Curtis Gillespie Skene was born on April 16, 1880, in Hamilton, Victoria, Australia. The Skenes had emigrated from Scotland to Australia several generations earlier where they prospered in farming and ranching ventures, becoming part of the colonial gentry of that new young nation. By the time Skene came of age in the late 1890s, at the age of 17, he visited relatives in Assam, India, and played his first polo match there.

Several years later, Skene returned to live and work in Assam as a plantation manager. There, he fully immersed himself in the culture of the tea planting polo players who had taken up the game only a few decades earlier, soon after they discovered it.

Skene embraced polo with enthusiasm and soon became one of the best players in the province.

As a farmer, rancher and entrepreneur, Skene was quick to see an opportunity to provide what the growing sport needed most—namely a supply of superior quality mounts trained and ready to play. Shipping army and agricultural horses from Australia to India was well established. But, as he acquired a deeper understanding of the game and how to recognize and train promising equine prospects for it, Skene began to visualize shipping made ponies from his native Australia to Calcutta where keen British army officers and especially the moneyed Indian princes were waiting. For the sake of his children’s education, the Skenes returned

Skene, bottom left, just before he scored to bring England level with America, 3-all, in the first match of the 1939 International series at Meadow Brook.

to live in Australia where Skene bought a sheep station in New South Wales and promptly founded a polo club.

As a top player in New South Wales, Skene was soon ready to realize his dream of importing polo ponies to where they were in increasing demand. In 1929, he assembled 48 polo ponies and, with several fellow players, sailed for Hawaii. From Hawaii they continued on to California where the team played in a series of West Coast tournaments. Skene’s stellar performance in those events earned him an 8-goal handicap from the U.S. Polo Association. He then sold his entire string of ponies, each one for a tidy sum.

Skene’s dream of exporting polo ponies had become a reality. But when the New York stock market collapsed, much of the global economy soon followed suit—including the raw wool market. But, Skene remained confident in the market for polo ponies in India where the royal princes were still flush and where he knew the territory very well. He sold his sheep station, bought a small farm, and planned his next shipment.

Meanwhile, his son, Charles Robertson “Bob” Skene, had returned from the boarding school in England where he had been sent in 1925. Wary of horses at first, Bob Skene soon got used to them and assumed a growing role in their care. Often sleeping in the stables to better keep a watchful eye on his charges, he also took on much of their riding and training. By the time he had reached age 17, Bob Skene was rated 2 goals and played his first tournament in 1931. In the shipments that followed, Bob Skene found the opportunity to return to India, the land of his birth, along with the seaborne ponies, to ensure they arrived safe and sound. On board loose boxes and a large sand wallow were provided for them to exercise and roll in. Bob remarked years later that these voyages were a nerve-racking experience, very far from a pleasure cruise—but somebody had to do it.

As Bob Skene’s polo skill increased, he soon joined his father in the yearly Calcutta games, which were held in December. The father-and-son Skenes found themselves playing with and against the very best of India with many of their teammates and rivals alike, mounted on horses that the Skenes themselves had trained. This rare opportunity was seminal to young Bob Skene’s development as a poloist.

After Curtis Skene’s successful expedition to Hawaii and the U.S. mainland in 1929, the Ashton brothers, sons of James T. Ashton, managed to convince their skeptical father to support their scheme to transport themselves and as many of their top ponies as they could carry to England with the goal of challenging the top teams in the summer season there. Like the Skenes, the Ashtons were descended from British immigrants to Australia that became sheep farmers— and likewise became infatuated with polo. The two families knew each other well.

The story of their trials in this daunting quest became an enduring legend of Australian polo. Like Curtis Skene’s venture, it coincided with the infamous economic debacle that became The Great Depression, which added to the risk.

Against all odds and expectations, the Ashtons won 15 out of

A sand ring was used for exercising the ponies and allowing the ponies to roll while at sea.

Bob Skene

Bob Skene, far left, won the 1937 Champion Cup at Hurlingham with the Ashton brothers’ Goulburn team.

Skene, riding Persil, practices at Sands Point in New York ahead of the 1939 international matches.

21 games, but were defeated in the prestigious Hurlingham Champion Cup climax by a single goal. They then faced a challenge, which threatened the Ashtons with financial ruin when the bottom dropped out of the British polo pony market. But, as Curtis Skene had done after his Hawaiian voyage, the Ashtons put to sea again after their impressive performance in England, this time for America where the market was still buoyant. Stateside, in a heady whirl of media publicity, exciting games and glamorous interludes, they managed to sell their doughty steeds for top dollar and return to Oz with their financial hides intact.

The sequel in the Ashton saga was to occur seven years later, in 1937, when the still determined brothers showed up for the English season again, this time with more horses, more experience and a fresh young alternate player in tow: Bob Skene. Young Bob had by then logged many hours playing in India and carried a rating of 6 goals. Such was the Ashtons’ resolve to win the Champion Cup at Hurlingham this time that they made the painful decision to replace 5-goal brother Phil with Bob Skene in the final. It must have been hard on Phil but, it was a wise decision and speaks to the remarkable self-discipline of the Ashton brothers.

Bob Skene went on to score six goals, delivering the longsought prize to the Australian brothers’ Goulburn Polo Team.

Bob Skene was invited to play in England for the 1938 season with a view toward joining the team being recruited to recover the coveted Westchester Cup from the United

States the following year. At the end of this trial interlude, he was chosen for that bold international expedition.

This campaign, supported by a consortium of financiers, including Lord Cowdray, several Indian Maharajahs and the Hurlingham Polo Association, failed to achieve its objective—but dramatically advanced the career of Bob Skene. “Hurricane Bob,” as the American press now dubbed him, accepted invitations to stay on and play in the continuing U.S. season where he advanced to a handicap of 9 goals.

By then, a new crisis had replaced the financial collapse of the beginning of the decade. The Second World War was well underway and sidelined the sporting world. Bob Skene’s brothers-in-law, the Ashtons, and many more were already serving on various fronts against the Axis Powers, and Bob Skene was increasingly keen to join them. After a season of playing polo fundraisers for the Bundles for Britain charity in 1940, he decided it was time to act. Leaving his new bride, Elizabeth Wheatley, in Sydney, Bob continued on to India where he joined the army of the land of his birth, becoming an officer cadet in the polo-playing 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles. Just as he finished his training, Japanese Imperial Forces attacked Pearl Harbor, and the casting call of nations for World War II was complete.

In mid-December, when he might have been in the middle of another round of the All-India series, Bob Skene’s regiment was deployed on the Thai border tensely awaiting the

Ted Turner, Bob Skene, Tony Veen and Jack Smith receive the 1951 Teddy Miller Trophy at the Beverly Hills Polo Club in California.

implacable Japanese onslaught. The Japanese forces, barreling down the Malay Peninsula like a typhoon, overtook Bob Skene’s Gurkhas. By Feb. 15, Singapore had fallen. Lt. Skene of the Gurkhas had become one of more than 130,000 Allied prisoners of war. Of these, more than 35,000 would not survive to see the end of hostilities.

In a sense, it was Bob Skene’s greatest hour. He had no idea when he might be free or if he would even survive. Yet, according to some letters and journal entries found years later, he was determined not to allow himself to be consumed by hatred and bitterness.

Notorious Changi Prison might not have seemed the ideal place to nurture his love of polo, much less improve his technique. But, he did so through meditative visualization. In his head, like a monk murmuring a mantra over and over, he went through all the classic shots he had been taught by his father and other mentors, while conjuring up the rhythm of a galloping horse beneath him. He evoked the memories of his past performances on the field, reviewing his mistakes and shortcomings, trying to remediate tactical errors. He gave regular lectures to his fellow inmates, explaining the history of the game, its modern development and his own curtailed journey through it.

When his time as a POW came to an end in 1945, Bob Skene’s regiment was called back to their headquarters in northern India. Many of his comrades-in-arms were very much the worse for wear after their long captivity. Bob, in relatively good shape thanks to his disciplined response to the ordeal, chose to stay and help bring his men back to health. After six months, he finally took his leave and spent another six months recuperating on his uncle’s tea plantation in Assam.

In 1946, Bob was discharged from his shattered Gurkha Regiment, ending his harrowing military career. Returning to Malaya, he accepted an employment in Kuala Lumpur, judging and calling sanctioned horse races in the region. Then, in 1949, he was invited by Lord Cowdray to play for England against Argentina.

During this Argentine episode he made the acquaintance of Russell Havenstrite, a successful oil business wildcatter who

established the Beverly Hills Polo Club in 1950. Havenstrite wanted Bob Skene to manage the club. Memories of his triumphant pre-war polo tour in the USA appealed to Skene who may have felt it was his destiny to return. By the end of the year, Bob’s professional polo career was back on track and his official USPA handicap reached 10 goals, a rating he retained for 17 years.

Bob Skene was now, not only a top-level polo champion but, also a budding Hollywood personality. He worked with his friend and fellow polo player Walt Disney on the documentary “Stormy, The Thoroughbred” (1954) in which Bob was cast as the pro who discovers a failed racehorse and makes him a polo star. Disney wanted to make another film focusing exclusively on his friend but the unpretentious Skene was not interested.

An invitation from the el Trébol team to return to Argentina was an opportunity Bob Skene had been patiently and quietly anticipating. Having been to Argentina, he knew that such an opportunity to play in the Argentine Open would be nothing less than the challenge of a lifetime and would justify, in his mind, the 10-goal USPA handicap he now carried.

The notable battles between el Trébol and Venado Tuerto marked a golden age of postwar polo in Argentina. El Trébol (Carlos Menditeguy and his brother Julio, Nicolás Ruiz Guiñazú, Eduardo Bullrich, Horacio Castilla, Teófilo Bordeu and Carlos de la Serna) had developed a more mindful style of polo in which the ability of the rider, the speed of the horse and the power and accuracy of the hitting received the added complement of a mental component, elevating the game to a symphony of subtleties, relays, passes and flourishes.

Some commentators suggested the el Trébol style evoked the complex strategies of chess. In Bob Skene the Menditeguys recognized a kindred spirit in his cerebral approach to the game. This time, el Trébol would count the talented Australian at No. 1.

Playing on the Argentine team of el Trébol in 1954 and 1956, Hurricane Bob Skene, a middle aged man in his 40s who had survived some of the most horrific punishments World War II had to offer, had conquered the Mount Everest of

high-goal polo, winning the Abierto championship twice. Bob Skene was the first non-resident foreigner to claim this accomplishment—the twin jewels of his polo crown. In 1960, the Santa Barbara County Polo Association hired the legendary 10-goaler to replace retiring Englishman and former 8-goal player Harry East as manager. Bob Skene had his work cut out for him in this new job—namely, bringing the club back from the edge of extinction. For him this project proved to be a challenge that rivaled and possibly even exceeded the stress of the Changi experience.

North American polo had all but died out during World War II. Afterwards some polo clubs had returned to life, but it was slow going. The world had changed forever and other concerns and other sports occupied the attention of the public. Many of the polo stars had not returned from the war. Many playing fields had become unkempt and overgrown. Plus, the human population was booming. People were on the move and needed places to live. Polo clubs were often situated on prime level land within or on the edge of cities that were now experiencing rapid growth. The pressure to develop these lands was enormous as their value skyrocketed. Although the Santa Barbara club went on to enjoy a heyday in the early 1960s, all of these factors played out in the background as a number of owners came and went, all trying to reconcile the devilish temptations of rising real estate values against the altruistic dreams of making the club a preeminent polo venue worthy of its illustrious history and its spectacular geographical setting. For the surviving polo star and ex-POW, it was also a matter of finding a way to maintain his polo career in the rapidly accelerating pace of life in his adopted world of California. The club seemed to pick up some fresh momentum after a while, but when the USPA offered Bob a contract to give polo clinics around the country in the organization’s never-ending quest to nurture interest in the sport at the grassroots level, he jumped at the chance to go on the road. After that rather pedestrian task he stepped out even farther and returned to the world high-goal circuit, playing in Asia, South America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond during the North American seasonal hiatus. Returning home to Santa Barbara in 1969, numerous rumors

concerning the latest offers to buy the pristine property on which the Santa Barbara club resided were swirling about. Bob’s greatest fear became that the club could be abandoned and forgotten—and himself along with it.

As the once nearly perfect Santa Barbara fields began to deteriorate with the loss of disheartened players and canceled memberships, Bob took it upon himself to struggle against the trend. As much as he could he paid overdue bills with his own money. By the mid-70s, Skene was hanging on by his fingertips. He bought time with developers intent on paving the fields to build a massive shopping center. Meanwhile a small group of loyalists emerged from the membership with a bold plan to follow a similar track. Glen and Gloria Holden, Ken and Nancy Walker and Dr. Norman Ringer had come to the club in the 60s wave of the postwar polo renaissance that, for a time, lifted the Santa Barbara scene up to its previous levels of popularity. They had since become very successful and were prepared to do whatever had to be done to save the club for all time from the risk of a hostile takeover that would destroy it in the name of progress—i.e., redevelopment of the property for any other purpose that did not hold the game of polo as its raison d’etre. These values would govern everything they set out to do—and do it they did, just in the nick of time but, they could not have done it if Bob Skene and family had not held the fort against the threatening tides of change.

Thus, Bob and Elizabeth Skene were finally able to relax and enjoy their sunset years in California. In the company of friends and family, Bob settled into his role as a living legend and godfather of polo, with wife Elizabeth a passionate and committed patroness of the sport.

By the time Hurricane Bob passed away on Aug. 24, 1997, the now-named Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club had been effectively reborn as a polo club first and foremost, and completely fortified against all foreseeable threats to its existence, its purpose and its priorities.

This opportunity to guarantee the continued and future enjoyment of his beloved Galloping Game to others was his legacy.

TIM COLLIER Polo player was active in oil and gas industry

Timothy David Collier, 71, passed away July 13. Collier was born May 25, 1952, to David Clifton Collier and Mary Louise Redus Collier, in Artesia, New Mexico, where he was raised.

A gentleman of varied passions and interests, Collier’s personality was best described as polite, social and humorous. He was also loving, sentimental, sophisticated or cowboy valued, depending on the company. He navigated life with a remarkable blend of warmth and gusto.

Collier began his career in the oil industry, moving back to Artesia, in 1975, after attending New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, and New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. He was a member of the ROTC Program at NMMI, and studied Business Administration at NMSU.

He was president of his family’s company, Collier & Collier Energy, from 1975-1985, and was active in the oil and gas industry in Texas and New Mexico. He lived in Midland, Texas, from 1986-2000 before moving back to Roswell, in the early 2000s, and ultimately returning to Artesia in 2012. He was a consultant to Hunt Oil Co. until he semi-retired in 2014. His energy production career took him to Ecuador, Ireland, Newfoundland and Africa.

An accomplished sportsman, Collier won the 1991 United States Polo Association President’s Cup. In 1989, having an opportunity to play polo on an estancia near Colonel Suarez, Argentina, with groom who was an 8-goal player, was a highlight for him.

As a well-mounted horseman, he held a special place in his heart for his band of horses, especially for his Thoroughbred mares.

He traveled to Florida, Arizona and California to play, and also hosted many players from all over the world at his home in Midland, Texas. This passion for the sport of polo and horsemanship was a testament to his diverse interests and talents.

He was a man of many lessons and shared his wisdom generously. Among the best lessons were those of love and generosity, forgiveness and a plethora of health and wellness hacks. His knowledge extended to how to handle animals--pets, ponies, snakes and more; farming and turf grass growing; as well as petroleum

production and well management. These shared nuggets of wisdom will undoubtedly live on in the hearts and minds of those fortunate enough to have known him.

Collier leaves behind a legacy of love and generosity that will continue to inspire all who knew him. His polite demeanor, warm heart and infectious humor helped shape the lives of many and will be remembered with great fondness.

He is survived by his daughter, Cara Anne Collier (David Corley); son David C. Collier; granddaughter Caroline Jane Corley; sisters Mary Collier Moore and Monica Collier Morgan (Chuck); nephews Stirling Spencer and Christopher Spencer; nieces Kari Morgan McNicoll and Lydia Morgan Driver; girlfriend Sharry Knight; exwives Mary Jane Orr, Amy Whitley and Isabelle Thiebaut; and cousins Ron Collier, Cimberlee Collier, Chad Collier, Carrie Collier Smith, Michelle Crum, Suzanne Redus, Susan Sowers Teterud, Leslie Slaughter and Brent Redus.

He was preceded in death by cousin J.R. Collier.

In addition to his family, Collier will be deeply missed by a multitude of dear friends in locations as diverse as Artesia, Roswell and Albuquerque, New Mexico; Midland, Texas; Florida; Alabama; and the San Francisco Bay Area in California. These friendships, like Collier’s life itself, spanned a vast geography and a wide array of experiences.

Donations may be made to the New Mexico Military Institute Foundation for scholarships; Helping Heal the Earth through Prayer; and Polo Training Foundation, all causes that were close to Collier’s heart.

Collier’s love, generosity, wit, wisdom and ability to connect people together have touched many and will continue to do so long after his passing. He will forever be remembered and deeply missed.

Cara Anne Collier

ANGEL DIAZ Polo manager, player and accomplished horseman

Angel Diaz was born on Feb. 22, 1949, in Norberto de la Riestra, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although he came from humble beginnings with no formal education, he traveled the world and learned to speak four languages.

Diaz’s first foray out of Argentina involved accompanying a load of polo ponies to Spain by ship, a voyage that took a month. Diaz went on to work in England as a groom for three years. From there he worked in France as polo manager for Robert de Balkany and his Sainte Mesme polo operation for three years. It was at the behest of de Balkany that he came to the United States to assist with his polo in the early days of Palm Beach Polo.

Diaz later managed the polo operation for Alvaro Carter and his daughter Alina Carter before taking a job overseeing Kennelot Farm Polo for Henryk de Kwiatkowski. In the late 1980s, Diaz went on his own, training polo horses and reaching a 1-goal handicap. During that time, he played many tournaments up and down the East Coast. Diaz taught the polo school for the Muldoon family’s Potomac Polo Club in Poolesville, Maryland, for a few summers while working for Bill Hook during the spring and fall polo seasons in Aiken, South Carolina.

Diaz’s greatest strength though was his ability to connect with people. He was a real people person who could converse with anyone from royalty to the most salt-of-the-earth person with equal interest and respect. He

enjoyed helping people, and in fact, helped many people in polo finding jobs and advancing their careers. He was a very good horseman with a particular interest in retraining horses. He had a special knack for matching the right horse to the right person.

In 1995, he married Jill Nekoroski and they purchased their La Victoria Farm in Aiken. There, they trained and bred polo horses together.

He was also instrumental in helping Jonathan and Phoebe Ingram get their Mirage polo team off the ground,

which went on to win tournaments at clubs in Wellington, Florida, and Myopia Polo Club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

Diaz spent the last years of his life in Argentina where he died of natural causes on July 22.

A larger-than-life character, he loved cooking asados , being in the thick of the polo scene and the connection of horses and people. He will be missed by all who knew him.

Jill Diaz

HOWARD HIPWOOD Former 9-goal player was captain of the England team

Howard John Hipwood lost his battle with cancer June 6 at the age of 73. He was born March 24, 1950, in Karachi, Pakistan, where his father was stationed while serving with Britain’s Royal Air Force. The family returned to England when Hipwood was 4 years old.

Along with his brother Julian, Hipwood began riding ponies on his grandfather’s farm as a young boy, and later learned to play polo through VWH Pony Club in Cirencester.

Hipwood was signed by Swindon Town Football Club in 1965, but left after one year. He went on to study engineering in college but, called the offers to travel the world playing polo impossible to refuse.

“I was paid to travel the world playing the sport I love,” he told Polo Quarterly International.

An enormous presence on the field, Hipwood went on to earn a 9-goal handicap in 1982, which he kept for more than 10 years. Along with his brother, he remains the only English player to reach this level. He was regarded as one of the best Backs in the world, and was highly respected for his hard but fair play.

He served as the captain of the England team for six years, beginning in 1992, succeeding his brother. He played in the Coronation Cup when it was revived in 1971, and went on to compete in it 21 times, winning on six occasions.

He went on to win all the major

tournaments in England including the Gold and Queen’s Cups, Royal Windsor, Warwickshire, County, Cowdray Park Challenge, Midhurst Town, Aotea, Gerald Balding and Ashton Cups and the Prince of Wales trophy. He also played in the Westchester Cup against U.S. teams in 1992 and 1997, winning the latter. Throughout his career he played in more than 30 countries, including in the United States where he won the World Cup four years in a row (19811984) at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington, Florida, and was a finalist of the U.S. Open Polo Championship (1982 with Tulsa and 1983 with Retama) at Retama Polo Center in San Antonio, Texas. He also won Gold Cups in France and New Zealand, and played a few

games in the Argentine Open as a substitute.

After retiring from professional polo, he became an umpire. He was voted the Best Professional Umpire in England in 2006. Two years later, he was awarded an HPA Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the sport and the polo community.

He is survived by his brother Julian and sister Lyn; children Oliver, Jessica, Rosanna and Sebastian; several grandchildren; and the mothers of his children Gill Drennan and Lady Camilla Fane.

Hipwood’s son Oliver continues his legacy in the sport.

JIM MCGAHAN Polo club founder started many people in the sport

James L. “Jim” McGahan was born in Chicago on June 6, 1928, and died at home in McHenry, Illinois, on June 29, at age 95. Few polo players recognize it, but McGahan was the godfather of polo in metropolitan Chicago. There are people who have played polo all around the world and others who created a number of Chicago-area polo clubs, all who owe their start in polo to him.

McGahan founded Lakewood Acres Polo Club, now known as the Barrington Hills Polo Club, along with the club’s nationally recognized Spring Polo School that has introduced many hundreds of players to the King of Sports.

I met McGahan in 1964, when he had two horses in an old barn owned by a developer, doing all the work himself. He allowed me and my wife-to-be to keep our horses, Duchess and Blaze, there.

With McGahan’s encouragement, I was soon swinging mallets off Duchess and Blaze around the barn. Then McGahan enticed me to Lake Forest to scrimmage at the Onwentsia Polo Club. When Duchess and Blaze failed miserably at polo, McGahan let me have chukkers on his horses.

I’ve never met anyone in polo as generous as McGahan. None of us had a pot to pee in, but he would share his horses, his homemade two-horse trailer and all his equipment and ask nothing in return. McGahan was ad manager at a small

industrial company and played piano on Friday and Saturday nights to make ends meet. He lived with his wife, Leone, and two kids in a twobedroom pre-fab in Buffalo Grove. When a developer tore down the old barn, McGahan was able to buy a small property in west Lake Forest where he could live and keep his horses. I helped him put in his fences and build his barn.

Then things turned south for him. He lost his job and his marriage failed. In the years that followed, McGahan held down a series of jobs and played piano on weekends. But through it all, he always managed to keep one horse and find a way to play polo. One time, I found he was living in an abandoned farm house scheduled for demolition on a property about to be developed. In a tumbledown shack next to the old house was a wellfed, good looking polo pony named Windy.

In the early 1980s, for the first time in his life McGahan was making money. He played polo at the Chicago Avenue Armory and at Glendale Polo Club in west suburban Bloomingdale. He

got married two more times. And he bought a lot of polo ponies. He always bought them cheap, and many of them were broncs, but somehow he always managed to make a few really good ones. I know, because when he sucked me back into the sport, I rode and played most of them.

In the mid-1980s, McGahan bought a decrepit old riding stable in Wauconda,Illinois, at a foreclosure sale. His close friend, Les Baddeley, another McGahan convert to polo, convinced him to start an arena club. McGahan gathered a bunch of players from the now-defunct Chicago Avenue Armory and built a regulation outdoor arena and extended the existing indoor arena to 60 feet by 200 feet. He called the place Lakewood Acres Polo Club and registered it with the USPA in 1986. By the end of 1989, the club had dwindled to six members, and McGahan’s third marriage was unraveling. McGahan and Baddeley asked me to take over the club’s presidency because of my marketing background. We opened a polo school in 1990, and it was a success from Day One. The secret to our initial success was McGahan. He nursed the program along financially and with generous use of his string of polo ponies.

McGahan retired from polo at age 83. He eventually reconnected with his first wife, staying with her until her death in 2018.

He leaves behind his son Tim, daughter Colleen (Mickey Weidner), four grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.

Send donations to Hooved Animal Rescue & Protection Society (HARPS) at P.O. Box 94, Barrington, IL 600110094.

--John Rosene

John Rosene

BART FRYE Virginia developer was avid sports fan, club founder

Don Barton “Bart” Frye Jr. passed away Aug. 11, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was 79.

Born to Don Barton Frye Sr. and Lucille Reed Frye, Bart Frye grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and was an avid baseball and basketball player. He attended Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, where he continued playing both sports while earning a Bachelor of Science degree. Following graduation Frye attended Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) earning a master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School.

His love of redevelopment took him to the Tidewater area of Virginia. Serving as director of program development at the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority from 1966 to 1970, he was instrumental in assembling land to expand both Eastern Virginia Medical School and Norfolk State University, redevelopment efforts for Ghent and Brambleton, the Chrysler Museum, Waterside and other projects supporting the city of Norfolk.

Frye continued to support and grow the Tidewater area, serving as executive director of Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority from 1970 to 1978. Leading numerous community development and housing programs, Frye played key roles in the conservation of the Old Towne neighborhood, development of the City Hall complex, Harbor Tower and waterfront

development, including the NorfolkPortsmouth pedestrian ferry service.

In 1978, Frye formed D. B. Frye and Associates, Inc., a real estate development and management firm based in Norfolk, Virginia, which was later expanded to Frye Properties and includes real estate development, construction, management and sales.

Known best for his role in the development of East Beach on the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk, Virginia, and Cavalier Residences in Virginia Beach as part of the renovation for the historic Cavalier hotel complex, Frye continually worked through partnerships to build lasting legacies that will endure for generations to come.

Frye served on the boards of TowneBank, Virginia Agricultural Advisory Commission, Greater Norfolk Corporation and Festevents,

as well as serving as guest lecturer, teaching real estate development for the University of Virginia’s School of Law and Darden School of Business for many years.

In addition to his business and community activities, Frye was a man of many interests, including playing polo, running marathons, UVA sports, Wareing’s Gym and most importantly, spending time with friends and family.

In 1974, he purchased Alpha Omega Farm, which later became the home of the Virginia Beach Polo Club. Founded in 1987, the club includes two grass fields, outdoor and indoor arenas, a club room, hitting cage, turnout and stalls for members and guests. The club holds matches Sunday evenings throughout the summer and has hosted countless events over the years, supporting local charities.

Frye’s love of polo also extended to the Aiken Polo Club (Aiken, South Carolina) and Palm Beach Polo (Wellington, Florida). He loved spending time at his farm surrounded by his canine and equine family members, especially his beloved dog, Gus.

He is preceded in death by his parents and his sister Susan (Garry) Hall. He is survived by his wife Abigail; daughter Stephanie (John) Miles; grandsons William Miles and John Bennett Miles; sister Patricia Goheen; nieces and nephews

Katherine Edwards, Brian (Andrea) Quigley, Linda (Douglas) Smith, Michelle (Jack) Pelkey, Cynthia (Jeffrey) Nichols, Michael Hall and Bart (Amy) Quigley; and many greatnieces and nephews, godchildren, his team at Frye Properties and countless friends.

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