OVER THE MOON
Polo in Art Nonagenarians ride to hounds, the Sporting Library’s polo-centric weekend and an eyebrow-raising auction BY VICKY MOON
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orses bring all social and age groups together in Middleburg. Just ask Marion H. “Joe” Smoak, who at age 96, is still riding to hounds. He recently was spotted on his favorite horse, Big Foot, with his riding partner, former master of the Fairfax Hunt Joseph Keusch. Along the twohour outing, they stopped to chat with Randy Rouse, master of the Fairfax Hunt. Rouse, also in his 90s, was following the action by car. Many in Washington will recall when Smoak served as deputy, acting and then chief of protocol for President Gerald R. Ford and several secretaries of state from 1969-1974. A lifelong horse lover, he was active with the Washington International Horse Show, maintained a farm in Middleburg and now says he looks forward to being in the saddle at 100. Top: Luciana and Robert Duvall. (Photo by Lauren Giannini) Below: Marion “Joe” Smoak and Joseph More horses at the home of Keusch (Courtesy of Middleburg Photo) Patricia and Donald Brennan, Llangollen headquarters of the Virginia International Polo Club run by their daughter, Maureen Brennan. As part of a weekend of polo sponsored by the National Sporting Library and Museum, honorary chairman Jacqueline B. Mars hosted a symposium on “The Evolution of Polo in America;” an exhibit of paintings and sculpture, “Chukkers: The Calvin and Christa Schmidt, Manuel H. Johnson Sport of Polo in Art;” a dinner party, luncheon (chairman of the library), Tom and Catherine and polo match. Bill and Ann Nitze (listed on Anderson, Rose Marie Bogley, Mimi Abel Smith, the honorary committee) were unable to attend Sen. Mary Landrieu and Frank Snellings, as well but were set to host a follow-up reception in as Gen. Crosbie Saint and Merrilyn Saint. November. And then it was on to the next horsey Luciana Duvall and her husband, actor Robert event … the Virginia Fall steeplechase races at Duvall, also on the honorary committee, were on Glenwood Park.With tailgate parties in high gear, hand for the matches along with Timothy and Jacqueline Ohrstrom entertained art consultant Jocelyn Greenan, Turner and Dana Reuter, Bud Hufnagel, who was in from Bangkok, as
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well as neighbor Trevor Potter, an attorney with Caplin & Drysdale. Potter recently gained high recognition on cable television representing Stephen Colbert on campaign finance issues. Weekenders Pam and Brad Ryder watched for a bit, as did Maryland visitors Anne Finney and Peter Hitchen and locals Peter Pegg and Sandy Young and Mary Kay Garwood with Al Quanbeck. In other news, there’s much conversation about the Middleburg connection to an upcoming auction of the ephemera of the late Robert S. McNamara, who served as secretary of defense for President John F. Kennedy. The sale is timed with the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile crisis. The materials were consigned by McNamara’s second wife and widow, Diana McNamara, who lived in Middleburg when she was married to the late Ernest Byfield Jr. Byfield’s mother, Gladys Rosenthal Byfield Tartiere, owned “Glen-Ora,” the estate the Kennedys rented as a weekend retreat from 1960-1963. Although there is absolutely no connection between Glen-Ora or the Byfields to the actual materials, The Daily Beast website reported that McNamara’s three children from his first marriage were not consulted before the sale which includes:“intimate handwritten letters from Jackie Kennedy; notes from and photos of JFK and RFK and LBJ; a cache of medals; an Eagle Scout badge from 1933; the flag from McNamara’s Pentagon office; his colorful Presidential Medal of Freedom; and much more.” And finally this trivia: Kennedy did spend long thoughtful hours in Middleburg during the Cuban Missile crisis. And … Ernest Byfield Jr.’s father, Ernest Byfield Sr., was the owner of Chicago’s famous Pump Room restaurant, noted for its numerous flambé dishes.
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