37 minute read
The Action
bling that some people wear. It’s funny how the sub-dials eat away into the number 12 and 6 and I like the history of the company, and the story about how it was a request from two Portuguese gentleman to make a pocket watch into a wrist watch – hence its size. A chronograph function is handy but does anyone know how to use them?
TAG HEUER MONACO SIXTY NINE Anything Steve McQueen had was cool, and so this appeals to me as a piece inspired by the Heuer 1969 Monaco worn by the man himself in his race car film, Le Mans. It is very snazzy. The fact it is precise to onethousandth of second means it is the watch for timing the perfect soufflé. And when I go out I can flip it over and have a sleeker evening watch.
BREITLING NAVITIMER This bad boy looks like it could take a good bashing. I prefer stainless steel watches and simple monochrome designs rather than the flashier gold and metal combinations. But a watch should have a good weight so as not to feel flimsy, which is why I like this one so much. I really like the leather strap too – it makes it much easier on the eye, although I know it is less practical for my job. JAEGER-LECOULTRE REVERSO GRANDE TAILLE It is the simplest things in life that are the hardest to do; I know this as my own approach to food is simple. I love the polo connection of this watch, though I regret that I haven’t had time to play for far too long. I really like the version with the plain stainless steel back that flips over to protect the glass –very handy for when you’re climbing onto your horse for a full-on match. God I wish I were in Argentina right now playing polo!
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Argentina: Triple Crown
Setting new records with outstanding performances, the Argentines stayed true to form and showed the rest of us how it’s done, reports Herbert Spencer
Look at any sport – golf, tennis, football, you name it – and you won’t find another in which one country so dominates the top levels of the game as does Argentina in polo. Nothing demonstrates this international imbalance more clearly than the big September/December polo season in the land of the gauchos.
The sport reached a milestone in Argentina at the end of 2006, with 10 of its professionals now holding polo’s maximum handicap of 10 goals – the only players so rated in the world. These superstars of the game and their 16 compatriots handicapped at nine goals (only three non-Argentines hold this rating) form the nuclei of high-goal teams – both overseas and at home.
Of course Argentina’s polo is the best on the planet, goes the old rationale. They’ve got all those horses working cattle out on the pampas, those estancias where children of polo-playing families are in the saddle before they learn to walk, and scores of polo grounds where friendly chukkas are played at a higher level than top tournaments in other countries.
In the UK, to satisfy patrons who fund pro-am teams and clubs looking for income, the Hurlingham Polo Association caps tournaments at only 22-goal handicap, and more than 20 teams compete in the ‘big four’ contests. In North America, the US Polo Association sets a 26-goal limit for its three top tournaments which attract as many as 15 teams.
In Argentina, however, the top end of the sport is more about quality than quantity. The Argentine Polo Association’s Triple Crown series – the Tortugas, Hurlingham and Argentine Open Championships – is played at up to the maximum of 40 goals and only eight all-professional teams can enter. With six of the eight rated 35 goals or higher, and the tournaments played open without regard to handicap, the competition is fierce and every game counts. Only the best of the best make it into the finals.
The best of those in 2006 were La Dolfina ShowMatch and La Aguada Telemax, with precious little between them. While La Dolfina (handicap 39) won two of the three Triple Crown tournaments, La Aguada (handicap 37) reached the finals of all three, losing two by just one goal. Each won eight matches in the series, while La Aguada was narrowly pipped in the total number of Triple Crown goals scored: 152 to La Dolfina’s 158.
As hard as the Novillo Astradas fought (La Aguada was the only full-blooded family team in the series), it was La Dolfina that captured the prize of all prizes, the trophy for Of course Argentina’s polo is the best, goes the rationale. They’ve got all those horses working out on the pampas, where children of polo-playing families are in the saddle before they learn to walk…
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the Argentine Open – for the second year running. Overall La Aguada played better as a team, while La Dolfina triumphed thanks largely to the individual performance of one player: 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso.
Top scorer in the Argentine Open, Cambiaso chalked up 47 points in four games, taking him to a career high of 505 goals in the competition. He walked away from Palermo with every individual award: Most Valuable Player in the final; the final’s Best Playing Pony for his mare Dolfina Cuartetera, Best Pony of the tournament for his stallion Aiken Cura [see box overleaf] and Best Mounted Player of the Open. Buenos Aires sportswriters awarded him his sixth Olimpia de Plata figurine as Argentina’s leading polo player.
With Cambiaso away in Aiken winning the USPA Gold Cup during the Tortugas Open – the first Triple Crown tournament –La Dolfina lost both their matches to the Heguy teams, Chapa Uno and Indios Chapaleufú II. The Novilla Astradas’ La Aguada showed more promise by making it into the final, but fell to the latter of those Heguy squads.
Cambiaso was back for the Hurlingham Open and La Dolfina won all three of its league matches, including those against the two Heguy teams. La Aguada was unbeaten
1 The best two players of the final: Miguel Novillo Astrada chases Adolfo Cambiaso in front of the stands 2 The La Dolfina team before the final 3 Action in the semis as Juan Martin Nero chases Facundo Pieres
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as well, knocking out the Hurlingham titleholders Ellerstina along the way. In the final, La Dolfina took and kept the lead in the first half, but La Aguada reversed the positions in the second, and the final chukka started with the score tied 8-8. Then La Dolfina’s tactics of taking out players to clear the way for Cambiaso paid off, and he scored the final goal to win 10-9.
As at Hurlingham, La Dolfina won all its league matches to reach the final of the Argentine Open at Palermo. In its league, La Aguada lost one of its games to Chapa Uno in overtime, leaving it even with Ellerstina. So it was only on goal difference that the Novilla Astradas made it to their third Triple Crown final. Disappointing for Ellerstina, but overall the team had not shown the flair that put it in the Palermo final in 2005.
Teamwork gave La Aguada the upper hand through the first half of the final and into the second, with La Dolfina finally pulling ahead only in the sixth chukka after Cambiaso decided to forget teamwork and play his individual game. By the end of the eighth, however, the score was tied, pushing the game into extra time. Lolo Castagnola scored the golden goal, but it was Cambiaso who had made the difference.
There were of course impressive performances by other players in the Triple Crown: Ignacio Novilla Astrada’s handicap was raised from 9 to 10, and Chapo Uno’s Marcos Heguy reclaimed his 10-goal handicap, a rating he had held in 1987-88 and 1991-2000. Juan Martin Nero and Francisco de Narváez Jr also raised their handicaps from 8 to 9. On the flip side, Ignacio Heguy and American Mike Azzaro dropped from 10 to 9.
There was an emotional moment at Palermo when 9-goaler Milo Fernández Araujo, having announced his retirement from high goal and with tears in his eyes, walked a lap of honour with his Indios Chapaleufú II teammates to applause from the crowd.
Argentine Open matches are played to eight chukkas, rather than six as in high-goal elsewhere, making higher scores inevitable, but scoring this season went through the roof. Cambiaso hit 17 goals in one match, only to be outdone by 10-goaler Augustin
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SPIRIT OF SANTAMARINA
The spirit of one of the most respected breeders of polo ponies in the history of the sport, the late Ricardo Santos ‘Dickie’ Santamarina, hovered over the pony lines during the 2006 Triple Crown. Dickie died several years ago, but the bloodlines from stallions and mares bred at his Argentine estancia, La Fortuna, live on.
La Fortuna stallion Aiken Cura, owned and played by Adolfo Cambiaso, won the Lady Susan Townley trophy for the most outstanding pony in the Argentine Open for the second straight year, having already won Best Playing Pony in the Hurlingham Open.
Cambiaso was distraught when Aiken Cura broke a foot in extra time at the final of the Argentine Open, but vets saved the pony and it will be able to stand at stud to continue the Santamarina bloodlines.
Another outstanding Triple Crown pony from the La Fortuna breed was the mare Califa, owned and ridden by 10-goaler Miguel Novillo Astrada of La Aguada in the finals of all three tournaments.
Dickie Santamarina, not only a great breeder of ponies, was also a talented 7-goal player. He won the Argentine Open with Santa Paula, and the Hurlingham Open, in 1936.
Merlos of El Paraiso who set an all-time Palermo record with 18. In the same El Paraiso match against Indios Chapaleufú II, the two teams scored a total of 41 goals – yet another record.
With their 2006 home season behind them, Argentina’s professionals hit the road yet again to dominate play in the rest of the world, from the 2007 winter high-goal in Florida to the English season this summer and beyond. Perhaps it will ever be so. There was an emotional moment when 9-goaler Milo Fernández Araujo anounced his retirement from high goal and with tears in his eyes, walked a lap of honour with his Indios Chapaleufú II teammates to applause from the crowd
1 Adolfo Cambiaso on the ball during extra time 2 Javier and ‘Nacho’ Novillo Astrada salute the crowd 3 Cambiaso clutches his face as Aiken Cura is injured 4 The two number twos
Argentina: pro-am
The pro-am arena is exciting and ripe for patronage, and now Argentina is getting in on the action, reports Herbert Spencer
Until just a few years ago, lower-handicapped amateurs who fielded pro-am teams in major high-goal tournaments in Europe and North America had little opportunity to compete in Argentina. They came for coaching and chukkas out on the estancias, to buy ponies and to watch Argentina’s great professionals in action at the mecca of the sport. Some even bought land here and developed polo ranches. But generally the country’s polo was at too high a professional level for the amateurs to play in traditional tournaments.
Now, however, pro-am polo is booming around Buenos Aires, and foreign patrons are flying in to compete in increasing numbers. Thanks to the growing number of pro-am events, the wealthy patrons from abroad are contributing even more substantially to the country’s polo economy. Virtually all of Argentina’s top professionals slot in lucrative pro-am appearances between matches for their high-goal Triple Crown tournaments. The pro-am events are capped at 22-goal or lower so that foreign patrons handicapped as low as 0-goal can compete. Sandwiched between the summer season in Europe and the winter season in Florida, the Argentine tournaments give patrons a welcome opportunity for more high-goal action with the professionals they play with or against elsewhere in the world.
An added attraction for patrons is the lower cost of high-goal in Argentina, compared with playing at the same level in the UK and the US. Even though entry fees for the Ellerstina Gold Cup, for example, were $15,000, one observer reckoned that the overall bill for playing the Argentine season is about a third less than in England and Florida. Everything is cheaper, from pros’ fees to accommodation, food, entertainment and – for those wanting to develop their own Argentine base – property.
The 2006 season saw more than a score of patrons from England, the US, Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Brazil, Colombia and Thailand entering teams in the Ellerstina Gold and Silver Cups, La Dolfina Diamond Cup and Julio Novillo Astrada Cup. Prominent amateurs competing included
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Switzerland’s Guy Schwarzenbach, British Open winner with Black Bears last year; Colombian Camilo Bautista, who took the 2006 US Open with Las Monjitas; and Italian Alfio Marchini whose Loro Piana won the Gold Cup in Sotogrande [see One to Watch page 5].
Senior amongst the pro-am tournaments is Gonzalo Pieres’s 22-goal Ellerstina Gold Cup that attracted 16 teams, each with a low-handicapped amateur from overseas. It was won by American patron Kelly Beal whose BTA team beat Emerging with Switzerland’s Fabian Pictet, a regular competitor in English high-goal.
Adolfo Cambiaso’s Diamond Cup, now in its fourth year at La Dolfina Polo Club, was the second most popular of the 22-goal pro-am tournaments with 10 teams. The winner was Brazilian 4-goal patron Josè Eduardo Kalil whose San Josè team defeated Marchini’s Loro Piana in the final.
The 22-goal Julio Novillo Astrada Cup tournament at La Aguada Polo Club was very much a family affair, with seven of the eight participating teams including one or more of the Novillo Astrada pros. The Technomarine team of Frenchman Franck Dubarry came out on top, defeating Puma, whose Guy Schwartzenbach was named Most Valuable Player.
Meanwhile, Ellerstina’s 14-goal Silver Cup was the biggest of all the pro-am events, with 24 teams in contention. Englishman Mark Austin’s El Diablos defeated American Marvin Slosman’s The Cliff Community to take the cup. Austin’s squad included George Meyrick, who last season was named England’s Most Promising Young Player.
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EL METEJON LADIES’ INTERNATIONAL
There were female patrons from overseas playing in the pro-am tournaments this season: England’s Clare Milford Haven, America’s Elizabeth Iorio, Sotogrande regular Stefania Annunziata. In addition, women had their own tournament in a country where, up to a decade or so ago, the Latin macho mentality still treated female players with some level of distain.
The tenth Ladies International at El Metejon, organised by Maria Chavanne, drew players from eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, USA, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands and Australia. Some of the top international players, such as Argentina’s Mummy Bellande and France’s Caroline Anier were there, and others included Brazilian fashion model Paula Chermont and, from England, Cheshire’s Lucy Taylor and Hurlingham photographer Alice Gipps. Pro-am is booming around Buenos Aires, and thanks to the growing number of these events, the wealthy patrons from abroad are contributing even more substantially to the country’s polo economy
1 Action in the final of the Diamond Cup 2 Marianella Castagnola, an Argentine 2-goal player, in the El Metejon tournament 3 Winner, Kelly Beal of BTA
Argentina: Juniors
Talented junior players in Argentina are attaining high handicaps in their droves, so watch out for the kids, warns Herbert Spencer
For anyone scouting polo’s star players for the 21st century, the place to be last autumn was not Palermo, but the grounds of the Asociación Argentina de Polo (AAP) in Pilar and Los Indios Polo Club to see almost 100 teams of 7 to 14-year-olds in action.
The average age of the players in the 2006 Argentine Open Championship was 34, and almost a third were approaching, or well into, their 40s. These superstars, who won’t be at the top of their game in10 or 20 years, will be replaced by a new generation.
The United Kingdom has well-organised activities for bringing boys and girls into the sport at an early age, with Pony Club Polo, and Schools and Universities Polo Association (SUPA) , while the USA’s wealthy Polo Training Foundation has impressive interscholastic and intercollegiate programmes. In horse-rich Argentina, however, youth polo comes naturally without such extensive official support.
Some of the youngsters playing in the two big tournaments around Buenos Aires travelled with their ponies from estancias as far as 400km away from the capital. There were a few well-known dynastic names such as Tanoira, MacDonough, Monteverde, Araya, Lalor, Crotto and Cavanagh, but the majority of competitors had surnames the polo world at large wouldn’t recognise. Could these be new dynasties in the making?
There were 40 teams in the Pilar tournament divided into three age categories: under-8s, 11s and 14s. The youngest player was Martin Zubia’s son Juan, aged just seven. In the junior tournaments at Los Indios, organised by Eduardo Heguy, 26 teams competed in the under-14s ‘Potrillos’ (foals) and 26 sides in the under-11s ‘Potrillitos’ (little foals) .
Ten-year-old Tommy Beresford, son of Lord Charles and Teresa Beresford, played at both Pilar and Los Indios. ‘They were fantastic scenes,’ Teresa said. ‘All those children, hundreds of ponies, all those mums and dads and grooms, a real crowd. The matches started early in the morning on
several grounds and lasted all day, with great asados for the lunch break.
Meanwhile the AAP’s Junior Open, also held at Pilar, demonstrated how early its players reach high-goal level. Although the tournament for under-21s was open to teams handicapped from 15 to 22 goals, most of the eight teams competing were rated at 18 or above – and so designated ‘high-goal’ in the UK. It was the Pieres family’s 22-goal Ellerstina, with 10-goaler Facundo, Pablo, Nicholas and Ignacio, who took the trophy over 17-goal Santa Maria de Lobos with Guillermo and Valentin Caset, Facundo Sola and Raul Colombres.
It is impressive that so many Argentine players reach high handicaps in their teens and early 20s, but one 10-goal veteran who wished to remain anonymous feels that the country’s players may be peaking too early. There’s an echo of what Tommy Wayman once said of polo ponies: don’t start a horse too soon, it only has so many chukkas in it.
In any case, if the trend towards younger stars continues, we may be seeing some of these youngsters taking the field at Palermo sooner than we think.
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1 20-year-old Facundo (10 goals) accelerates with speed 2 16-year-old Nicolas Pieres (4 goals) goes to goal 3 20-year-old Guillermo Caset Jr (7 goals) deftly turns the ball 4 Vicuña Mackenna Potrillos Cup Champions 2006
50 51 England tour
No silver lining for England as torrential rain merely postponed their defeat in the South African test. but they earned an honourable draw in Mexico, reports Herbert Spencer
The day of the South Africa v England test match in the Rainbow Nation at the end of December dawned in glorious sunshine. Then torrential rains swept across the Eastern Cape Province, the ground in front of the magnificent white clubhouse and pavilion at Kurland Polo Club became too dangerous to play, and the match was postponed.
Guests of sponsors BMW and UBS were left to drown their sorrows at the scheduled champagne luncheon and a party that went on into the wee hours. The postponement also put paid to the two-and-a-half hours of live television coverage of the match that had been programmed by the country’s big Supersport channel.
Disappointing for fans at the venue and television viewers, yes, but there was compensation – and what compensation! The next day the postponed test was played before just a few hundred spectators on another, better-drained ground at Kurland, and the Springboks finally found their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. After seven consecutive defeats at home and in the UK, South Africa secured their first victory over England.
England’s defeat in the second of its two away tests of 2006 (that against Mexico earlier ended in a draw) came as no great surprise to coach Alan Kent, himself a onetime 7-goal stalwart of the national team. ‘Our players flew in only two days before the test and there was no time to practice on the ponies provided by the hosts,’ he said. ‘We had wanted James Beim (one of the squad’s favourite score-makers) who was already playing in South Africa, but his patron wouldn’t release him. We knew in advance we would have a tough time of it.’
And so they did, going four down in the first chukka. ‘We found it difficult to regain our confidence after that,’ admitted Nina Vestey Clarkin, the first female player to be included in the England squad.
England fielded a 21-goal team in this test, against South Africa’s 20-goal side, but the match was played open. ‘Our hosts provided us with some good mounts,’ said England captain Malcolm Borwick. ‘The country is breeding some fantastic ponies, but they have a problem exporting them because of regulations surrounding the danger of spreading African horse sickness.’ Borwick did feel there was an imbalance of pony power for the test. The South Africans were better mounted and, more importantly, were familiar with their ponies.
A key factor in South Africa’s 10-7 victory was the performance of the home team’s two young players, Gareth Evans and
Conditions were heavy going, so with scores level, England and Mexico agreed to call it a day
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Ignacio de Plessis (named Most Valuable Player), both of whom had played for high goal teams in England last season. ‘They were outstanding,’ said Borwick. ‘We are certain to see more of them on the international circuit in future.’
Borwick also captained England in its test against Mexico earlier in December. The match was played at the famous Campo de Marte military ground in the centre of Mexico City, venue for the last stage of the World Cup of the Federation of International Polo (FIP) in October of this year.
Both teams were handicapped at 22 goals, but the Mexicans had an advantage in veterans Carlos Gracida and his cousin Robert Gonzalez Gracida, both of whom now live and play in the USA but retain their Mexican citizenship. Carlos, whose handicap dropped from 10 goals to 9 only last year, has one of the greatest international records of any player in history. Amongst other accomplishments, he is the only competitor ever to win all three of the major open championships – Argentine, British and US, in one year. And not once, but three times.
‘Carlos and Roberto were riding all Thoroughbreds from the Gracida strings and this was a big plus for Mexico,’ Borwick said. It was a problem with ponies and the ground that caused the test match to be declared a
1 The Campo de Marte military ground in Mexico City 2 The England v Mexico test was sponsored by future World Cup backers El Palacio de Hierro 3 England captain Malcolm Borwick
1 Mexico’s Roberto Gonzalez tries to hook the England skipper 2 Flying the flag fieldside
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9-9 draw in the end. Ten days before the match, a big national presidential parade had taken place on the polo ground at Campo de Marte. To keep the grass in good condition for the parade, the military had treated it with a moisture-retaining gel. By the time polo rolled round, the turf was well and truly sodden.
‘It was really heavy going, with the ponies’ hooves sinking three or four inches into the ground,’ said Borwick. ‘This not only slowed the game, but was prejudicial to the ponies. So when the last chukka ended with a tie, both teams agreed to call it an honourable draw. Following the test match, England players spilt up to play for local Mexican pro-am teams at clubs around the capitol.
Young England teams of under-21 players also took to the road, east to Asia and west to South America, for a series of test matches again Young Pakistan and Young Chile sides.
The Pakistan trip was organised by London-based Yusuf Baig, that country’s representative on the Council of the Hurlingham Polo Association, and had historical overtones harking back to the days of the British Raj. The visitors became the first Englishmen since the partition of Pakistan and India in 1947 to play at Peshawar up near the Khyber Pass between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where British regiments guarding the pass played polo in the 19th century.
The Pakistan tour, with teams handicapped at 10 and 11 goals, started in Rawlpindi. That first match ended in a 9-9 draw. England won the Peshawar match 103 and were presented with the same trophy that was played for 60 years when the English were last there. Back in Rawlpindi at the end of the tour, the hosts won again, 6-5.
Between the Rawlpindi and Peshawar tests, the Young England players were hosted by polo-playing Prince Malik Ata at his Kot Fateh Khan palace in the Punjab. Their visit coincided with a tent pegging championship there in which 40 teams from all over the Punjab competed, and with bull racing, another popular sport in the region. The English visitors tried their hands at both tent pegging and bull racing, but proved far less adept than they were with polo sticks on ponies.
Young England’s tour of Chile was not as exotic as that of Pakistan, but the team’s three test matches against Young Chile sides in a four-day whirlwind visit produced
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some fast, open polo at the 8 to 9-goal level, according to David Wood, chief executive of the Hurlingham Polo Association who accompanied the team.
In the first test at San Cristobel Polo Club in the capitol Santiago, the hosts overpowered the visitors 9-3. In the second match, at Curaco Polo Club in fruit-growing country south of Santiago, the English lads triumphed 9-7. Back in Santiago it went Chile’s way again, running out 10-8 in favour of the home team.
With mixed fortunes in its away tests, the England team and Young England must now look to their laurels in its at-home matches back in the UK this coming season.
3 Action in front of the stands in South Africa 4 Setting the scene at Kurland
USPA gold cup
Aiken hosted the nail-biting Gold Cup final – but it wasn’t just those in town who got to see it. ESPN showed the whole thing, and polo proponents are predicting great things, including new sponsors, says Sarah Eakin
When the finals of the USPA Gold Cup Polo Championship aired on America’s leading sports cable network ESPN this autumn, the stage looked set for a onehour Adolfo Cambiaso show. Trailing by five goals at half-time, the situation looked bleak for his opponents, Goose Creek, and the ESPN producers’ dreams of a tight game were fading. But Adam Snow and his Goose Creek team-mates had other ideas.
‘We have nothing to lose,’ said Snow during the half-time team-talk as the Goose Creek line up revamped its strategy. By the end of the fourth chukka they had begun to stem the tide. ‘It was Martin Zegers’ idea to play a little simpler,’ reveals Snow. Zegers is a 5-goal player from Chile whose goal-scoring prowess helped Goose Creek reach the finals. He, Snow, Mariano González (son of Argentina’s former 10-goal player Daniel González) and patron Maureen Brennan clawed their way back into the game. ‘It felt like we were rolling,’ says Snow. ‘In the fourth we scored twice and they scored twice and by the sixth I was convinced it was the right way to play.’ The second-half turnaround set up a nailbiting overtime finish. After Goose Creek made an early foray in the extra chukka, Cambiaso redirected the plot by engineering the winning goal for a 13-12 New Bridge victory scored from the back of his Best Playing Pony, Delta.
New Bridge, lining up Russ McCall, Gonzalo Garcia Del Rio (talent-spotted by Cambiaso in England during the summer) , Magrini and Cambiaso, sailed through Gold Cup league play with a straight 4-0 record. Reaching the finals was the culmination of a year’s campaign that started after last year’s disappointing Gold Cup tournament. Home team New Bridge’s hopes of victory in 2005 were diminished after Cambiaso broke his wrist playing in England earlier in the year. Still in the late stages of his recuperation, he soldiered his way through an opening Sunday game, clearly not on full form, and then had to leave Aiken to be by the side of his half-brother Salvador Socas, injured in practice in Argentina.
‘I’m much fitter this year,’ said Cambiaso at a press conference for the three-week event billed as the Aiken Polo Festival, incorporating art shows, rodeo, black-tie gala and the 57th FIP Ambassadors Cup. FIP’s council of administration and the USPA’s annual general meetings were scheduled to coincide with the Gold Cup’s final week in Aiken. With the annual Aiken Polo Pony Sale also taking place, the small southern town was an international polofest. The revival of polo in Aiken has spawned a new enthusiasm among local residents, and on finals day the crowd swelled to some 6,000 spectators.
The Aiken Polo Festival was presented by the Triple Crown of Polo as an encore presentation of its three ESPN2 featured polo games, which took in the Sarasota Polo Club, Florida; Las Colinas Polo Club, Dallas, Texas; and the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, California. The USPA Gold Cup moves back to Florida in 2007, becoming part of the International Polo Club, Palm Beach’s internationally-profiled high-goal season. The Aiken Polo Festival at New Bridge Polo and Country Club will become the third leg of the Triple Crown of Polo this autumn, following Sarasota in March and Santa Barbara in August.
Cambiaso has invested in land at New Bridge and is one of a growing number of polo professionals to look to Aiken as a polo haven in the US. ‘Polo in Aiken is going to continue to grow,’ he predicted. ‘The weather has been great and the fields are in incredible condition. Playing for New Bridge is like playing for my home town. I want to win the USPA Gold Cup as much for myself as I do for New Bridge and Russ [McCall, New Bridge patron].’
Five teams entered the 2006 USPA Gold Cup including two fronted by patrons who are not native to the town but have
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relatively new polo set-ups there – David Wigdahl of Chicago with his team, Dahlwood, and Belgium’s Peter Michaels, patron of Stella Artois. Out-of-towners were Canadians John Rooney and Daniel Roenisch, defending the Calgary Polo Club’s hold on the title with their team, Zenas, lining up Aiken’s home-grown Tommy Biddle and Argentina’s Nacho Novillo Astrada. Biddle had considerable power, which was often used to score from the halfway line as demonstrated in their warm up game: his mother was on the sidelines explaining that she had fed him a ‘large steak’ the night before. Yet despite this, and considerable other talent on the team, Zenas finished last in the league after a disappointing tournament. Meanwhile, Snow’s line-up went from strength to strength, showing their capability to take on New Bridge in the finals.
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Biddle had considerable power, often used to score from the halfway line: his mother was on the sidelines explaining she had fed him a ‘large steak’ the night before…
1 A marching band gives a performance in the final. 2 Mariano Gonzáles (left) hooks Adolfo Cambiaso. 3 The winning team, New Bridge, and their young fans. 4 Matias Magrini gives an interview to ESPN
Melbourne Cup
As equestrian cups go, it could get confusing. But even if you do turn up for the wrong ‘Melbourne Cup’, the likelihood is you won’t be disappointed – it’s first class either way, reports Herbert Spencer
Horse racing’s Emirates Melbourne Cup ranks with the Kentucky Derby, Epsom Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and they say Australia comes to a standstill while the thoroughbreds are running. And on those days of the week when the track is closed, the horsey set heads for Werribee Park National Equestrian Centre outside Melbourne to watch the battle for another cup of the same name.
The Age Melbourne Cup, organised by the Victorian Polo Club, is not as much of an international fixture as the Emirates Cup is in racing, but fans were equally enthusiastic as they cheered players from Australia, New Zealand and England in a tournament that showed medium-goal polo at its best. Unusually, there was not an Argentine pro in sight.
Last November the 16-goal Melbourne event was down to four teams, with three sides having pulled out over concerns for the state of the ground at the equestrian centre. (Australia’s terrible drought has hit polo grounds across the country.) In the end, however, thanks to a Herculean effort by ground staff in the weeks before the tournament, the playing surface was in the best condition it had been for 10 years.
The local crowd favourite was the Victoria Polo Club team of Australian brothers Gillon and Hamish McLachlan (commentator at England’s Cartier International) , Aussie Sterling McGregor and English pro Will Lucas, but they failed to make it through. The Elliconee team of English immigrant Will Burrell, who is developing a polo property at nearby Portsea, also fell by the wayside. So it was Ellerston v Cadenza in the final.
Ellerston, from the Queensland club of the late Kerry Packer and his son James It was pony power, plus the experience of James Beim and Mike Todd – each members of their respective national teams – which combined to give Ellerston its one goal victory over Cadenza
1 MVP James Beim chases Simon Kyete 2 Jim Gilmore (left) and Richard Le Poer (right) holding the Melbourne Cup 3 Michael Todd (left) and Sam Hopkins (right) followed by the rest of Ellerston.
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(unavailable for the game due to business commitments), fielded Australians Mike Todd and George Hill (grandson of former Aussie 10-goaler Sinclair Hill) with Englishmen James Beim and Richard Le Poer. Cadenza had Tony Pidgley, the high-goal patron from England, with Simon Keyte, Sam Hopkinson and England’s Ed Hitchman.
The Packer-supported squad had the advantage of ponies from the famous Ellerston string and it was this pony power plus the experience of Beim and Todd, each members of their respective national teams, which combined to give Ellerston its one goal victory over Cadenza. Beim was named Most Valuable Player of the match. And that other Melbourne Cup? The Japanese invader Delta Blues won the AU$5.1m Emirates classic in a photo finish with its stable-mate Pop Rock.
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Indian Championships
Johor Tigers won a thrilling last-minute victory in India’s historic national championships held at the Delhi Race Course, reports Herbert Spencer
India’s Minister of Sport, members of the country’s business elite and a bevy of Bollywood stars joined some 4,000 other spectators at the Delhi Race Course in the nation’s capital last November to watch a Malaysian-sponsored team win the 2006 Indian Polo Championship, a competition dating back more than a century to the days of the British Raj.
The national tournament, first played at Lucknow in 1900, was played on the Jaipur Polo Ground in the centre of the racetrack less than half a mile from the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence. It is the highest goal tournament played in India, and the Army Polo And Riding Club Stands and VIP pavilion were packed to capacity for the final between Johor Tigers and Jindal Steel & Power, both 19-goal teams.
Four teams competed in the 14 to 20goal tournament, one of which included English pro James Harper. Both finalists had players who were short-listed for the India team in the Federation of International Polo’s 2007 World Cup and both called on the services of 6-goal Argentine pros to make up the numbers. Johor Tigers were sponsored by HH Tunku Ismail Ibrahim, polo-playing son of the crown prince of the Malaysia sultanate of Johor who is in India serving as a captain in India’s 61st Cavalry Regiment. Non-playing patron of Jindal Steel was Naveen Jindal, managing director of that company and Member of Parliament who played in the team when they previously won the championship.
The finalists proved to be evenly matched, with three of the six chukkas ending with the score tied. The last period provided a nail-biting finale to the game and had the crowd on its feet. With only 30 seconds left on the clock, Jindal levelled the score. Then a bare five seconds before the final bell, Argentine Santiago de Estrada found the goal posts to win the championship for Johor.
Minister of Sports Mani Shankar Iyer presented the venerable Indian Polo Championship trophy to Johor Tigers and the Most Valuable Player prize to de Estrada.
The final day of the polo championship is one of the highlights of the Delhi social season. Other VIPs watching the final included Tarun Joshi, CEO of title sponsors Reid and Taylor; Lt Gen Sudhir Sharma, Quarter Master General of the Indian Army; former cricketer Nawab Mansoor Khan Pataudi; and film actors Anil Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan.
During the event members of the 61st Cavalry’s famous display team presented a spectacular exhibition of riding skills, including snatching pegs from the ground with lance, sword and bayonet. The 61st is the world’s only non-mechanised cavalry regiment, and its Rajastani troopers were the last regular horse soldiers in the world to see action, when they served as scouts in the Indo-Pakistan wars. Until just a few years ago most of India’s polo players came from military units like the 61st and the mounted President’s Bodyguard or from amongst the maharajahs and their families. Now, however, an increasing number of civilians have taken up the sport, including those from the rising business elite of the country.
Until recently most players came from the military or maharajahs’ families, but that’s beginning to change
1 Major Ravi Rathore of Johor Tigers leads the pack against Jindal Steel & Power in the final 2 The Tigers celebrate victory
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Washington DC
Polo was a resounding success at the Washington International Horse Show, reports Herbert Spencer
Two teenage Afro-Americans from inner-city neighbourhoods won the hearts of horselovers last autumn as they showed off their polo skills at the prestigious Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) in the heart of the nation’s capital.
As one of America’s most important equestrian fixtures, the WIHS attracts top international show jumpers and dressage riders. This was the first time that polo had been featured at the big Verizon Center, home of Washington’s major basketball and ice hockey events near the White House. With upwards of 10,000 spectators in the stands, the arena exhibition match had one of polo’s largest crowds, including those at major outdoor events, anywhere in the USA in 2006.
The two teams in the three-a-side match centred on Virginia’s Debbie and Alan Nash whose Tiger team won the 2006 Arena Open of the US Polo Association (USPA), and Doug Barnes and Kelly Elliott, also cupwinning veterans of the game, who run a polo school in The Plains, VA. It was, however, the two young Afro-American players who most caught the crowd’s imagination. Kareem Rosser, 13, attends Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge Military Academy on a scholarship and John Field, 14, is a freshman at Philadelphia’s World Communications Charter School. Both regular arena polo competitors at their schools, they are products of America’s unique Work to Ride (WTR) programme, which aids disadvantaged youngsters aged seven to 18 through constructive activities centred on horse pursuits. In the arena after the match, Dr Phillip Karber, chairman of the USPA’s Marketing Committee, presented WTR with the association’s Polo Recognition award for its contribution to the image of the sport in America. It was Karber, also president of Great Meadow Polo Club in Virginia, who spearheaded the introduction of polo at the downtown Washington horse show.
In addition to the action in the arena, polo videos were shown on big-screen TVs at the venue and there were exhibitions in the lobbies as well. WIHS officials were delighted with the results and scheduled a return of polo to the show in 2007. With the polo world struggling for greater public awareness, opportunities like the Washington show offer welcome opportunities fpr promotion. Judging from the enthusiastic reaction of the thousands of spectators at the Verizon Center who wildly applauded every goal, polo may well have gained more than a few new fans and, perhaps, some playing recruits as well.
Judging by the enthusiastic reaction of the sepectators, polo may well have gained more than a few new fans
Above Kareem Rosser and John Field really caught the crowd’s imagination
