talk
life is sweet Ken Berry shares his delight that Chocolate, the gelding he bred, was named Best Playing Pony in the Argentine Open
Years ago, having watched Robert Skene play at the Santa Barbara Polo Club, in California, I decided I’d like to play polo myself. I learnt to ride late, at the age of 30, and entered my first game in 1973. I have now played for 40 years. As an amateur, I was able to attain a handicap of 3, which I held for eight years in the Eighties and Nineties. Over four decades, I have been lucky to have been invited to bring teams and play all over the world – Jamaica, Brunei, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, England, Italy and Argentina – and, as a result, have made many friends in polo. In Argentina, I played in the Mundialito in San
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Isidro and the Mundialaso at Palermo Cancha #1 in Buenos Aires. I also entered many teams as a patron in Santa Barbara’s 12-goal and 20-goal tournaments. Although horsemanship may not have been my long suit, I was nonetheless able to recognise the talent of the very best polo pony I have ever ridden. Her name was Empress. Danny Juarez, a West Coast player and trainer bought her from the Yakima Meadows Race Track in Washington State as a four-year-old and brought her into polo. Danny says she was the first horse, and one of only two, that he was able to play in a snaffle, and that she went right into polo without
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much training. He also roped calves on her, further proving her versatility. Under Danny, Empress won Best Playing Pony in a tournament in Washington. He had her for a year, then sold her to Brad Ramsby, who, in turn, sold her to me. I played her for 10 years at the Santa Barbara Polo Club and others in Southern California. When Argentine professional Santiago Trotz rode her in the 20-goal Pacific Coast Open, he was so impressed, he encouraged me to breed her to former 7-goaler Joel Baker’s stallion, Morning Star. With such a strong lineage, it’s no wonder Chocolate, the first of three foals out of Empress
