Ponylines

[news] All the latest polo news and much more

ONE TO WATCH: BEST AMATEUR

Amateur player Marc Ganzi, 37, won two of America’s only three 26-goal tournaments and was runner-up in the third at International Polo Club Palm Beach this year. As the 1-goal patron of Audi, Mark not only captured the CV Whitney Cup but was also named Most Valuable Player of the final after scoring two of his team’s goals. Mark’s Audi lost in the final of the Gold Cup but then went on to win the US Open Championship, the greatest prize of all. His Florida successes came after he scored a hat-trick in summer polo on the West Coast in 2008, winning all three of the 20-goal tournaments at Santa Barbara Polo Club. He is co-founder, with his polo-playing wife Mellisa, of Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington and is founder and CEO of Global Towers Partners in Boca Raton. Mark took up polo at Eldorado in 2001, following in the footsteps of his father.

Chief executive

Having suffered two pretty diffi cult seasons weather wise, 2009 looks like it is going to be a long hot summer. As diffi cult to predict as the weather is the effect of the credit crunch on polo. High goal has stood up well for this season but entries have suffered across the board in the early part of the season. However, the migrant system has led to the delayed arrival of several grooms so this may also have been a factor infl uencing the slow start. It is hoped that the move of the Warwickshire to 20 goals in August, along with the Challenge at Cowdray and Beaufort 20 goal tournament, will extend the high goal season.

The Westchester was obviously a huge success but credit must go again to the members of the England team that played in the Copa de las Naciones at Palermo. With limited sponsorship from the HPA the team got itself organised and mounted and the players proved that they were very competitive at an international level.

The appointment of Howard Hipwood as an independent adjudicator of the umpiring in the 22 goal and the decision of Stewards to have professional umpires for all of the 15 goal and the semis and fi nals of the Victor Ludorum 8 goal, is a demonstration that the HPA acknowledges that the umpiring is a key part of the game which can’t be left to fi nd its own way forward.

The last months have sadly had their tragedies in both human and horse terms. Firstly, David Heaton-Ellis lost his fi ght against motor neurone disease and our sympathy goes out to Sophie and Geordie, his wife and son. David, determined that some good should come from his illness, founded the Heaton-Ellis Trust to raise money to fund research at Kings College Hospital into the causes of the disease, in the hope that a cure can be found.

The second tragedy was the 21 horses of Lechuza Caracas that died from an overdose of selenium in Florida. The investigation is ongoing but it is clear that someone made a terrible mistake. This tragic accident has raised the issue of polo pony welfare and the use of vets from overseas who are not registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The RCVS are happy with the HPA rules and regulations as they stand but we will review them once the investigation is complete.

If we do have a long hot summer, it will be interesting to see if irrigated grounds infl uence entries. Let’s hope it is hot enough to be able to answer that question.

PONY ENDOWMENT FUND DOUBLE VICTORY

Charlottesville, VA, April 6, 2009 – Virginia Polo, Inc., the organisation which supports all polo activity at the University of Virginia, recently announced the establishment of the Rodger and Bobo Rinehart Polo Pony Endowment Fund. The endowment memorialises the late Rodger and Bobo Rinehart, who were instrumental in the foundation and development of this premier collegiate polo facility since the Fifties. The proper care of the numerous polo ponies owned by Virginia Polo was one of the Rineharts’ major interests and concerns. Income from the endowment will be used to help support the cost of maintaining the ponies that Virginia Polo owns.

The Fund was started by lead gifts from Debby and Mark Pirrung, Class of 1973, and Dick ‘Remo’ Riemenschneider, Class of 1959. Mr. Pirrung and Mr. Riemenschneider are former members of the University of Virginia Polo Team and recipients of the hospitality and kindness of the Rineharts.

Donations (cash or securities) to the Fund are tax deductible and multi-year pledge payments are accepted. Contact: Dick Riemenschneider 001 703 777 1403, Virginia Polo 001 434 979 0293, or visit www.vapolo.org/ponyfund.html

The Virginia Polo Center, 1082 Forest Lodge Lane, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Fourteen teams, seven men and seven women, competed at the National Intercollegiate Tournament held April 7-11 in Charlottesville, VA. Only two universities have ever won both the men’s and women’s tournaments in the same year – UVA and UC Davis. This year, the final matches proved to be very competitive. No.1 seated Cornell women with an undefeated season came up two goals short of the no.2 ranked University of Virginia women. With a final score of 19-17, Captain Cristina Fernandez lead her team to victory by scoring nine goals, one of which was a two-pointer sealing the deal for Virginia in the last period. Fourth year Leah Hall followed with five goals and first year recruit Emily Dameron stepped up scoring five goals as well.

The undefeated and no.1 ranked University of Virginia Men faced-off against the undefeated, no.2 ranked and two-time defending national champs from Texas, A&M. The UVA Team captained by second year Joevy Beh led at the half by one goal. After a strong third period, Virginia outscored A&M 6-3 and took a four-goal lead. First year recruits CB Scherer and Mauricio Lopez fought hard contributing six and seven goals respectively to Joevy’s seven goals to win 20-17.

Women’s Team alternate Sybil Greenhalgh and Men’s Team alternates Strother Scott and Mauricio Diaz also provided support.

RETRAINING OF RACEHORSES

Owners of polo ponies that started their career on the racetrack have a chance to win £10,000 in prizes from Retraining of Racehorses (RoR). The charity is offering a fi rst prize of £5,000 to the ex-racehorse judged to be the most successful on the polo circuit. Two runners-up prizes of £2,500 will also be awarded. The prizes are open to any polo pony that has raced in the UK and is registered with RoR. They will be judged on their polo performance past and present, with their racing record also taken into account. If the owner did not produce the horse, 20 per cent of the prize money will go to the person who did, to reward those that have retrained ex-racers. To have their horses considered, owners need to register them at www.ror.org.uk – and to submit a performance record, with details of past tournaments and achievements and future plans. RoR will also be giving £500 to the club that signs up the greatest number of ex-racehorses – relative to its membership. The prizes will be presented at the pre-Cartier Day HPA dinner on 23 July.

CHUKKAS

No credit crunch in the English high goal. There are 18 teams in the Queens Cup and 17 in the Gold Cup. Cowdray raised the entry fee by 20% to £17,500 – that’s pricing power in a recession! On the other hand, Sotogrande with an entry reservation fee of €45,000 has five teams confirmed and another five possible for the high goal in August!

Ellerston has sold close to 100 ponies – its entire English string and the rest from Australia. Nothing under five years old was sold so it will only take them a few years to be back with a full string. Many of the ponies were bought for Palermo. It will be interesting to see in whose strings the famous KP brand ends up in.

Speaking of Palermo, Chapaleufu I is back with Bautista Heguy, Sapo Cassett, Hilario Ulloa and Francisco Narvaez. Pelon Sterling is joining Chapaleufu II alongside the Eduardo, Pepe and Nachi Heguy.

Cartier is celebrating its 25th year of sponsoring the International Day at Smith’s Lawn. Arnaud Bamberger, Cartier’s managing director in the UK was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by the HPA at the Audi Polo Awards. In April, Arnaud was made Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government.

On May 5th 2009 ESPN aired a 13-minute show on the pony tragedy at IPC in Palm Beach. There were interviews with Peter Rizzo, Stephen Scott, Jimmy Newman and John Wash. Without exception, all interviewed sounded and looked like seasoned TV presenters. It is very well done and can be seen on www.hurlinghampolo.com

In the UK, the one tap now applies in any direction provided that the player is being challenged and was at a walking pace. The 30 yard penalty is now undefended. The player has to have the intent to score with one hit for penalties on or within the 60 except for a spot within the 30. These changes have speeded up the game and during the first two rounds of the Queens Cup over 90% of the games have been won by a goal

‘Tom Barrack - Queen’s Cup winner and runner up in the Gold Cup 2008 - has written a cheque to save Michael Jackson’s Netherland from the bailiffs. Perhaps we’ll soon be seeing the King of Pop stick and balling!’

For more information on hurlingham magazine, visit www.hurlinghampolo.com

DESERT OASIS

Dubai’s boutique Desert Palm Hotel – owned by Ali Albwardy, patron of the Dubai Polo Team – is rapidly becoming a Mecca for polo enthusiasts, with its four championship polo fields, viewing pavilions and riding school. It has hosted the Cartier International Polo Challenge for the last four years and in January inaugurated the Desert Palm Nations Cup, featuring world number 1 Adolfo Cambiaso. The hotel has 26 rooms, villas and six spas and offers camel riding and racing plus the chance to play golf, drive dune buggies, fly Micro Lites over the desert, try indoor snow skiing and take helicopter or dhow tours of Dubai. Contact: peter@equuspassport.com

Sol (stable name) was purchased by the Royal Naval Polo Association in 1990 and was part of their team for seven years. She helped them win the coveted Services Inter Regimental Trophy in 1995. I bought her shortly after and ever since she has continued her association with the Armed Services, raising awareness for the Help for Heroes charity and for veteran horses.

Although retired, Sol continued to play polo, hunt and has recently started her third career in showing. Help for Heroes kindly gave permission for their name to be used when she competed in special Veteran Horse Society showing classes last summer. Since June 2008 she has been Show and Veteran Champion three times, narrowly missing the chance to go to the Olympia Horse Show by just one place.

Everything about Solitaire is character. She’s inquisitive, loving and always pushing boundaries without actually causing trouble. We still stick and ball and hack whenever she gets bored, yet although ridden at home she is shown in hand. Indeed, Sol is so competitive under saddle that she cannot be ridden in classes without trying to ‘ride-off’ the other horses – not very popular with non poloplaying riders! MOIRA WATSON www.helpforheroes.org.uk; www.veteran-horse-society.co.uk

POLO COMES TO BATH!

One of the world’s oldest sports came to Bath on Saturday 23rd May giving both residents and visitors a truly memorable day. The all-day event took place at the Bath Racecourse and was organised by local events and hospitality company VU Limited. The Bath Racecourse was filled with approximately 1,200 visitors who were entertained with various activities, food stalls and three thrilling polo matches: The Battle of the Sexes Match, an exhibition match and a Bath Spa v London Varsity Match. For The Battle of the Sexes Match, The Longdole Polo Club compiled an 8 goal men’s team to rival the 8 goal ladies Diamond International team. The club was quietly confident that they could muster a team brave and skilled enough to beat the plucky ladies foursome, made up of Lucy Taylor (1 goal), Emma Tomlinson (2 goal), Nina Clarkin (3 goal) and Tamara Vestey (2 goal). Nevertheless, this successful ladies team was once again able to dominate over and beat an all male side. In a game where strength dominates, this was quite an achievement. The ‘Game of Kings’ was enjoyed by a large number of Bath visitors – many of whom had never been to a polo match before. Their children were entertained by the children’s activities while parents enjoyed the spectacle and thrill of polo for the very first time. Local organiser Victor Ubogu of VU LTD said: ‘It was always our aim to create a day for all and we were delighted to see so many families enjoy the polo.’ Bath Polo is fixed to be an annual event for everyone’s social calendar. The next date is already set for Saturday 22nd May 2010.

THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

Pony’s name Help for Heroes Solitaire Age 28 Sex Mare Colour Dark Brown Height 15.1h Origin Thoroughbred cross

HOOKED ON POLO

Thai resident Harald Link is owner of the Thai Polo Club, Vice President of the Thailand Equestrian Federation and President of the South East Asian Equestrian Federation. An avid fan of polo, he began playing in his early 40s and currently owns near on 70 ponies.

Since discovering polo 10 years ago I have played together with players of many different nationalities from the lowest to the highest handicap and on a number of continents. I have learned that knowing someone off the field does not mean that you know him on the field. And I have learned that the polo community loves to share and be together. I am so impressed when it seems that everybody I ask for help in improving Thai Polo and Equestrian Club is willing to do so.

I started playing after attending a clinic of Hugh Dawnay’s in Bangkok. Later the rest of my family also became interested. My brother, sister and I started dressage and show jumping during our high school years while growing up in Hamburg and my parents were both riders in their youth.

My most rewarding experience in polo has been to be able to play with my family and friends as well as to make new friends and all the while keeping fit and learning something new. I enjoy feeling very alive and close to my teammates and horses when I play.

I love learning and so the opening of the Rege Ludwig School at the Thai Polo and Equestrian Club during our season was important to me as is having Andrew Hine as a friend and consultant in developing our club and getting consultation by Ellerston to make our fields better.

We try to make the Thai Polo and Equastrian Club a home away from home experience for families and individual players and by having the Polo School we are looking to have players come from all over the world to Thailand and enjoy the Thai hospitality and the great weather in the winter. We try to have great fields, good horses, polo at many levels and to get all equestrians to mix and try the other disciplines. We have a youth program for kids of all ages and want to train Thai to become horse trainers, polo instructors and eventually have a Thai team participate at the FIP world Championship.

GREEN AND SERENE

Coworth Park – Dorchester Collection’s new country house hotel which is set to open in Summer 2010 – will be one of the UK’s most environmentally-friendly hotels through the incorporation of renewable and low energy technologies. The hotel, which is set in 200 acres of parkland, will have 70 rooms, with 30 in the main house and 40 in the converted stable block and cottages. It will also have an underground spa and equestrian centre with 40 stables, two polo fields and a practice field. ‘We seized upon the opportunity to introduce some of the latest zero carbon technologies’ says Christopher Cowdray, Chief Executive of Dorchester Collection. ‘Guests will be able to enjoy the ultimate luxury at Coworth Park while helping to look after the planet at the same time.’

PRINCE HARRY IN NEW YORK

During his first formal visit to the US, Prince Harry took to the field in the second annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic. The event, which took place on the scenic Govenors Island on 30th May, coincided with the 400th anniversary of New York and opening day of the Governors Island season. Nick Roldan captained Harry’s team while Nacho Figueras lead the opposite playing side, Black Watch. Event proceeds will benefit Sentebale, a US-based charity that supports at-risk children in Lesotho, Africa. It was co-founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso of Lesotho in honour of their mothers. ‘This iconic event will help raise awareness for our organisation,’ said Sentebale’s Chairman Charles J. Denton.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE

Sunday 7th June 2009 will see the annual Varsity Polo Match returning to Kirtlington Park Polo Club with student and friends of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities enjoying a day of polo, picnics and a pitcher or two. The first polo match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities took place on Bullingdon Cricket Grounds in November 1878. The following summer the first Varsity Polo Match was played at Hurlingham Polo Club and is one of the oldest fixtures in the Western World’s polo calendar. The annual Varsity Polo Match has been played annually since then, breaking only during World Wars. During this time there has been a number of distinguished players on both sides, notably Claire (nee Lucas) and Simon Tomlinson, Brigadier Reddy Watt playing for Oxford, HRH the Prince of Wales and Antony Embiricos (of the Gold Cup winning Tramontana team) in Cambridge light blue.

Over recent years there has been an increased interest in the Varsity Polo Match with the day enjoying an enhanced profile within both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the polo world at large. The 2009 Varsity Match is sponsored by Bicester Village with EFG Group sponsoring the Cambridge team. Both university clubs are looking forward to working with these new sponsors to maintain the momentum that has developed over the past couple of years. The aim is to create a day where, in the delightful setting of Kirtlington Park Polo Club, the integrity of this long-established match will be able to prevail.

As has been the case in previous years, the Old Blues (ex Cambridge and Oxford students) will also play on Varsity Day and guests will have the opportunity to show off their bicyclepolo skills. Dress code is summer smart with a pair of Jimmy Choos on offer for the most enthusiastic divot-treading lady. The series currently stands at 53 matches to 52 in Cambridge’s favour, come and see whether Oxford can close the gap.

Varsity Polo 2009 sponsored by Bicester Village will be played at Kirtlington Park Polo Club, Kirtlington, Oxfordshire OX5 3JQ on Sunday 7th June, with the grounds opening at 12.30pm and the polo starting at 2pm. Visit www.varsitypolo.co.uk where the ticketing information will be available in the near future.

AUDI AWARDS

Top players and patrons from around the globe gathered on 18th May for the 2009 Audi Polo Awards, hosted by comedian Rory Bremner and Australian TV’s Hamish McLachlan. Over 350 distinguished guests from the sport descended on London’s Park Lane Hilton, to honour the 2008 season’s most outstanding players, performances, teams, and patrons as well as ponies. Top heroes from this ‘Oscars event for polo’ included The Julius Bar Victor Ludorums: 18-goal winner Enigma (pictured above), Gonzalito Pieres (Polistas Most Outstanding High Handicapped Player) and England player James Beim who scooped three accolades. ‘This is the pinnacle of recognition any player can expect off the field and James’ achievements this year richly deserve these awards,’ commented John Tinsley, chair of the International Committee for the Hurlingham Polo Association. £80,000 was raised in aid of the David Eaton Ellis Trust.

THE PALM OPENING

The Palm, co-owned by Wally Ganzi (above, top right) and Bruce Bozzi, will open its first UK restaurant mid-June 2009 in Belgravia, London. The interior design will echo The Palm’s informal style with the menu bearing the hallmark USDA prime aged steak and jumbo Nova Scotia lobsters. Steaks and seafood were not part of the original Palm in New York but began out of an effort to cater to its clientele of artists and writers. Every time a customer asked for a steak, founder John Ganzi ran up Second Avenue to a butcher shop, bought a steak and cooked to order. Today, The Palm runs its own meat wholesale company although the restaurant still honors its Italian roots.

BLAKE BEATS VENUS

On 29 March 2009, the winners of the Annual Sports Awards were announced during the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet in West Palm Beach. Professional polo player, Jeff Blake, beat five-times Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and baseball star Chris Volstad to win the prestigious Professional Athlete of the Year trophy. Blake – considered one of the most talented players in polo – has won MVP honours in almost every major United States Polo Tournament, including the prestigious Stanford US Polo Championship in 2008. He was recently raised from 6 to 7 goals in the US.

SADDLE UP WITH…

NICOLAS PIERES

Nationality Argentine Age 18 Handicap 6 in England, 7 in Argentina and the USA

Nico cites the biggest influences on his polo career as his family. Starting with his father, former 10-goal great Gonzalo, as well as his mother and two brothers. He credits his father ‘because he was a genius inside the polo field and outside too.’ He said that his father understands the game of polo differently from others. He credits his mother because he said that she supported the whole family and their passion for the game with no complaints. Finally he credits brothers Facundo and Gonzalito because in his words ‘they are two really good 10-goal players, and if I can’t learn from them then I can’t learn from anyone.’

When are you going to join Ellerstina?

I don’t know yet, but I have to improve lots of things to be part of that team.

What is it like to be the youngest of such a dynasty?

For me it is an honor to be part of this big family and also to be part of this big organisation that is Ellerstina. I was born into this Pieres family, so polo was one of the first things that came to mind. I started riding when I was four and played in my first tournament when I was six. By then I knew that this was my life and that I loved this sport.

Who will you play with during the Argentine season?

This season I am playing with the same team I tried to qualify with last year. The team is Marcos Di Paola, Alejandro Agote and Magoo Laprida.

Will they qualify for the Open next year?

I hope this year we can play in the Open. Last year we couldn’t reach the Open but we won the Camera with the same team. We are all friends and have a lot of fun playing together.