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Polo Times August 2009
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Contents
POLO TIMES
Publisher Margie Brett margie@polotimes.co.uk Editor Yolanda Carslaw yolanda@polotimes.co.uk Deputy Editor James Mullan jamesmullan@polotimes.co.uk Art Editor James Wildman james@polotimes.co.uk Advertising Karen Saunders karen@polotimes.co.uk Subscriptions Becky Ford becky@polotimes.co.uk Accounts Debbie Mason accounts@polotimes.co.uk Contributors Michael Amoore, Josephine Brooks, Diana Butler, Emily Cromey-Hawke, Antje Derks, Arthur Douglas-Nugent, Mark Emerson, John Horswell, Lorna Jowett, Jane Phelps, Tony Ramirez, Andrew Seavill, Herbert Spencer, Isabel Nat Tacq, Vanessa Taylor, Carlie Trotter, Miles Underwood Front cover Facundo Pieres volleys the ball during the Gold Cup final, by www.polophoto.co.uk Designed and typeset by Wildman Design www.wildmandesign.co.uk Printed by Stones – Banbury, Oxfordshire Mailers Jordan & Co – Witney, Oxfordshire Subscription per annum UK £55 Europe & Ireland £65 Rest of the World £75 email: admin@polotimes.co.uk or subscribe online at www.polotimes.co.uk
Polo Times East End Farm, North Leigh Oxfordshire OX29 6PX Tel: 01993 886 885 Fax: 01993 882 660 email: admin@polotimes.co.uk www.polotimes.co.uk © Polo Times Limited 2009 and Database Right 2009 Polo Times Limited holds the copyright & database right to the information it publishes in Polo Times and on the Polo Times website. No content may be reproduced or distributed without the consent of the Editor. ‘Polo Times’ is the trade mark of Polo Times Limited.
ISSN 1461-4685
22 Cowdray Park Gold Cup News 4 8 9
All the latest news HPA news Obituaries: Colin Seavill and Rupert Thorneloe
Comment 11 14 16 19 21
Herbert Spencer’s global view Interview: Jason Dixon Arthur Douglas-Nugent’s umpire’s corner John Horswell’s players’ forum Your views: letters to the editor
Reports 22 28 32 34 37 38 40 44
Farriery special: Pete Wherrett marks 30 years
The knowledge 52 55 56 59 60 65 66 68
Beaufort test match
Gold Cup at Cowdray England vs Australasia at Beaufort Royal Windsor Cup at Guards Archie David at Guards Eduardo Moore at RCBPC British Beach Championships at Sandbanks University and Schools Championships Around the clubs and Around the world
Features 47
28
38 Seaside action
Duty vet with Mark Emerson Horsemanship with Andrew Seavill Pony power: Ruki Baillieu’s Hamita Feeding with Lorna Jowett Travel: El Milagro in Argentina Property: the best in local lodgings What’s on in August: tournament information Gear: four of the best panama hats
Out and about 69
Social snaps from the season so far
76 82
Classifieds A week in the life of: Gonzalito Pieres
47 Farriery special www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 3
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from the Editor How was the Gold Cup for you? For Dubai, sore disappointment – especially after their unbeaten run in the league games, Cambiaso’s form in their semi-final and the development of their new lineup into a formidable force. For La Bamba, jubilation and a certain surprise – they didn’t feel like favourites for the title and had quite a battle through the stages to get to the winners’ podium. It has been a few years since two 10-goalers were on a winning side, and the style of polo this makes for is certainly a particular kind of spectacle. Other pairs of 10s to have won over the years include Cambiaso and Bautista Heguy (for Geebung in 2000) and Gonzalo Pieres Snr and Cambiaso (for Ellerston in 1998). In this year’s final, once the initial horror of the first messy chukkas subsided, I thought that seeing the two Pieres boys at the top of their form provided plenty of entertainment. Umpiring has come under extra scrutiny this year, with Howard Hipwood in a new role as independent assessor and adjudicator. The new system is bedding in, and several teams have made use of him to look at their complaints – although some feel they don’t want to “rock the boat” by making a fuss. The HPA plans to develop the system next year, using Howard’s reports and judgements in a constructive way. Ideas, anyone? For last month's Gold Cup final, the finalists were able to indicate which umpires from the professional group they would prefer for the game, and each was allowed to submit three names, in order of preference. Interestingly, on this occasion, both teams picked exactly the same three, and two of those – Peter Wright and Julian Appleby – umpired the game. Out on the ground, I’ve heard much talk among spectators of “too much whistle” in high-goal. But as professional umpire Jason Dixon points out on page 14, if players are fouling, umpires must blow – and allowing a game to “flow” has to be less of a priority than ensuring fairness and safety. Personally, I admire everyone – professional or amateur, high-goal, low-goal or Pony Club – who puts on the black and white shirt. It looks like a tricky job to me – and it’s much easier to whinge from the stands than it is to try to unravel a tapturn-tap-turn-shout-pause-tap-whack!
Yolanda Carslaw
4 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
A selection of those players going up in handicap for 2010. They are, from left to right, Ignatius du Plessis, Ed Hitchman, Christian Laprida, Mark Tomlinson and Hilario Ulloa
Top performers go up in handicap revisions AS THE HPA RANG the high-goal changes at the end-of-season handicap meeting on 22 July, there was more reason to celebrate than usual for supporters of British players. Of the 31 players who have been put up in handicap as a result of the meeting, almost 40 per cent are British. Mark Tomlinson goes back up to the sevengoal handicap he surrendered at the end of last season, Ed Hitchman goes up a goal for the second successive year, becoming a fivegoal player for 2010, and 23-year-old Charlie Hanbury, who played as a paid professional for Apes Hill this summer, demonstrates once and for all that he is worthy of this status, moving up to a four-goal handicap. Other British players to go up include father and son Charles and Will Beresford, Black Bears patron Guy Schwarzenbach, Inglesham’s Dave Allen, and youngsters Max Routledge and Ollie Cudmore. The most notable rises amongst overseas sponsored players are Alejandro Agote, Christian Laprida and Hilario Ulloa, who all move from seven goals to eight, Ignatius du Plessis, Nicolas
Pieres and Juan Gris Zavaleta, who all move from six goals to seven and Gareth Evans, Juan Ruiz Guinazu Jr and Lucas Talamoni, who all move from five goals to six. A raft of players go from four to five – such as South Africans Tom de Bruin and Jean du Plessis – but probably the most impressive jump is for Gold Cup winner, Tomas Garbarini, whose handicap launches from one goal to three – the only player to move by more than a single goal in either direction on the entire list. Those who have gone down a goal include British six-goalers James Harper and Andrew Hine, who drop to five, Pablo MacDonough and Sebastian Merlos, who will lose the kudos of their 10-goal status for next year’s English high-goal season, and popular journeymen Eduardo Heguy and Jaime Huidobro, who fall to eight and seven goals respectively. See what Polo Times columnist John Horswell thinks the changes will mean for next year’s teams by turning to page 19, and you can download the full list of changes from the HPA website: www.hpa-polo.co.uk/news
Teams turn to Hipwood in 22-goal THE NEW UMPIRING assessment system for the 22-goal, with Howard Hipwood as independent “ombudsman”, has swung into action several times in the Queen’s and Gold cups, with teams approaching the former nine-goaler about specific matches or incidents on around seven occasions. The system allows high-goal teams who feel hard done by to take their case to Hipwood, who has been taken on by the HPA to analyse video footage of relevant games and use the evidence and his expertise to judge whether the umpiring was up to scratch. Hipwood has also been making general post-match reports about the umpiring. One case that is already resolved followed a Queen's Cup game in May between Les Lions and Enigma, after which Les Lions went to Hipwood. After watching the DVD he concluded that the umpiring had been substandard – but that both teams suffered equally. Towards the end of the Gold Cup, Sumaya approached Hipwood, but later decided not to pursue their complaint. All Hipwood’s reports go to the HPA and the
chief umpire, Robert Graham, but Hipwood has no direct contact with the professional umpires (right). “It’s been a learning curve,” says Hipwood. “I’ve been able to stand in the middle and be totally critical, impartial and unbiased, which has been a success. What does need fine-tuning is where we go after my analysis to get the maximum benefit, and the teams need to learn more that I’m there and that they can use me.” Chief umpire Robert Graham says: “The result of a game will never be changed, but what can change is the umpires or umpiring – if they've done an awful job they could be fined or disciplined. Howard Hipwood has had a very positive effect on the group, and the fact that there's somewhere for teams to go is important.”
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RoR cash prize-winners named Leading professional players Henry FOUR WINNERS have been named in Brett and Max Routledge won £2,000 the inaugural Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) Polo Awards, in which £10,000 of each for their ponies, Dashfa Baileys and Crafty Politician. prize-money was up for grabs for the Brett’s Dashfa Baileys is a six-yearbest ex-racing polo ponies in the UK. All old chestnut gelding bought three years four winners belong to British players, ago from a Newmarket yard by Brett and their producers will have a share in Thoroughbred Polo – the cash prizes, too. Mark Tomlinson which has bought The competition has only had more than 50 horses was open to any polo Marmite for two off the track in the pony that had raced in the UK or Ireland seasons but she’s past three years. Dashfa Baileys had and was registered already his raced on the flat five with RoR – and was second favourite times for trainer part of the playing pony Chris Dwyer. Last organisation’s drive to year Ed Judge played him, then Brett raise the profile of ex-racers and get took him to the 0-40 Goal at as many registered with RoR as Cirencester, and at Hurtwood Park’s possible. Entries were assessed by a 18-goal Polo Masters – both of which committee, in conjunction with the he won – earlier this season. “He is the HPA and the clubs, on their past and fastest horse in my string and has a present polo performances as well as great temperament,” says Henry. their racing records. Routledge’s Crafty Politician, a 12Mark Tomlinson’s 11-year-old mare year-old playing stallion, raced in Marmite – who raced as Fille de Dauphin – won the top prize of £5,000. Europe, the US and Japan before being sold by Gary Moore at Ascot The horse ran five times on all-weather sales in May 2003, where Max – then as a two- and three-year-old before aged 13 – bought him as a sevenbeing bought by Bruce Urquhart from a trainer in the north of England. She then year-old after he and his mother, separately, liked the look of him in the went to the Bromley-Martin family, who catalogue. Crafty was playing polo just introduced her to polo in Scotland, via six weeks later and won an ROR prize Pony Club and young pony chukkas to in August the same year. low and then medium-goal. He has had four successful stud Tomlinson has had Marmite for two seasons, and his oldest progeny are seasons and already she is his secondcurrently stick and balling aged three, all favourite pony. She played two chukkas in June’s Queen’s Cup final, which Mark with very high hopes in polo. “It’s his temperament and intelligence that won with Apes Hill, and was due to play enable him to be a stallion and a playing at Cartier International Day.
News in brief ◗ FROM NEXT MONTH you will be able to place a picture of your horse on our classified pages in the magazine as well as on the website for an extra £10. See page 81 for more information on costs and how to place an ad for your pony. ◗ NEARLY A DOZEN yellow flags have been handed down in the 22-goal season – to players across the board, from patrons to pros of all nationalities. Players who rack up three yellow cards are suspended for a game, which nobody has managed this season – though Pablo MacDonough was cutting it fine with two. Players to be disciplined this year also include Jerome Wirth, Sebastian Merlos, Eduardo Heguy, George Milford Haven and James Beim. Misdemeanours range from backchat and dangerous riding to excessive use of whip and dangerous use of stick.
Max Routledge and Crafty Politician (top) and Robin Spicer’s pony Onion
pony and to know the difference between the two!” says Max. The final prize of £1,000 went to 17year-old Robin Spicer’s Onion, who raced six times under the name United Union before being bought by the Spicer family as a three-year-old for £900. Robin has played him throughout his Pony Club career and in club polo, and now counts him as his favourite pony. The pair were on the winning Surtees team when Onion was four, and the pony has helped Robin to be selected for the young England trials as well as representing England Schools. They will be playing Gannon together in Pony Club polo this month.
◗ AS POLO TIMES went to press, England were gearing up to face an Argentine team fielding two of the world’s best 10goalers, Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Pieres, at Guards on Cartier International Day. By the time this hits your doorstep, you’ll know the result – did the Tomlinson brothers, Malcolm Borwick and James Beim manage to pull off a famous victory? ◗ EQUINE CHARITY the Brooke raised £26,000 at a fundraising polo day held at the Beaufort Polo Club last month. More than 300 guests enjoyed a fantastic lunch to help celebrate the Brooke’s 75th anniversary and were very generous during the charity action, which alone raised £16,580. The money will go towards a new mobile veterinary clinic in Lahore, Pakistan.
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News News in brief ◗ PONY CLUB players at the championships this month at Cowdray (7-9 August) will be helping the organisation celebrate 50 years of Pony Club polo. Fifty-eight teams will be taking part – more than 10 times the number in 1959 (see July issue of Polo Times). Twenty teams will meet in the Jorrocks Championships at Hurtwood Park on Wednesday 5 August. Photo montages from tournaments over five decades will be on display throughout the weekend and chairmen, committee members and branch managers past and present will gather for lunch on the Sunday. There will be also be photo boards, with pictures from over the years, and special themes. One will be devoted to the Jambo Trophy for the best player/pony duo who hunted together, along with the trophy’s founder the late Diana Halford; one will be dedicated to “fun”; and another will focus on trophies and the those who have donated them. ◗ AT THIS YEAR’S Pony Club Champs, the Junior HPA’s Gannon will be split into two divisions for the first time, with two teams with handicaps of 3-6 goals and six teams of –2 to 2 goals. As Polo Times went to press, there were three contenders for the upper category fighting it out in qualifiers – Ladyswood, Cowdray Park and Royal Artillery. Also new for this year is the Pony Club Polo Handbook, which players have been using for training. Qualifiers are taking place all over the country right up to the championships, with more than 70 teams – a more manageable tally than the 100-plus heights of four years ago – taking part. All the action this year will take place at the Lawns and River grounds, rather than staging some matches at Ambersham. The finals are on Sunday afternoon, everyone is welcome and entry is free. A full report will appear in September’s edition of Polo Times. ◗ POLO CONTINUES TO BE one of the biggest sources of fund-raising for the Heaton-Ellis Trust, as charity matches pedal the drive for funding for research into motor neurone disease, the degenerative hereditary illness which killed David Heaton-Ellis earlier this year. The inaugural Heaton-Ellis Trust Bicycle Polo Tournament at Frith Farm in Hampshire in late June welcomed 14 teams for a fun-filled day in soaring temperatures, as participants raised more than £2,000 for the trust – a total that will be matched by the government. RLS Polo Club in Leamington Spa also held its own Heaton-Ellis charity weekend, this time on horseback, over the weekend of 18-19 July. Sixteen teams fought it out for four titles, ranging from 0 to 8 goals, and raised more than £10,000 at Saturday’s ball. 6 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
Hurlingham did host polo ’twixt the war and the present day Pre-war Hurlingham: 30 years later, polo briefly returned
PROOF HAS COME to light that polo was played at Hurlingham Park between the Second World War and this summer, exactly 40 years before Polo in the Park. The successful event there this June (see the July issue of Polo Times) was not, as many thought, the first time mallets have clashed on the hallowed Fulham turf since 1939. In 1969, Greater London Council gave permission for two three-man teams – one featuring Prince Philip, patron of the Hurlingham Club and a five-goaler at the time – to play a oneoff match at Hurlingham as part of the club's centenary celebrations. On 29 June, at 2.30pm, five chukkas of polo ensued, followed by tennis featuring former Wimbledon stars of the era. Playing alongside Prince Philip was his regular team-mate from the highgoal Windsor Park team Lord Patrick Beresford (4), and Peter Palumbo (2), a keen amateur player of the day. The trio faced a US side called San Antonio, fielding A Armstrong (2), Peter Orthwein (4) and C Armstrong (5). And how has Polo Times come by these revelations? Thanks to Major Iain Forbes-Cockell, keen polo follower and
editor of PQ magazine, who was there himself as a teenage schoolboy, after his father, Seton Forbes-Cockell – a keen non-playing patron – and mother, Ann, helped make the whole thing happen. “My father was Mayor of Hammersmith, and he and my mother were on the now-defunct Greater London Council, which he persuaded to agree to the match,” says the Major.
‘We played with a rubber ball, on a small ground, in bright sunshine’ – Lord Patrick Beresford
Polo Times tracked down Patrick Beresford, who recalls the day well. “We played with a rubber ball, on quite a small ground, in bright sunshine. We won 6-5, and I scored every goal – I had some very handy ponies that could all turn on a sixpence, which all belonged to Archie David. “The Armstrongs were father and son – John and Charlie, I think, terribly nice people – and Peter Orthwein had seen service in Vietnam. Luis Basualdo [a well known Argentine] somehow
managed to insert himself as reserve for the Americans, so he is in the photos with all of us, which hung in the Hurlingham Club for many years.” The day is also memorable for Beresford for what happened next. After the match, Prince Philip and Beresford had to rush to Smith's Lawn to play the 16-goal Jaipur Trophy with Paul Withers and Prince Charles – who was playing at the level for the first time. They faced Lavender Hill – Seton Forbes-Cockell's team. “My wife and I followed Prince Philip back to Smith's Lawn: he was with his detective, in an open topped Lagonda, so we had a good smooth passage back,” Beresford recalls. “Because it was Prince Charles's first 16-goal game, we did everything we could to help him score, hitting the ball up to him. He played very well but did not score.” Their side won 5-1 anyway – making it a highly productive day for Prince Philip and Beresford. The programme from the 1969 Hurlingham match, which the Major kindly showed PT, outlines the club's other centenary celebrations, which included the release of 1,000 pigeons.
From Polosport to Atarsag, they tell a pre-war tale
A BATCH OF HISTORIC pre-war polo magazines and manuscripts has come to light in Somerset. A neighbour of Philip Douglas, president of West Somerset Polo Club, has inherited 25 items from the 1930s, predominantly in German, which capture the European history of the game. Their owner, Wendy Vint of Wootten Courtney, is hoping to discover more about them. Mrs Vint
inherited the items from her late aunt, a Miss Lillo Lumb. The items include 13 issues (from May 1930 to September 1932) of Polosport, the official organ of the Central European Polo Association, printed monthly (with some translations in English); 10 issues of Reit und Polosport (from August 1933 to 1937), the renamed offical organ of the Central European Polo Association,
printed monthly (with some translations in English); a 40-page programme from 3-4 June 1930, Internationale Polospiele Wien 1930; and one issue of the polo magazine Atarsasag, printed in an Eastern European language (with no English translations). If any reader knows more about these publications, or is interested in buying any of them, contact Philip Douglas on 01643 841022.
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Hungry players head to historic stable yard POLO FOLK WILL soon be able to do their grocery shopping in a building where local player Lila Pearson once stabled her polo ponies. Due to open on 5 August, the Cowdray Farm Shop, at the north entrance to the Lawns at Easebourne on the outskirts of Midhurst, will have produce from the Cowdray Estate among its stock. Already, the adjacent all-day Priory Café – on the ground floor of the old Priory Cottage – is proving a hit, with special lunch offers aimed at hungry players. After Lila’s ponies moved out some years ago, the buildings were home to the Cowdray Estate’s works yard until their transformation this year. The shop and café grew from an idea 10 years ago of David Hamilton-Fox, Cowdray Home Farms manager, who saw an opportunity to have an outlet in which to sell the estate’s produce. About half the
The Café: Polo Times has spotted several locals enjoying the Polo Players’ Special
products in the shop, which has a butcher, baker and deli counter, will come from the estate.
Festival week a hit for SUPA youngsters THE PIDGLEY FOUNDATION and La Martina SUPA Polo Festival brought together the best young players from across the schools and universities sections of SUPA last month for a week of hard-fought junior polo at Guards and Cirencester Park. Fine weather for the culmination of the festival at Cirencester on 11 July brought strong support for the 40 youngsters taking part, and spectators saw 48 goals in five excellent games, including a second international between under 21s from Britain and the West Indies marking the end of the week. The visiting side lost their first contest against their British hosts, 8-3, at Guards on 7 July. However, second time around, the British side – featuring Hazel Jackson, David Blakey, Robin Spicer and Mark RichmondWatson – didn’t have nearly such an easy ride. The West Indians, on new ponies and with knowledge of their opposition from the previous encounter, put up an excellent fight and the sides couldn’t be separated until the final chukka, when the hosts finally drew out a two-goal advantage, winning 6-4 to
take the Pidgley Junior Gold Cup – presented by Lady Bathurst and Tony and Lesley Pidgley. There was a ladies match and games at universities, schools and colts (under 14) levels, with some of those players involved at the schools and colts levels having been recruited from an assessment day at Ascot Park, where each polo-playing school in the UK had the opportunity to recommend their best boy and girl player for consideration for one of the national sides for the festival. Increasingly, the festival has become a “shop window” for young players looking to take their game on to the next level as they reach the end of school or university, and there were individual honours for Hazel Jackson, Izzy Parsons and Mark RichmondWatson in particular. Hazel won the most valuable player award in the Cirencester international, Mark won the Polo Times best playing pony rug for his eight-year-old exracehorse, Micklegate, retrained through RoR, and Izzy won the most valuable player award in the ladies’ contest. Longdole’s Dan Banks won the Green Jacket coach of the year award. www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 7
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News News in brief ◗ A CLEVER, THIEF-BUSTING gadget has come to the notice of Polo Times in the wake of a spate of lorry thefts, such as one stolen from a compound at Silver Leys in May. A canny reader has told us about the i-mob (www.i-mob.com), which, once installed into a vehicle, sends an alert directly to its owner’s mobile phone if there are signs that the vehicle is being stolen. The gadget can sense if the vehicle is tilted, as it would be if it were being loaded onto a trailer, can alert the owner if the ignition is turned on and can provide the co-ordinates of the lorry via a tracking system if required. Some versions of the system even allow remote immobilisation, so owners can lock the ignition over the phone. Prices range from £699 to £1,050. ◗ NEW HIGH-GOAL side Enigma has joined forces with a diamond firm set up by the US hair care and tequila billionaire John Paul DeJoria. Online jeweller DeJoria Diamonds is giving special deals to customers who cite “Enigma” when they contact the company. ◗ SEVERAL NEW VENTURES for polo have launched in the past month, confident that they are in a market that can ride out or buck off the recession. Recent polo convert Sam MorrisWarburton, who now plays at FHM Polo Club, left his job as intelligence coordinator at the Jockey Club and launched Stickhedz in late June, a clothing brand producing hoodies, polo shirts and T-shirts from £22 to £50. “The idea is about introducing a more laid-back, sassy design to polo clothing,” he says. One of Sam’s official suppliers – Uberpolo – is new itself: the online store, which stocks various brands and types of equipment and clothing, had its own official launch at the end of July. ◗ AUDI HAS RE-SIGNED to sponsor the England team for another three years. The car giant provides vehicles and financial backing to the squad. ◗ THIS SUMMER’S ASIA CUP, played at Guards on the Ganjam Jaipur Polo Day, was also part of an international “Celebrasia” cultural festival, writes Dara Williams. Many guests had flown in from India for the event, including Princess Urvashi Baria Usha Devi Rathore, grand-daughter of the Maharajah of Burdwan. An India side, captained by England’s own Satnam Dhillon and fielding Varun Sharma, Abhimanyu Pathak and talented Maharaj Raghav Raj Singh from Jodhpur, faced Polistas London, featuring John Gunn, Lucas Talamoni, Jack Kidd and Johnny Lynn. At half time Polistas led 5-3, but in the final chukka India put in a phenomenal four goals, giving them victory. 8 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
Latest from the HPA HPA chief executive David Woodd rounds up the news from UK polo’s headquarters Junior HPA and Pony Club Polo Championships The Junior HPA and Pony Club Polo Championships are being held at Cowdray Park Polo Club from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 August.
The 21 Cup looms large Four teams, which will be made up of selected young players, will play for The 21 Cup at Cowdray Park this month. The first two games will be played on Tuesday 11 August and the winners will then play for the cup itself on Thursday 13 August. The losers of the first two games on Tuesday will play off in a subsidiary on Thursday.
Young England selections
Coaching in September
This summer the HPA will be selecting two teams to play for each of the following trophies: • The Whitbread Trophy – Rutland Polo Club, Saturday 15 August • The Alan Budgett Trophy – Kirtlington Polo Club, Sunday 16 August • The Stagshead Trophy – Ham Polo Club, Sunday 16 August
A three-day coaching course is due to take place at Beaufort Polo Club next month, running from Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 September. It will be open to all paid-up members of the HPA who hold a 0-goal handicap or above but spaces are limited. So, if you are interested in attending, please apply before the end of August – enrolment forms are available from the HPA office. For further information on HPA coaching please see the HPA Year Book, page 286.
Handicap changes The complete list of high-goal handicap changes from the committee meeting on Wednesday 22 July is available online, on the news pages of the HPA website: www.hpa-polo.co.uk
Katie Price adds colour to Essex polo glamourthon CROWDS FLOCKED TO the beautiful Gaynes Park Estate in Essex in early July to watch Argentina take on Great Britain – with both sides a mix of nationalities – for the Duke of Essex Polo Trophy. The day was in aid of three charities, most notably Vision, whose patron Katie Price, a keen rider, was hosting this year’s event. Those hoping to see the exglamour model swing a stick, however, had to make do with watching her lead in the two teams and throw the ball in. Among the players were Ham-based father and son Paul and Jon Barry, playing on opposite teams, and the Talamoni brothers, who between them notched up most of the goals for GB. After four chukkas, the home side ran out
Katie Price took to the ground with two pony tails bouncing in her wake
the convincing match winners 10-6. Australian player Glen Gilmore provided typically lively commentary, and spectators also enjoyed showjumping, a fashion show and evening entertainment. Plans to make next year’s event bigger and better are already underway.
◗ Contact the HPA on 01367 242828
Seasonal shots for your wall EVOCATIVE PHOTOS by Polo Times contributor Tony Ramirez, along with pictures by longtime polo photographer David Lominska, appear in a new calendar produced by a former polo groom. Cowdray-based Jo Jones, who worked for the likes of Kennelot, Ipanema, Stewart MacKenzie, Sandy Harper and Charles Fraser from 1980 to 1993, has gathered 12 seasonal images together from major tournaments and from “backstage”. Having worked in locations from Sussex to Spain, Jones was in a good position to choose. “I saw friends’ hunting calendars – mostly of hunting people naked – and my first thought was to do something similar for polo,” says Jo. “Then I decided to make it seasonal instead.” The July image, of Max Routledge and Jamie Peel shoulder to shoulder in the 2008 Gold Cup final, should be familiar to Polo Times readers – it appeared on our front cover in August 2008. ◗ For more, visit www.polocalendars.com
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Obituary News
From left to right: Andrew, Hector, Charles and Colin Seavill, playing together in the 1978 Fathers and Sons tournament at Cowdray Park before the start of the Pony Club Polo Championships. Colin took great pleasure in watching his sons play, right up until he died
Colin Seavill
1937-2009
Arthur Douglas-Nugent remembers a fine friend, a fond father and a keen follower and player, and pays tribute to Colin’s enduring enthusiasm for the game olin Seavill’s father was one of a polo playing family in New Zealand, from whence he came to join the RAF. Tragically, in the latter stages of the Second World War, he was shot down over Holland and killed, leaving Colin to be brought up by his mother. Colin went to Wellington College, where his three sons and two grandchildren were to follow him. After National Service in the Royal Navy, he moved to Lincolnshire and married Margaret, working in the family holiday camp business on the coast at Cleethorpes, about as far from a polo ground as it is possible to be in the UK. However, on a visit to Midhurst, Margaret found a polo stick for sale in Frasers and – with a couple of polo balls liberated from Cowdray – returned home for Colin to indulge in some stick and ball on her hunter. That was it. He was hooked. So much so, that he immediately sought some advice from Alec Harper and then bought three ponies from Hap Sharp. In 1973, Colin joined Rutland Polo Club soon after it had been formed and travelled there two or three times a week for chukkas. After a few years he became secretary, helping lead the club through a period of expansion over 10 or 15 years. As soon as his children were old enough, he formed a family team called Cream Gorse, named after one of the most famous coverts in Quorn country, beside the second ground at Rutland. They played up and down the country to 12-
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goal level, also introducing John Tinsley to the game, and even took their team on a playing trip to Colombia. Colin was involved with James Manclark and Jim Edwards in the founding of the Elephant Polo Association, taking the game to Nepal in 1981. Jim Edwards died in March and his obituary can be found in the May issue of Polo Times. Colin was also a founder and enthusiastic member of the travelling Winemakers Polo Club, playing in such places as Kenya, Ghana, New Zealand, Argentina and California. He is still remembered for organising one of their best ever tournaments at the Packer grounds at Stedham. After retiring from polo, Colin remained an enthusiastic supporter and, in particular, took great pleasure in watching his sons play. When Polo Times’ horsemanship expert Andrew Seavill was left paralysed from the waist after suffering a car accident, it affected Colin deeply. A member of the Cowdray Committee, he was a true friend of polo, representing all that is best in the game. Colin died of heart attack on Saturday 20 June, just hours after watching his son Charles play at Cowdray on Friday evening. An polo enthusiast to the end, both on and off the field, he will be remembered by all who enjoyed his company. To all of us, and most particularly to Margaret and his family, his passing leaves a gap that none can fill. F
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PTAugust 2009 p10-11 Obits JM YC MB
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News Obituary
Rupert Thorneloe
1969-2009
The leadership qualities of the British army’s most high profile casualty in recent years shone through in his early career as a polo player, says James Mullan ieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe was the most senior officer killed on operations in July, in what turned out to be one of the bloodiest months for British troops since the start of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. His death made international news, as he was one of only eight army commanding officers who have died with their units since 1948, and the first since Lt Col Herbert 'H' Jones VC OBE was killed at Goose Green in the Falklands war in May 1982. However, Thorneloe was also a man known to many on the British polo circuit, remembered particularly for his numerous successes in the Pony Club and at the Pony Club Polo Championships during the 1980s. He was born and raised in Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, and whilst at school at nearby Radley he began playing Pony Club Polo in the Handley Cross section in 1982, riding a beloved grey called Fandango. He progressed with age to win the Rendell in 1985, before winning a scholarship in 1987 to Major Hugh Dawnay’s polo school in
Photographs by Michael Chevis and Liza Crisp
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Bicester’s winning Rendell team in 1985 (l-r: Robert Thame, Philip Milne, Nick Hunter and Rupert Thorneloe) with Sam Simmonds (left, holding the Lodsworth stick for the most promising boy) and officials from the Pony Club
American high-goal international, Mike Azzaro. He was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1992, posted predominantly in Northern Ireland and Germany as he climbed through the military ranks, before his deployment in Basra in 2005 and then Afghanistan from 2008. Liza Crisp, who ran Bicester Pony Club from 1970 to 2008, remembers him as a born leader with enormous attention to detail. “He would spend hours training and organising tactics with his Pony Club teams in an era when no-one else approached it so professionally,” she says Looking at the Pony Club and Junior HPA now, it would seem he was one of The Kirtlington-based Bicester side, led by Thorneloe, won the Jaguar Cup at the pioneers of this kind of Cowdray in 1989 (l-r: Rupert Thorneloe, James Tomkinson, chairman of the Pony Club Ernest McMillan, Lord Cowdray, Andrew Barlow and Piers Gibbs) professionalism from an early age. “He would always take great trouble with his Waterford, Ireland, and another from the HPA to sides to ensure they were as well prepared as travel to the Vesteys’ schooling ranch in São Paolo, possible,” said Liza. “ He was hugely competitive, Brazil, in 1988. but only ever very rarely lost his cool, and I Then, aged 19, he went to Reading University suppose we saw the makings of an army officer until 1991, where he studied English and Sociology in him very early on.” and led his Bicester side to victory in the 1989 This is also supported by a Horse & Hound report Jaguar Cup at Cowdray, the jewel in the Pony Club by Sue Clarke on Bicester’s successes in the Gannon Polo crown. He was also subsequently handed the section at the 1989 Pony Club Championships, in opportunity – as a one-goal player and the winner which she describes how Bicester’s attacks were led of the Daily Telegraph best Pony Club player of the “calmly but relentlessly” by Thorneloe. At this time, season award – to play for Urs Schwarzenbach’s as well as sweeping the Jaguar Cup, he was intermediate 12-goal Black Bears side alongside
10 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
simultaneously helping manage and train a younger team in the Handley Cross division. He also demonstrated these great leadership abilities in his capacity to spot talent and bring on younger players. For his second successive Rendell side in 1986 Rupert plucked two youngsters – Andrew Barlow and Piers Gibbs – from the Handley Cross section to replace the older boys he had lost from the winning 1985 team. Andrew remembers him as a diligent leader and captain. “He was always very thoughtful and serious about his polo,” says Andrew. “And, though he wasn’t a natural ball player, his overriding passion for polo drove him on to become extremely proficient, even without the best horses or huge natural talent.” His commitment and leadership were undoubtedly also the qualities that saw him progress in his military career. However, after joining the army, his polo became hard to continue when he was posted to Northern Ireland. Sailing and game shooting became his main interests after he gave up the game entirely more than a decade ago. Rupert Stuart Michael Thorneloe and 18-yearold Trooper Joshua Hammond, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, were killed when the same explosion hit their armoured personnel carrier on 1 July 2009, some five miles north of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The funeral, attended by Prince Charles and scores of other players from his polo past, was held at Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks in London on 16 July. He is survived by his wife Sally and two daughters, Hannah and Sophie, his parents, Major John and Mrs Veronica Thorneloe and his sister Jessica. F
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PTAugust 2009 p12-13 Herbert YC JM MB
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12 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
PTAugust 2009 p12-13 Herbert YC JM MB
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Global view Comment With Herbert Spencer, who has been following polo around the world for 40 years
From Calcutta to Cowdray, birthday parties abound Harold Pearson, later to be the 2nd Viscount Cowdray, founded the club in 1910. Then his son John, the 3rd Viscount, led the revival of the sport in England after World War II and served as chairman of the HPA for 15 years. Since it was inaugurated in 1956, the Cowdray Park Gold Cup, for the winner of the British Open Championship, has been the trophy
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Wise indeed is the celebrant who takes full advantage of the promotional potential of landmark anniversaries of private owners. Plans are already being made, well in advance, to celebrate the centenary in a big way and with typical Californian enthusiasm.
The gorgeous view across the ground at Calcutta Polo Club, which will shortly be celebrating its 150th anniversary
many of the world’s leading high-goal patrons and pros most want to win. Plans for Cowdray Park’s 100th anniversary in 2010 are still being discussed, but we must surely hope that it will be celebrated in great style. Across the Atlantic, California’s Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club will be 100
THE BIGGEST PARTY OF ALL Topping all the above will be the 150th anniversary of Calcutta Polo Club, the oldest in the world, which was founded by early polo players of the British Raj almost a decade before the sport reached the West. Situated in the heart of India’s second most populous city, Kolkata, it is not only the most venerable of clubs, but also has one of the most dramatic of polo grounds, in the centre of the Kolkata Racecourse with the massive, white marble Victoria Memorial as a backdrop. Whilst there is some confusion over the exact year of the Calcutta Polo Club’s formal founding (1861, 1862 or 1863?), the club is already looking to celebrate its century-and-a-half in a couple of years’ time and has asked the Indian Polo Association and Federation of International Polo for advice and support. Now that, my friends, should be quite an anniversary bash. I’m hoping for an invitation. F
www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 13
Photograph by Herbert Spencer
FROM 50 TO 100 Next year, Cowdray Park celebrates its centenary. Situated on the Pearson family’s 16,500-acre Cowdray Estate in West Sussex, it is arguably the most famous polo club in the world. The wellpreserved ruins of the castle-like 16th century Cowdray House that provide a backdrop for the club’s renowned Lawns grounds is one of the sport’s most iconic landmarks. The club’s old tag-line, “The Home of British Polo”, was not far off the mark.
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years old in 2011. Not only is Santa Barbara one of the three oldest clubs in the US, but it is one of the few in the country with a regular season of highgoal polo, staging three 20-goal tournaments each summer. It may be the only polo club in the world whose continued existence is assured by an iron-clad perpetual trust, protection against the fortunes or whims
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eing an inveterate history buff I am always intrigued by anniversaries in polo and how the celebrants capitalise upon these occasions. Any significant “birthday”, be it of an individual, team, club or other organisation, is an obvious time for a grand old knees-up. More importantly, however, such landmark dates in polo offer perfect opportunities for image building, celebrating the past and promoting the future. Wise indeed is the celebrant who takes full advantage of such promotional potential. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pony Club polo, the UK’s universally admired youth programme supported by the Pony Club and the HPA [see the July issue of Polo Times to find out where it all began]. Over much of the past halfcentury, virtually all of England’s leading players have had their grounding in the sport through Pony Club polo. It has provided early training for the country’s top-ranked professionals, from the Hipwoods to the Tomlinsons. Officials hope that as many of these leading PCP “alumni” as possible will be at this month’s championships at Hurtwood Park and Cowdray Park polo clubs to help celebrate the half-century and inspire the younger generation competing there.
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Comment Interview
Pro umpire Jason Dixon tells Herbert Spencer why he thinks polo as a sport needs to think hard about professional umpiring at the top end ason Dixon, 40, is only one of the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA)’s dozen or so professional umpires, but he is perhaps more outspoken than some on how officiating at high-goal games could be improved. He doesn’t claim to speak for all his colleagues (there is no formal pro umpires’ association), but thinks that the others share most of his views. A professional polo player for 18 years, Jason held a six-goal handicap for seven of them. He competed at high-goal level for various teams including Black Bears, Lovelocks and Los Locos, winning the Queen’s Cup, the Warwickshire Cup twice, and the Cowdray Park Challenge Cup. In medium-goal, he played for England in three World Cups of the Federation of International Polo (FIP), winning silver in Berlin and bronze in Chile and the US. He also played at various levels in Argentina, the US, Australia, India, and Pakistan. Three years ago Jason decided to retire from playing professionally to devote himself to professional umpiring and coaching, the latter mainly in youth programmes. “At age 37,” he says, “my body was pretty beaten up. I had a bad right shoulder, two fractured elbows that can’t be put right, a weak left leg and a pelvis problem. Surgery might have solved some problems, but with no guarantees. “Beyond the physical problems, however, I felt that by turning to umpiring I could make a real contribution to the sport that had given me so much as a player. Fortunately, I’m able to work in my father’s small house renovation firm in Wales to help make up for the income I lost when I retired as a player.” In 2007, Jason was at the centre of the most atrocious umpire abuse scandal anyone could remember. During the Gold Cup tournament, after Jason blew a foul on Azzurra, the team’s patron, Italian banker Stefano Marsaglia, spat in his face, threatened to break his legs and had to be restrained. Although the HPA disciplined Marsaglia, fining him £30,000 and banning him from playing for 15 months, it then suspended the ban to allow him to compete in the following year’s Queen’s
Photograph by Tom Reynolds
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and Gold Cups. The professional umpires felt badly let down by the decision. “I went on to umpire in the semis and final of the Gold Cup,” recalls Jason, “but then I wondered: what if a similar incident happened and I lost my cool and fought back? It would have clearly been bad for me and bad for the sport. So I decided to withdraw from umpiring for a season.” Now Jason is back in his black and white shirt, more determined than ever to improve as an umpire: “In an ideal world,” he says, “professional umpires should not be involved financially with other aspects of the sport where such involvements might in any way influence their decisions. Is it really the best system that
‘We all make mistakes, but I’d like the chance to review every game I umpire. Teams see the videos straight away, so why not the umpires as well?’ – Jason Dixon pro umpires are playing professionally or selling ponies to earn a living? That’s not to say that umpires cannot manage to be impartial if this is the case, but there could be obvious conflicts of interest if they are blowing the whistle against teams or players with whom they might be doing business elsewhere.” The only way the sport could attract umpires without such potential conflicts of interest, Jason admits, is for the HPA to restructure its programme somehow to guarantee a reasonable and stable level of income to individuals who give up their other polo activities to devote themselves to umpiring. “This would obviously take more funding,” Jason says, “but is polo – the association, the clubs, the teams – ready to spend the money for this?” It remains to be seen but, in the meantime, says Jason, there are other ways that the HPA could help its umpires to improve.
“I for one would like to see the video of every game I umpire,” he says, “the same evening or at least the next day. We all make mistakes and are keen to spot them, which we can only do by reviewing our games. Teams see the videos straight away, so why not the umpires as well?” This season the HPA has hired former ninegoaler and England captain Howard Hipwood as an independent assessor of the pro umpires’ performance. “He writes a full assessment on every game he attends,” says Jason, “and I believe these should be used as a tool for umpires to identify their strengths and weaknesses and so improve. “I think all the pro umpires should be able to read them in full, as soon after each match as possible, however adversely critical he might be. I’m prepared to take it on the chin if I’ve done badly.” Jason thinks there has been an increasing tendency to take the spectators into consideration, aiming for a more flowing game with fewer stoppages. “We’re sometimes criticised for calling too many fouls and not letting the game flow,” he says. “But how do you make a choice? Rules are rules and a foul is a foul.” However well the pro umpires may perform, Jason believes that ultimately it is the players’ approach to the sport that will determine how safely and fairly it is played. “You really can’t compare polo with any other team sport,” he says. “In others it’s man on man; in polo there’s a 1,000-pound pony travelling at speed in the equation. Players have been badly injured and killed, so the safety of both man and horse is paramount. “The pressure to win is such today that the manufactured foul, especially by professional players, is considered just another tactic. This can sometimes create dangers and risks. I don’t know if we’ll ever change this attitude, but at least we can seek to control it by good umpiring and hope that we umpires will gain the respect of the players in the process.” F ◗ Do you agree with Jason? How do you think the umpiring system could be improved? How did you rate the umpiring at top level this year? Tell us what you think – letters@polotimes.co.uk
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Jason Dixon, pictured, believes professional umpires need a guaranteed income – so that they don’t have to pursue other polo activities that might hinder their impartiality
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PTAugust 2009 p16-17 Umpire YC JM MB
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Comment Umpire’s corner With Arthur Douglas-Nugent, deputy chief umpire for the HPA
It’s not just the winning, it’s how you play the game here has been a discussion recently on rough play, both with the stick and pony, which is causing injury and inhibiting the skills of the most talented players; at least that seems to be the idea. I detect, in part, the malign influence of the team coach who instructs his lower goal players to go after the stars in the other team and try to neutralise them. Certainly, in my day the junior player in the team (normally designated by rank) was instructed to take the big star into the car park and remain with him there for the rest of the match. Not much fun but, of course, never achieved in practice. There is, however, a modern equivalent creeping in that is particularly prevalent at set-piece plays before the ball is thrown in or hit. This involves riding into or blocking a player so that he is, for a time anyway, taken out of the game: it is very irritating and damaging to that player, causing frustration and often leading to verbal abuse or violence. One proposal that has growing support is to limit any contact until the umpire has called “Play”, as we now do at the throw in. Another idea, which will be harder to police, is no contact when a player is stationary. Polo is a contact sport and we must be careful not to emasculate the play too much but it must remain fair and as safe as is humanly possible.
substitution. A certain young English player with all the right credentials was included as an emergency substitute (on the last occasion pre-arranged) in three different teams in the same tournament – and had been earmarked for a fourth! The rules, as we read them, did not specifically forbid the practice, as long
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One patron was incensed when an opponent called “Leave it”, which he did, giving the other player a shot at goal. This is certainly not in the spirit of the game
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DIVISIVE AND DISREPUTABLE On the subject of fairness, a patron was recently incensed when an opponent shouted “Leave it”, which he did, giving the other player a clear shot at goal. There is no rule against such a ploy but it is certainly not within the spirit of the game. Following on from this theme, we were recently poring over the rules of
they must be seen to be impartial. In practice, as I well remember, the responsibility usually devolves to the polo manager, who only calls in the committee in a crisis. But it is, of course, at this time that impartial judgement is likely to be required. Should a decision be needed
as the substitution took place during the game, but clearly it was against the spirit. We therefore advised the tournament committee that a fourth substitution would bring the game into disrepute and therefore should not be allowed. Watch out for a tightening up of this rule next year. PARENTING POLO FAIRLY This incident also highlighted the role of tournament committees. The rules give them paramount power over their own tournament, so they can do pretty well what they like, but to exercise this power
FOUL FOR THOUGHT Last month’s conundrum Can you umpire on a pony that is blind in one eye? When posed this question, I didn’t have a clue – so, off to the Blue Book. The rule states that “a pony may not be played…if blind in an eye”. Whether intentionally or not, when referring to prohibited tack, the rules use the wording “not allowed to be used”. I therefore conclude that a pony blind in an eye may be used to umpire, though the rider should be warned. It is a useful way to employ a pony which otherwise might have to be pensioned off completely. This month’s puzzle You award a penalty 5B (hit from the centre). A member of the team facing advances to within 20 yards as the penalty is taken. What do you do as the parallel umpire?
during play, it is helpful if there are those on hand who can make this judgement. IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT It was with a touch of Schadenfreude that I read of the woes of rugby adjudication in an article entitled “Referees wrestle with faulty laws”. The writer argued that the so-called visionaries behind the experimental law variations (ELVs) employed in the Guinness Premiership and internationally last season would have been better employed spending the considerable time and expense they wasted on a proper and effective review of the rules of play. Are we guilty of a similar charge? Well, we may soon find out. We are due shortly to meet with the Argentine Rules Committee, a body that has yet to tinker with the rules at all, leaving them unchanged since polo’s first arrival on the continent. There is no doubt that our practice of issuing the Blue Book and inter alia the rules every year contributes to our tinkering practice but, apart from a major rule change, we are also able to improve clarity and precision as the years go by, and who is to say that is a bad thing. F
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www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 17
PTAugust 2009 p18-19 Horswell JM YC MB
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Players’ forum Comment With John Horswell, the outspoken sultan of swing
The season ain’t over yet, but is the cup half full or half empty?
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Above: La Bamba de Areco won the Gold Cup with two 10-goal players. But a two-goal handicap rise for Tomas Garbarini (right) will send him elsewhere next season
Sumaya also climbs, with Hilario Ulloa and Ignatius du Plessis each going up a goal, and rumour has it there will be two changes there as well. All in all, it seems it was a wise sage who declared that you should always start by building a high-goal team around a 10goal player, because he cannot go up. This advice now looks doubly valid as far as La Bamba de Areco is concerned. If Decaux can keep the Pieres brothers together, it seems they will just be looking for a new fetch-and-carry boy! A GAME OF TWO HALVES With the exception of Sumaya, who have consistently been there or thereabouts in both the main 22-goal tournaments over
So, I ask myself, is the glass half full or half empty? On balance, it’s probably half empty – the better grounds and fitter ponies still allow the top players to rise to the top. I have no opinion on the walkingtap rule, as it seems to me that the best players will find a way round whatever regulations we attempt to impose on them. As such, purists will say that the Gold Cup final was not a classic. And some regulations, it might be argued, are proving damaging at the lower levels of the game, where there is increasingly a more physical style of play in which the players are learning to play the rules rather than trying to hone their skills, which I touched on last month. LOOKING AHEAD So, the high-goal is over and the holiday season is upon us. However, a peculiar thing is happening: as I pen this just before the Cartier International at the weekend, I realise that for the first time in several years we have a clash that is eagerly awaited. And the season still doesn’t even end there either – La Dolfina and Ellerstina are scheduled to play each other live on Eurosport, eight teams have
‘It was a wise sage who said build a team around a 10-goaler, because his handicap can’t go up the past two seasons, 2009 was definitely a season of two halves and, as such, has been a real mixed bag for the regulators. The Queen’s Cup was pleasingly won by a four-man outfit, as the no-tapping rules seemed to reap rewards for spectators, but we relapsed in the Gold Cup, where the traditional powerhouse teams came back to the fore and the tournament was eventually won by a team with two 10goal players in the middle.
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t’s silly season in both the football and polo worlds again at the moment. Just as Manchester City and Real Madrid continue to fuel massive speculation about possible player transfers and the astronomic wages on offer in the football close-season, so too is polo’s rumour mill in full flow as the possible teams for the 22goal next year are being formed. As soon as the high-goal handicap changes were revealed mid-week ahead of the Cartier, a frenzy of mobile phone calls erupted in the Cowdray and Windsor areas as shock waves reverberated around the high-goal polo world – every player in this year’s high-goal or with a four-goal handicap or better is interested. The team managers may well have seen the agreed plan fall apart due to some foible of the committee but plans B and/or C are hastily activated and, throughout the following days, deals are done and contracts agreed. By the time Polo Times lands on your respective desks or occasional tables with its now increasingly substantial thump, the teams for next year will all be done with all but a few minor exceptions. The two Gold Cup final teams have each gone up by two goals. However, the difference is that, for La Bamba, the rise is for their most dispensible player, Tomas Garbarini (who goes from 1 to 3), whereas Dubai’s handicap changes affect two prominent professionals, Christian Laprida (who goes from 7 to 8) and Martin Valent (who goes from 4 to 5). This disruption will mean Dubai will almost certainly have to think again completely for next year. They fell at the last hurdle again and will surely need a win soon. Three of the Apes Hill line-up has risen (Mark Tomlinson, Juan Gris Zavaleta and Charlie Hanbury all go up by a goal to 7, 7 and 4 respectively), so Sir Charles Williams will be forced to make some major decisions on whether to continue to support them and, if so, which players he bases his 2010 team around.
entered the relaunched 20-goal Warwickshire Cup, and we will even watch with interest to see how the 10- and 12goal festival that September seems to have become pans out in this difficult year. Let us see how much longer we can keep this terrific level of activity going. I hope it rolls right through to next year but my gut feeling is that a long winter lies ahead and that we may still need to replenish in the years ahead. F
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20 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
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Your views Comment
Letter of the month Aldershot 1958-69 – a golden decade
Letters letters@polotimes.co.uk Experience wins over relative youth Is this Edinburgh polo team (pictured below) the oldest team in Britain? Their combined ages total 256 (and therefore average 64), and their true veteran is the Earl of Morton, aged 82. They are being worshipped in the photograph by the vanquished Border Reivers Polo Team, who are mere whippersnappers at a combined age of 216 (with an average age of just 54).
Will Ramsay Berwickshire With David, there was no dull moment I am one of the many people the late David Heaton-Ellis introduced to polo and I count myself fortunate to have had him field my first call to Heathfield several years ago. He didn’t let my lack of equestrian background (or indeed riding talent) get in the way of his enthusiasm to welcome me into the fold. Within weeks I had been entered (most unadvisedly, as my team mates discovered) into my first tournament at Kirtlington. I can recommend the fields beyond the goal for extra runoff area when required! I soon found myself on a plane to Argentina – testimony again to David’s powers of persuasion. With little idea of what awaited me I was whisked off for a tremendous experience with David’s “Argentine connections” on a trip I’ll never forget.
Yolanda Carslaw’s Pony Club article (July issue) evoked happy memories of 1959; I was there – as an aficionado. Those Pony Club Inter-Branch Polo Championships were last played at Aldershot in 1963. Then there were eight teams in the senior tournament and four in the junior tournament (Howard Hipwood played in both); other players that year included Julian Hipwood, Lavinia Roberts, her sister Beverley, and Sandy Harper. Aldershot Polo Club had been restarted in 1958 (my mother was thrilled, she’d watched polo there half-a-century earlier); its stated aim “to encourage young beginners, particularly officer cadets and members of the Pony Club” using the pre-war ground at Queen’s Parade – only 500 yards from where I lived. The first post-war tournament was held in 1961, the last in 1965; the Cups Programmes from the last decade of played for were the Ewshott, Maidensgrove, Ranelagh and Somaliland. Sadly, the Aldershot Polo Club Club vanished from the Blue Book in 1969. These were a few short years, but glamorous ones, usually ending with a ball at Government House (at one of which the Camp Commandant’s daughter held a sword to my stomach!). So much depended on the goodwill of the GOC; in my view the best was Major-General O’Connor and his indefatigable ADC Paddy Burke (who later taught polo at Millfield), with John Peile heading up the Mons Officer Cadet School workforce. Many others helped run the club and deserve due praise for promoting soldier polo – where are they now? I cut my commentating teeth at Aldershot (thanks to Major van Limburg Stirum) and was there the day the young Eduardo Moore didn’t realise that umpire John Benitz spoke fluent Spanish. Visiting players included Harold Bamberg, “Beechy” Blackett (one of my later mentors), Lord Patrick Beresford, Alan Boyd-Gibbins, Lord Brecknock, Archie David, Jimmy Edwards, the Maharaja of Jaipur, Arthur Lucas, Martin Trotter, the Hon Mark Vestey and Billy Walsh.
Roy Law Middlesex
The writer of the letter of the month wins a bottle of La Chamiza Argentine red wine As David and I met again from time to time I came to understand that he did have a plan – he just didn’t always say what it was! I wonder now looking back if it was this delightful cunning that once found me mowing the grass at Ansty, paying for our lunch and for my polo – and left me smiling at the end. I’m genuinely sorry I saw so much less of David in later years. Through him I met many wonderful people whom I now call friends. He allowed me to introduce my friends and colleagues to polo in
The winning Edinburgh team, whose ages add up to an impressive 256 (l-r): Colin Mitchell, Jamie Douglas, the Earl of Morton and James Manclark
the same friendly and encouraging manner. I know of at least one aspiring professional player today who was inspired by those Friday afternoons at Heathfield. My polo grows more infrequent and my ability is still questionable but
I will be forever grateful for David’s friendship in my introduction to polo and its people. Cheers boy! You will be missed.
Nick Gauntlett Hampshire
Monsieur Decaux leaps for joy at Cowdray
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All photographs by Tony Ramirez and www.polophoto.co.uk
Report Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup
La Bamba de Areco lift the Gold Cup. Left to right: 21-year-old Tomas Garbarini Islas, 10-goal brothers Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres and patron Jean-François Decaux
La Bamba fight to The Pieres brothers make it three Opens in three countries by beating Dubai in a final that delivered drama after a shaky start, says Yolanda Carslaw eary sighs echoed round the stands as players rode off the field after the second chukka on European polo's biggest day last month. Three 10-goalers – arguably the world's best three – were taking part; some of the best polo ponies on the planet were on parade; the crowd – eager, knowledgeable and excited – was poised for the big match on Lawns II at Cowdray. But where was the action? So far, there had been only scrabbling, muddling and mess. And five dull goals, all from penalties. Oh, and a pony fall on the slippy ground. Would there be any polo? Chukka three: Adolfo Cambiaso, who in the semi-final three days before had performed like a
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genius, put a 40-yarder wide. Then there was a gleam of hope. As the Dubai captain was cantering along at the back, his arm aloft for the benefit of umpires Peter Wright and Julian Appleby, his team-mate Cristian Laprida bombed off unmarked towards goal. This was the turning point in the final of the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, which developed – thank goodness – into an exhilarating showdown that gave Jean-François Decaux's La Bamba de Areco, with Gonzalito and Facundo Pieres, plus Tomas Garbarini Islas, their first British Open title. The win continues the Pieres brothers' run of high-profile victories – they won the Argentine Open last winter and the US Open this spring. “Magoo” Laprida's goal, which put Dubai
ahead 5-2, seemed to spur everybody into action. Facundo and Gonzalito surged off with an attack from the next throw-in, whereupon Cambiaso pounced, pulled off that rare and wondrous move, the hook and the shot, and hurried the ball to goal – with a few high-speed twists and turns on the way. Then – miracle of miracles – someone did a backhand and the crowd knew they had a match on their hands. Clouds had been frowning down on picnickers all day, and as play picked up so did the wind, bringing in the rain at last. But the fact that the goalpost flags were blowing horizontal didn't stop Facundo whacking in a 60-yarder, soaring and straight. His equaliser that followed, a perfect approach followed by a
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Action in the final as Martin Valent (centre, light blue hat) reaches for the ball and Gonzalito (in red, white hat) comes in for the hook. Facundo (black hat) is behind
first Cowdray title neat volley, signalled that the action was truly hotting up, and moments before half-time an inspired pass by Gonzalito was finished off in a joint effort by Decaux and La Bamba's back Garbarini Islas, a talented 21-year-old who was once due to play for Ellerston. “Our best chukka was the third,” said Gonzalito afterwards. Among those in the La Bamba pony lines were coach Rodrigo Rueda and fitness guru Pablo Erbin. When they were struggling, Rueda reminded them to play open polo. “Early on Dubai were beating us in the midfield and we needed to open up the game,” said Facundo. Also at the team tent were Piereses galore – the boys' parents Gonzalo and Cecilia, their younger sister Cecilia and their brother Nico. Cecilia senior refused to watch, but was getting updates from her position behind the team tent. “When I saw how Cambiaso played in the semi-final I knew we needed to pray,” she said.
“But then during the game someone told me our boys were playing unbelievable polo.” Unbelievable indeed – and once play opened up the title started to look within La Bamba's reach. In the fourth chukka, however, Dubai went two goals up again after Cambiaso hit in a 60
would send the ball sailing to a space brother number two was making for, and brother two would hit it between the posts. The goal of the match – one of three wonderful Pieres field goals in a row – was scored in just this way in the fifth chukka:
‘Bryan Morrison once told me at the Berkshire: “One day you will win the Gold Cup!”’ – Jean-François Decaux from a walk and Martin Valent – who is also the team's manager – finished off a field goal from the doorstep after a sensational approach shot from Cambiaso. Sterling work by Rashid Albwardy, only 16 and the younger son of Dubai team owner Ali, also helped Dubai's effort. But the Piereses' telepathy, as well as the cutup ground, which does Cambiaso's dribbling style no favours, were wearing Dubai down. Again and again, to the crowd’s delight, brother number one
Facundo sent a pass Gonzalito's way; he picked it up, then, under pressure from an opponent, stroked in a high-speed nearside under-the-neck shot at exactly the required angle. A bad bump on Cambiaso just after these goals prompted a quick on-field check-up from the doctor, but the resulting 30-yarder was soon cancelled out by a 30 for La Bamba, putting them ahead 11-10. Things looked increasingly grim for Dubai as X their captain missed three 60s, and with three
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30s, quarters and corkers ◗ THE CASUAL NEW style of taking 30-yarders, prompted by the new rule preventing a defender riding out, has led to a few unhappy blunders by top players. The usual approach now is to walk up and make a minimum-effort straight-arm swing, sending the ball rolling feebly towards goal and over the line – sometimes only just. Marcos Heguy provided a prime example of the cost of casualness in Azzurra's quarter-final when he sauntered up and mis-hit, sending the ball completely wide, at a snail’s pace. It woke him up though – he was soon scoring from all over the place. ◗ ONE OF THE BEST games of the tournament was the quarter-final between Sumaya and Talandracas at Trippetts – a repeat of one of the last league games, which had been played at half-throttle. Not so the quarter-final. Talandracas featured Lucas Monteverde, Alejandro Agote and Guillermo Terrera, who combined well with Nick Johnson, nephew of Gold Cup-winning patron Brook Johnson, who was drafted in at the start of the tournament after patron Edouard Carmignac was hit on the elbow in a practice. Talandracas led until the fifth chukka, and in a speedy sixth Sumaya put in the winner with a minute to go. Tonno Itturate, Sumaya's manager, said: “We knew it was going to be tough against four players with no patron, and we studied videos of their games for two days.” ◗ ANOTHER CORKER of a quarter-final was the Piereses vs the Heguys when Gonzalito and Facundo of La Bamba squared up to Bautista and Marcos of Azzurra. After early scrabbles, all four brothers came alive and George Meyrick – one of just three Brits to reach the quarter-finals – was on top form too. It was 8-8 going into the sixth when inspired runs by Facundo and Gonzalito put La Bamba three up. A Bautista goal with a minute to go was too little too late. ◗ THE ROR AWARDS for best retrained racehorse at the semi-finals went to Adolfo Cambiaso's Falta Envido, a mare he has had for some years that raced in Argentina, and Cuvee, a South African Thoroughbred owned by Nachi du Plessis. ◗ COWDRAY VIKINGS, featuring Lila Pearson, Ruki Baillieu, John Paul Clarkin and Gaston Laulhe, pulled off a subsidiary final win for the Ashton Silver Cup after coming together purely for the tournament. They improved with each game, and their turning point was beating Talandracas in a brilliant league match at the River Ground. Clarkin was on top form, and commentator Terry Hanlon said afterwards: “Clarkin is such a good horseman that his skills should be filmed – to teach people to ride.”
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Clockwise from top: Adolfo Cambiaso, who showed flashes of class in the final, with Tomas Garbarini in pursuit; Cecilia Pieres; Ali Albwardy (left) and Eduardo Heguy; Sumaya’s Oussama Aboughazale (left) and Gonzalo Pieres
X minutes to go in the sixth chukka, another
astonishing long-distance field goal by Gonzalito extended La Bamba's lead. One further phenomenal goal by Gonzalito, who picked up a pass from Facundo's defensive nearside backhand pass, sealed La Bamba's victory. As the final bell rang, the scoreboard read 13-10, the crowd cheered heartily and Decaux flung himself from his pony – hurling his hat and stick in the air, lying flat out for a few seconds then making an energetic attempt to vault onto Facundo's pony. The brothers – in the final together for the third time – hugged all the
way back to the pony lines. Their father, a Gold Cup winner himself and ever the gentleman, made his way to the Dubai corner, consoling team owner Ali Albwardy – whose side last won in 2005 – with a hug. And there was more for the family to celebrate. Gonzalito was named most valuable player, while his black mare Shannon, an Irish Thoroughbred, won best playing pony. The Pieres family bought her, along with the other UKbased Ellerston ponies, from Jamie Packer when he bowed out of UK high-goal last winter. The eight-year-old – a rare ex-racehorse among the
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The 15,000 spectators watched replays on MIG’s giant screen. Right: joy for Gonzalo Pieres and his sons. “Gonzo” himself last won the Gold Cup in 1998, with Ellerston
largely embryo transfer-bred Packer string – had come to Ellerston last year from José Donoso. Gonzalito, who also features on page 82, told Polo Times: “I couldn't be more happy. It's been my dream to win the Gold Cup ever since watching my father win it. We had a tough run to the final and nobody expected us to win.” Though La Bamba de Areco is a new line-up this year, Decaux, a UK-based Frenchman, has been a regular in UK high-goal for some years.
‘When I saw how well Cambiaso played in the semi-finals, I knew we would have to pray for our boys’ – Cecilia Pieres From 1996 to 1998 he played with Sebastian Merlos under the name Buffalos, then after a break to concentrate on his business, he returned as Brittany Polo Club in 2004, with Miguel Novillo Astrada as his regular pro. “When we lost the semi-finals against Loro Piana last year I quit – I thought we didn't have the organisation to win [the UK 22-goal],” said Decaux, CEO of JC Decaux, one of the world’s leading outdoor advertising companies. “Then in February I was at La Bamba de Areco [Decaux’s historic Argentine estancia, which is due to open as an upmarket guest ranch in November] and I heard that the Pieres brothers were available. We contacted them and agreed a deal.”
The team has been stabled at RCBPC, where Decaux started out in polo. “I have special thoughts for Bryan Morrison today,” says Decaux. “At the clubhouse there once he told me: 'One day you will win the Gold Cup!'” Both Gonzalito and Facundo praised the organisation. “I miss Stedham and Ellerston a lot, but can only say good things about La Bamba de Areco,” said Gonzalito. “We're treated really well.” Facundo added: “We've made a really nice group of friends this summer and have a good relationship within the team.” hile the final provided a happy ending for La Bamba, there was disappointment at the semi-finals for Sumaya, a team unbeaten in the league stages and tipped by many to win the final. Before Sumaya's encounter with La Bamba, Dubai beat Les Lions II 16-9 in the midday match, with Cambiaso and his team-mates running rings around Sebastian and Agustín Merlos. Les Lions II, a new line-up this year, had a more testing route to the semis than Dubai. "We were so happy to get this far and we lost to a great team,” said Agustín Merlos. “Cambiaso's system on the field was perfect and he played the right game against us. But in the last 10 days we've had three 'finals', and our horses were super-tired.” Modest as ever, Cambiaso said: “The team played so well and to tell the truth I'm very well mounted. Good horses make a big difference.” Then La Bamba de Areco took on Sumaya. Though the game wasn't as open as expected,
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Gold Cup, 23 June to 19 July; Cowdray Park Polo Club, West Sussex Result: La Bamba de Areco beat Dubai 13-10 Principal sponsor: Veuve Clicquot Handicap level: 20-22 goal Number of team entries: 17 Chukka scores (La Bamba de Areco): 0-2; 2-3; 6-5; 7-9; 11-10; 13-10 Most valuable player: Gonzalito Pieres Best playing pony: Shannon, owned by the Pieres family, played by Gonzalito Pieres Final teams: La Bamba de Areco (21): Jean-François Decaux 0; Gonzalito Pieres 10; Facundo Pieres 10; Tomas Garbarini Islas 1 Dubai (21): Rashid Albwardy 0; Martin Valent 4; Cristian Laprida 7; Adolfo Cambiaso 10 Losing semi-finalists: Sumaya (22): Ahmad Aboughazale 1; Hilario Ulloa 7; Milo Fernandez Araujo 8; Ignatius du Plessis 6 Les Lions II (22): Chris McKenzie 2; Agustin Merlos 9; Sebastian Merlos 10; Max Gottschalk 1
there were periods of brilliance, chiefly by Sumaya, who combined especially well in the third chukka, their positioning and interplay outstanding. By half-time they were 7-4 up. Then, in the sixth chukka, the score 10-8 to Sumaya, their experienced lynchpin Milo Fernandez Araujo made a play that would cost them the match – and one of his ponies. Galloping to goal in attack, he hit an approach shot, leaving himself an under-the-neck shot to finish off the play and score. But Facundo Pieres, X
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Report Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup
Parties, chitchat and 1969 ◗ ENIGMA, WITH Jerome Wirth, James Beim, Malcolm Borwick and Matias MacDonough, started well but lost out on goal difference after being beaten by eventual semi-finalists Les Lions II in their last league match. However, “Frenchie” Wirth and Borwick cheered everyone up by throwing a brilliant fancy dress party at Todham, their Cowdray base, which has had a major revamp since Borwick took over the lease last year. Sterling effort went into outfits: turn to page 70 to see players as you've never seen them before… ◗ TERRY HANLON WAS joined on air at the semi-finals and finals by ex-high-goalers Julian Hipwood and Alan Kent plus Guards man Greg Keating. It's the first time the Voice of Polo has shared the commentary and the arrangement, with Terry following play and the others chatting between chukkas, was only a limited success. While Hipwood and Kent provided good insight in their chukka summaries, the presence of three contrasting new voices – two of which were not always audible – made tuning in to their conversations a challenge. And while it's a good move to draw more attention to ponies, as the trio did, it would seem more relevant to talk about those due to appear – as happens in basic form at the Argentine Open – than to discuss those that have just headed backstage. ◗ REVELLERS AFTER the final partied into the night in a giant striped marquee (entry £25) at the ground, while some headed to La Bamba's base at RCBPC. Exactly 40 years ago, though, post-match party-goers were enjoying one of history's milestones – in Lord Cowdray's sitting room. Scores of club and visiting players crowded around the 3rd Viscount's television set to watch the first moon landing during his traditional post-Gold Cup bash hours after Windsor Park had beaten Pimm's. ◗ THE TOP EIGHT contenders after 34 league matches were Dubai and Sumaya – the only unbeaten teams – plus La Bamba de Areco, Les Lions II, Loro Piana, Azzurra, Talandracas and Lechuza Caracas, each of which won either three or two out of four league matches, with goal difference crucial. Results towards the end of the league stages were tight, with five games in a row decided by a goal. ◗ THE NUMBER one ground at George Milford Haven’s Trippetts Farm (see Polo Times, July) has replaced the ex-Packer set-up at Stedham as Cowdray's best “extra” Gold Cup ground. With its grassy bank making a superb natural grandstand, a great playing surface and a gorgeous woodland backdrop, it has become a favourite. And the Broncos patron seems as keen as the Packers on throwing parties, too.
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Above: the teams La Bamba had to beat. Hilario Ulloa of Sumaya (top, in white) takes the ball forward in the semi-finals, and Marcos Heguy of Azzurra (in turquoise) did his best but couldn’t beat the Piereses
X seeing an opportunity to accelerate on to the line
in front of him, grabbed the chance – legally, the umpires deemed afterwards. As Facundo made an offside backhand to clear, Milo, thinking he had been crossed, rode into Facundo's shot and his pony came crashing down. Milo was flat out on the ground for five minutes – with Facundo anxiously by his side – and sadly his pony, which had a broken leg, could not be saved. Milo hurt his hip in the fall, but after hobbling gingerly back to the pony lines he mounted up again, hoping to continue. However, the eight-goaler was in too much pain, and seven-goal substitute Lucas James stepped in. Play restarted with a spot hit in favour of La Bamba, who went on to dominate the chukka. They scored from a 30-yarder and with minutes to go Facundo Pieres put in a superb equaliser.
Without their captain, Sumaya were at sea. Another field goal put La Bamba ahead – their first lead of the match. Though Sumaya looked as though they might produce an equaliser in the last minute, La Bamba held on to win. Gonzalito Pieres said afterwards: “We started nervously and our plan to dominate them oneon-one didn’t work at all. They were playing and defending much better so we were forced to change our tactics. We realised we couldn’t run the ball, and instead Facundo and I decided to stick close together and play it. But even then we were constantly playing catch-up. Then Araujo was injured, which was really disappointing, but it proved lucky for us.” Sumaya, one of the most popular teams, was out – but perhaps it was consolation that the team they lost to went on to take the title. F
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Report England vs Australasia Test Match and Ladies vs Young England
England’s James Beim (in white and red; grey hat) takes the ball on the near side as the Australians close in. Ruki Baillieu is racing up from behind on the left (in yellow)
Two games of two halves England’s finest, older and younger, lose by a whisker to foreigners and females in two enthralling games at Beaufort Polo Club, reports James Mullan or England’s male polo players, 20 June was a painful day. First, the Test Match side threw away a game they should have won against Australasia, and then England’s ladies taught a painful lesson to some of the best of the country’s emerging male talents – scoring when it counted to pinch victory and send Young England home dejected. England’s first Test Match opponents of the season, Australasia – featuring a Kiwi and three Aussies – produced a brilliant second-half display to frustrate Team England and overturn the oneand-a-half-goal advantage the hosts received on handicap to win in dramatic fashion.
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It was one of the most unusual internationals in recent memory. Almost half of the whole five chukkas’ worth of goals came in a frenetic and extraordinary opening six minutes. James Beim looked to have produced another in the seventh, but his wonderful run and score from the 30-yard line was chalked off because of problems with the bell signalling the end of the chukka. However, despite the thrill-a-minute feast of goals in the opening period, it was in the superb second chukka that the sheer quality of the encounter was there to be seen. The exhilaration of such an open and flowing contest, with both sides looking to play quick, team polo created a buoyant mood amongst the 1,200-strong crowd
and even encouraged the sun back out from behind a cloud. There was little sign of plans to slow the ball down and play a “clever” short game. Rather, the two sides both demonstrated clear tactics to open their shoulders and let the ball do the work. A splendid end-to-end encounter was the result, for the first three chukkas at least, with both teams scoring five goals apiece – including some excellent long-range efforts from each side’s respective talisman, Luke Tomlinson and John Paul Clarkin. This meant England, in their first game under the stewardship of stand-in coach Milo Fernandez Araujo, took a healthy oneand-a-half-goal lead into the final two chukkas.
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Araujo was drafted in due to the absence of regular coach Javier Novillo Astrada, who is not in the UK this summer due to illness. However, the hosts didn’t score once after half-time, as the Australasians successfully changed their tactics to shut the English goalscoring threat down and give themselves a firmer platform on which to counter-attack. “I played a slightly more disciplined game at back in the second half,” explained Australasian captain Glen Gilmore afterwards. “This allowed us to slow up their game better than we had done in the first three chukkas. “We then counter-attacked effectively on some good horses and, combined with umpiring decisions we were more happy with, the last couple of chukkas went really well for us.” England’s James Beim accepts a similar assessment. “We should have won the game but we were a little out-horsed towards the end, which allowed them to take control,” he said. “Perhaps we should have played it a bit more in the second half. It was very disappointing.” The visitors frustrated England effectively after the break and the ball became clogged largely in the middle of the ground as the players bunched up around it. Mark Tomlinson, despite plenty of industrious movement, was quieter with the ball than usual, which also encouraged Beim to drop deep. After half-time Mark and Malcolm were outshone in midfield, where Australasia’s Baillieu and Clarkin were dominant in possession.
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When, where and how? ◗ The Beaufort Test Match has been going for five years. England has won twice, and their opponents have been Argentina (twice running), New Zealand (twice running) and Australasia.
◗ It was the third consecutive year that James Beim, Luke Tomlinson and Malcolm Borwick and New Zealand’s John Paul Clarkin all played. This was Clarkin’s first victory.
◗ There were reportedly 19 re-trained thoroughbreds taking part in the Test Match, played mainly by the Australasians – see also Pony power, page 56.
While Borwick deservedly picked up the most valuable player award, it remains to be seen if the number three position is his natural role for his country. He defended expertly, using his trademark backhand to good effect, and scored, too – but, in terms of his role as playmaker, he failed to control possession and dictate his side’s attacking channels as effectively as Australasia’s John Paul Clarkin. And this might just have been the difference between the sides. For, just as the same England players on their last outing in the Four Nations Cup in Argentina missed out on a place in the final to a late comeback from Brazil, there was once again a nasty last-chukka sting on the familiar territory of the Beaufort’s beautiful number one ground. Goals from Gilmore and Baillieu, in the fifth and sixth chukkas, gave Australasia a half-goal win.
The effect of pony power in determining all these contests should not be underestimated. As Beim conceded, England at times looked underhorsed at the Beaufort, whereas Australasia produced some lovely looking ponies, on which they provided a terrific display of horsemanship. Indeed, amid such quality polo and a clear commitment to each play from both sides, it was only questions about the horses that slightly marred some people’s enjoyment of the contest. Lingering in the background was the suggestion that some of the England quartet’s best ponies had been rested ahead of the Gold Cup. Even to the casual observer, it looked as though it had been arranged that there would be a moment in each chukka when all eight players would be allowed the opportunity to change ponies without fear of missing any of the play. Such a practice would be peculiar for what is supposed to be an international Test Match, rather like taking the pit stops out of a grand prix or enforcing when basketball teams must call for their “time outs”. These things might not be a part of the action itself in the traditional sense, but the tactics involved are all a feature of such sporting contests. If these decisions are made for the coaches and players, or made in advance in agreement with each other, it nullifies their effect. That would be a shame. However, despite these questions and England’s narrow late defeat, the spectators retired from the grandstands for tea and scones X
Australasia, the winners, from left: Glen Gilmore, Ruki Baillieu, Rob Archibald and John Paul Clarkin. Their prizes were provided by the club www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 29
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Report England vs Australasia Test Match and Ladies vs Young England Clockwise from left: the triumphant England ladies’ side (l-r: Tamara Vestey, Nina Clarkin, Emma Tomlinson and Rosie Ross); Ruki Baillieu with Margella, groom Oscar and Piers Plunket of polo insurers Lycetts; John Paul Clarkin (in yellow) and Mark Tomlinson check up; Eden Ormerod (in blue) and Rosie Ross challenge for the line of the ball
X knowing they had witnessed some of the finest
polo in Europe. And, for those not distracted by the 68 trade stands as part of the weekend-long Calcot Manor Country Fair, the crowd’s enjoyment of the first game brought healthy numbers out for the battle of the sexes that followed. ngland’s strongest ladies’ side took on a 10-goal Young England team comprising Ben Malasomma, Nick Pepper, Ollie Cudmore and Eden Ormerod. The pace and quality of stickwork might have been less impressive than in the earlier game, but supporters quickly realised this match would be no less competitive. The girls received half-a-goal on handicap and had some strong support but in early chukkas it was the boys who produced the better display, taking a 4-21/2 lead into half-time thanks to two goals from their small yet powerful number one Malasomma, a 60-yard penalty from Cudmore and a break-away goal from captain Pepper. But, a bit like the full England men’s side, Young England let their opposition back into it in the last two chukkas, scoring just twice to the ladies’ four goals. Sisters Tamara Vestey and Nina Clarkin put some serious welly into every ride-off
Photographs by Charles Sainsbury Plaice
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and linked up well in the third chukka to land three goals in a row. Then, down half-a-goal to a brace from Ollie Cudmore going into the last chukka, it was Nina who fired an excellent winner, backing up for Rosie Ross and Emma Tomlinson, who had worked hard to get the ball within range. Young England still had nearly three minutes to find another goal to take the lead back – and, with Pepper and Cudmore on two mighty quicklooking ponies, they had their chances. First, Cudmore had a 60-yard daisy-cutting penalty blocked in front of goal, then Malasomma contrived to hit the ball against his own pony in front of goal. His subsequent backhand went narrowly wide. And that was the last play of the game. Great drama, but the girls had nicked it. It was another victory by half-a-goal, and so both games were in many ways a great credit to the handicapping system, but Young England’s back, Eden Ormerod, was not quite so philosophical: “You need to be winning these games by more than one or two goals,” he said. “Otherwise you are leaving the result to chance and relying on being lucky. If one umpire’s decision goes against you when the game is left hanging in the balance, you lose. We didn’t put
the game to bed and so we can’t make any excuses. But you can tell that it helps that three of the girls play together so often.” F International Test Match, 20 June 2009; Beaufort Polo Club, Gloucestershire Result: Australasia beat England, 7-61/2 Handicap level: 26-goal Number of team entries: two Chukka scores (Australasia): 2-41/2; 3-51/2; 5-61/2; 6-61/2; 7-61/2 Most valuable player: Malcolm Borwick Best playing pony: Margella, played and owned by Jack “Ruki” Baillieu (for more on Ruki’s ponies, see page 56) International Test Match teams: Australasia (28): Rob Archibald 6; Jack “Ruki” Baillieu 7; John Paul Clarkin 8; Glen Gilmore 7 England (26): James Beim 7; Mark Tomlinson 6; Malcolm Borwick 6; Luke Tomlinson 7 Horse & Hound Cup teams: England Ladies (9): Rosie Ross 2; Emma Tomlinson 2; Nina Clarkin 3; Tamara Vestey 2 Young England (10): Ben Malasomma 2; Nick Pepper 3; Ollie Cudmore 2; Eden Ormerod 3
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PTAugust 2009 p32-33 Royal Windsor YC MB
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Report Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup
A spectacle fit for A sensational last-chukka winner gives Hotel La Tour a thrilling victory in the UK’s premier 15-goal showdown, says Antje Derks otel La Tour overcame a tough passage through the semi-finals to beat Black Bears and lift the Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup at Guards in June. The finalists were strikingly similar in composition – with a New Zealander at back and two young Brits in the middle. But where Schwarzenbach’s foursome
Photographs by Tony Ramirez
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crushed Lamrei 101/2-5 in their semi-final, Hotel La Tour only just secured their spot with a nervy one-goal victory over Aravali, which featured Howard and Ollie Hipwood. Eighteen teams – four down on last year – took part in the three-week competition. The original patron of the winning side, entrepreneur Norman Bellone, had handed his number one spot
at the start of the season to the Beaufort-based lady player Sehr Ahmad after he had a ball in the eye during Argentina’s autumn polo tour and was advised to take it easy for a time. Hotel La Tour is the name of Bellone’s new venture, which is set to launch a series of hotels in the UK. The 2009 Royal Windsor marked the second year of sponsorship by the Al Habtoor Group. In
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the Queen the morning, the Habtoor family – who had also fielded a Queen’s Cup team – were in action. Fathers Mohammed and Rashid teamed up with two pros – Piki Alberdi and Justo Del Carril – to take on their two sons, Tariq and Habtoor – playing with Alejandro Muzzio and Rodolfo Ducos. Fittingly, on Father’s Day, Mohammed and Rashid took victory. For the final HM the Queen came to Smith’s Lawn for the third time in a week. With lovely weather and pomp and ceremony from the Irish Guards band, a terrific atmosphere prevailed The action turned out to be unpredictable and thrilling. The Bears received half a goal on handicap, but Hotel La Tour made a strong start, leading 2-1/2 after one chukka. Black Bears, all of whom are based at the Schwarzenbachs’ Henley establishment, fought back in the second, opening up a two-and-ahalf goal lead, with John Martin – recovered from his wrist injury of 2008 – and Ed Hitchman producing sublime link-up polo. Schwarzenbach slammed in a great goal, but it was undone by someone he often plays with rather than against: Clarkin, who fought back to secure a narrow lead at half-time.
‘When you’re playing with JP, you’re always in with a chance’ – Sehr Ahmad A penalty three put Black Bears back in front at the start of the fourth, and a magnificent goal from Hitchman extended their lead just before the end of the chukka. Then Clarkin took control. With Hotel La Tour back within half-a-goal, he plucked the ball from a scrum, stormed up the field and finished the play with an incredible display of agility, flexibility and skill, scoring an under-the-neck shot from an impossible-looking angle that proved to be the winner. Clarkin and his seemingly elastic arms, which scored seven of the winners’ nine goals, was named most valuable player, while John Martin’s mount Scarlet, a 12-year-old chestnut from Garangula, Black Bears’ Australian base, took best playing pony. Sehr Ahmad, a financial analyst who was playing her first Royal Windsor, said: “It was a tight tournament at the top end, and the final was fun but nerve-wracking. When you’re
Hotel La Tour’s John Paul Clarkin, who put in the winner, towers over HM the Queen
playing with JP you always feel you’re in with a chance. He’s one of the few high-goalers who is brilliant at this level, and he loves winning – although when you win by a half-goal you hardly dare look at the scoreboard!” “Hotel La Tour were tough opponents,” said John Martin. “JP is always in the right place.” The subsidiary final for the Mountbatten Trophy was played at the same time as the main match, on the adjacent Duke’s Ground, and kept the photographers between the two games on their toes as balls came flying in from all directions. Clarita beat BHC, 10-9. F Royal Windsor Cup, 31 May - 21 June; Guards Polo Club, Surrey Results: Hotel La Tour beat Black Bears, 9-81/2 Principal sponsor: Al Habtoor Group Handicap level: 15-goal Number of team entries: 18 Chukka scores (Hotel La Tour): 2-1/2; 3-51/2; 651/2; 7-81/2; 9-81/2 Most valuable player: John Paul Clarkin Best playing pony: Scarlet, played by John Martin and owned by Black Bears Final teams: Hotel La Tour (15): Sehr Ahmad 0; Nick Pepper 3; David Allen 4; John Paul Clarkin 8 Black Bears (14): Guy Schwarzenbach 1; John Martin 2; Ed Hitchman 4; Simon Keyte 7
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Report Meyado Archie David Cup
A crack quartet triumphs in a field of 23, capitalising on faith in their own abilities and four top Argies at the sidelines, says Diana Butler es Lions entered the record books on the last Sunday of June when they became only the third team in the 37year history of the eight-goal Archie David to win the cup twice. The side first won the cup in 2003 and now join Los Locos, from the 1970s, and the Hutchinson brothers’ Tayto team in this elite club. The victory came despite Les Lions failing to score in the second chukka – thanks largely to some strong play from Jada’s Juan Cruz Guevara and Ryan Pemble – and the side went into the half-time break 3-2 down. They left it late to produce their comeback, too, finally finding their rhythm in the fourth and final chukka to go on and win the game 7-6. Although they kept the spectators guessing, Les Lions' Nicky Evans had no doubts they would finish on top. "I always thought we were going to win," he said after the game. "We just needed to start playing well and, once we did, we got straight back into the game." The team certainly had plenty of support. Richard Hine, the 16-year-old nephew of Andrew and Will Hine, was making his fourth appearance for the team and both uncles provided their
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Photograph by centaurphotographic.com
Les Lions and their entourage, who join Los Locos and Tayto as double Archie David winners. The players were Nicky Evans (left), Francisco Elizalde (behind), Richard Hine (second right) and Lanto Sheridan (right)
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nephew with encouragement and horsepower. Les Lions’ high-goals pros, Sebastian and Agustín Merlos and Eduardo and Nachi Heguy, referred to by Nicky as “the coaching staff”, were also in the pony lines to give advice. In fact, Sebastian had watched all the team’s games in this tournament. Martin Young, of the tournament sponsors Meyado, attended the presentations in his polo
In the subsidiary final, a player was dismissed for ‘unofficial use of an elbow’ whites, ready to mount up for his own Meyado team in the subsidiary final for the Caterham Cup that followed. Young’s side beat the François Lurton Bodegas y Viñedos team, 5-3, as threegoaler Leroux Hendrix was dismissed in the fourth chukka for "unofficial use of an elbow". In the final of the Claude Pert Cup that morning – for Guards teams that don't make it through to the final stages of the Archie David – the honours went to Asprey London, who triumphed over Lost Boys, 6-5. F
Meyado Archie David Cup; 2-28 June 2009; Guards Polo Club, Surrey Result: Les Lions beat Jada, 7-6 Principal sponsor: Meyado Handicap level: 4-8 goal Number of team entries: 23 (16 qualified out of Guards Polo Club; seven qualified out of Coworth Park) Chukka scores (Les Lions): 2-1; 2-3; 3-5; 7-6 Most valuable player: Francisco Elizalde Best playing pony: Rosita, a seven-year-old English Thoroughbred, owned and played by Ryan Pemble Final teams Les Lions (8): Richard Hine -1; Lanto Sheridan 2; Francisco Elizalde 4; Nick Evans 3 Jada (8): Maurice Salem -1; Edward Morris-Lowe 0; Juan Cruz Guevara 4; Ryan Pemble 5 Subsidiary finalists (for the Caterham Cup) Meyado (8): Alec Banner-Eve -1; Martin Young 0; Guillermo Cuitino 6; Manuel Toccalino 3 François Lurton Bodegas y Viñedos (8): John Kent 1; Leroux Hendrix 3; Alan Kent 4; Wilfred Koulitchenko 0
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Promotional prices for booking before the season! Facilities at La Tarde: • 4 polo fields • Stick and ball cages. • Excellent self contained cottages for our guests to stay in with living rooms and satellite TV. • A brand new clubhouse with bar and restaurant • Swimming pools, gym, football ground, tennis and volley courts Only 45mins from down town Buenos Aires. Telephone: (0054) 11 4798-9231, (0054) 11 9 49864527 Email: info@latardepolo.com.ar www.latardepolo.com.ar
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Eduardo Moore Tournament Report
Misses galore cost Emlor the Moore Schwarzenbach’s on-form Black Bears capitalise on a rare off-day for Spencer McCarthy’s seasoned 15-goal side, says Michael Amoore wo late team withdrawals reduced this year’s entries in RCBPC’s July 15goal tournament from nine to seven teams. Nevertheless, the fewer teams fought no less hard: if anything, this was one of the most keenly contested and highquality medium-goal tournaments at the club in recent memory. The vast majority of matches were won by just a single score. The club welcomed sides from well-known British polo entourages such as Lovelocks and Emlor, as well as Black Bears, competing for the first time for this title and fresh from a half-goal defeat in the Royal Windsor final with the same line-up. From a group of four and a league of three teams the semi-finalists and the finalists for the subsidiary, the Nuova Escocia Trophy, were decided. Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor, captained by Nacho Gonzalez, emerged victorious from the group of four, securing maximum points with two wins. They beat Paul Oberschneider’s La Golondrina side, who snuck their slot in the semi-final by virtue of the
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foursome’s superior goal difference over Charlie Hanbury’s Lovelocks team. Meanwhile, from the league of three sides, Guy Schwarzenbach’s Black Bears finished top and Simon Holley’s Asprey London took their place in the semis thanks only to a last-gasp penalty goal that put them ahead against Tony Pidgley’s Barton Lodge. However, Asprey were crushed in their semi-final with Emlor, losing to McCarthy’s crew 11-4. La Golondrina put up a much better fight against Black Bears and led 7-61/2 going into the fifth and final chukka, only to be undone by a scoring mission from the Bears’ Ed Hitchman, who fired a hat-trick of goals in the last few minutes to give them a twoand-a-half goal victory, 101/2-8.
Photograph courtesy of Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club
‘To be playing mediumgoal with a high-goal set-up behind us is amazing’ – John Martin
Nacho Gonzalez gets on the attack for Emlor in the final, but he had uncharacteristically bad luck in front of goal
So, both finalists arrived for their showdown undefeated and it promised to be tight and actionpacked contest. Both sides defended well and kept scoring to minimum but those goals that did get through came at the end of some fantastic play. Simon Keyte’s ability and experience had a lot to do with the Bears’ eventual victory, as Emlor paid dearly for some uncharacteristic penalty misses from Nacho Gonzalez and a first-chukka shocker in front of goal from Joaquim Pittaluga, who missed a shot he would normally put in with ease 99 times out of 100. A foul by McCarthy then gave Black Bears a chance with a penalty right at the death, which Ed Hitchman put in, and Schwarzenbach’s side took their first Eduardo Moore title, 61/2-6. John Martin, playing at number two for the victors, said: “We were lucky they missed some penalties, and that we had a penalty 30 seconds from the end. As Emlor are a very strong team, it felt good to beat them. It’s great playing for Black Bears as the set-up is geared to playing high-goal, and to be playing medium-goal with a high-goal set-up behind us is amazing.” Jamie Morrison presented Black Bears with the Ilias Lalalounis Trophy, and there was consolation for
Emlor in their agonisingly narrow defeat as young Jack Richardson picked up the most valuable player award for his sturdy defence at back. Joaquim Pittaluga’s groom Rafa won the £100 prize for the best turned-out string. Another great game followed in the Nouva Escocia final, in which Lovelocks edged out Barton Lodge 11-10 in a higher scoring duel that thrilled the remaining spectators. F Eduardo Moore Tournament; 23 June – 5 July; RCBPC, Berkshire Results: Black Bears beat Emlor, 61/2-6 Handicap level: 15-goal Number of team entries: seven Chukka scores (Black Bears): 11/2-0; 21/2-3; 21/2-3; 41/2-4; 61/2-6 Most valuable player: Jack Richardson Best turned out string: Joaquim Pittaluga and his groom, Rafa Final teams Black Bears (14): Guy Schwarzenbach 1; John Martin 2; Ed Hitchman 4; Simon Keyte 7 Emlor (15): Spencer McCarthy 1; Joaquim Pittaluga 6; Nacho Gonzalez 6; Jack Richardson 2
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PTAugust 2009 p38-39 Beach Polo YC JM MB
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Report British Beach Polo Championships
The layout was better this year, with stands facing out to sea, pony lines on the beach and a warm-up area for ponies. Human warm-up areas – the tents – were well used, too
Sand, sea and storms Sandbanks suffered at the hands of last month’s weather, with rain sending many scurrying for the warmth of the beachside bar. Armed with wellies and waterproofs, Carlie Trotter and Yolanda Carslaw sat out all the action hether you're watching on grass, at the arena or on the beach, it's always worth bringing a brolly to polo, as visitors to last month's British Beach Polo Championships at Sandbanks in Dorset discovered. While the lower-key opening day enjoyed dry conditions, drizzle on the showpiece Saturday turned to downpour for the afternoon's main finals. Though a valiant hard core stuck it out in the blustery stands, much of the largely non-polo crowd – many unsuitably shod and clothed for a storm – retreated to the bar, missing out on two action-packed though soaking finals. Six three-man teams, comprising – to the credit of organisers – many patrons from last year, took part in the two-day fixture on one of the UK's premier stretches of sand. Co-founder (with the late David Heaton-Ellis) Johnny Wheeler and his team had devised a much improved layout, putting pony lines and a warm-up area on the beach instead of restricting horses to the car park, and players praised the organisation. The stands ran the shore-side length of the arena, with spectators facing directly out to sea, instead of a stand at each end and a hospitality tent occupying the long side. As for the action,
Photographs by Yolanda Carslaw and Mark Coutts Photography
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chukkas were five minutes, with ends changing only at half-time, and it was largely played under arena rules. The goals this year were less deep, and the arena seemed generally less “spooky” for the ponies. Sponsors included yacht-maker Sunseeker, local firms such as Poole Audi and Hotel du Vin, and luxury travel firm Bailey Robinson. Professionals taking part included Jamie Le Hardy, Peter Webb, Nicolas Antinori, Nico Fontanarrosa and Pancho
‘Even though it was quite deep the horses went well, and people took better ones than last year’ – Peter Webb Marin-Moreno, while patrons included Simon and Romilla Arber, Karl Elliot and Charlie Cooke. The weekend is one of the busiest in the calendar, and many players came direct from other games: Jamie Le Hardy and Peter Webb were helicoptered from Guards one of the days, while Matias Amaya played in the Assam Cup at Rutland on the Saturday. After play-offs on the Friday, Team Lloyds Property Group, fielding Spencer McCarthy and the Ormerod brothers, faced Team SOS Recruitment,
loudly captained by Jack Kidd, alongside Jamie Morrison and – instead of the advertised Jodie Kidd – Charlie Wooldridge, whose family are long-time members of RCBPC. When Lloyds went two up in the first chukka it looked as though Eden Ormerod, on great form, might be able to keep the ball away from SOS. But a clue to SOS's slow start came from Jack Kidd, who said afterwards: “Our team was out all night; the others went home to bed, so we had hangovers as well as the sand to contend with.” However, he added: “I always felt we were going to win.” The surface was certainly an issue – it rode deeper than last year, despite having had the same preparation as last year, and organisers have permission next year to do more excavating. As play went on, the confidence of SOS, who had beaten Pommery by an almighty 10-2 scoreline on Friday, increased. Charlie Wooldridge – who was named best player at the prize-giving – scrabbled relentlessly for the ball in the tricky conditions. After four battling chukkas, with everyone getting wetter and wetter, SOS won 8-6. “Charlie made a big difference,” said Jamie Morrison. “But in this kind of polo there's a lot of luck involved, too.” Chris Cook, director of SOS Recruitment, hopes the team will return next year.
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Acrobatics, art and a bar tab to remember THE WEEKEND’S VISUAL highlight was Saturday's race, between an Audi Q7 and Pancho Marin-Moreno on a polo pony. The race was in aid of the Heaton-Ellis Trust, so it was fitting that Pancho rode Tobiana, the late David Heaton-Ellis’s favourite pony. To give the driver a chance, and create suspense for raffle ticket holders, Pancho began on foot outside the arena. But when he ran and vaulted in the direction of Tobiana, the hitherto passive-looking mare leapt into a bucking fit. With Richard Seavill cackling over the tannoy Pancho clung to the saddle flap before being dumped. It seemed the six-goaler would be outhorsepowered, until, after a restart, the pony accelerated to victory after all. SAND SCULPTORS built an impressive “living room” outside the main marquee. A few hardy types hung out on the sand sofas, using the giant ashtrays: for more visit www.dirtybeach.tv. THE LARGELY NEW-TO-POLO crowd of 6,000 over the two days will be left, Polo Times fears, with the impression that regular fans have cash to burn. While entry was in line with the biggest mainstream polo events – at £35, including a stand seat, or £70 with entry to the evening party – bar prices were not. A 330ml beer cost £5; a glass of wine £6 and a G&T £9. This didn’t deter the crowd – and the after-party still rocked. From top: the victorious England side of (l-r) Chris Hyde, Peter Webb and Simon Holley; Jack Kidd and Jamie Morrison of the winning SOS Recruitment side, with Jodie Kidd; action in the international
The advance billing of a GB v USA game never materialised; instead a South American – read Argentine – side faced three of GB's finest in a daily international. Arena nine-goaler Chris Hyde was joined by Simon Holley and Peter Webb for England: Webb replaced Ryan Pemble, who had pulled a hamstring whilst playing at Guards. All three are seasoned arena players. For Argentina, Matias Amaya, Matias Ballesteros and Nico Fontanarrosa teamed up. Amaya, who plays out of Offchurch Bury, got involved through David Heaton-Ellis's widow Sophie. “David helped me a lot, and I’ll do anything I can for his family,” said Amaya. On Friday, South America won by a goal, though England had a healthy lead at half-time. In Saturday's showdown – watched by the hardy but vocal few who hadn't been beaten by the weather – England dominated play and won 11-9. “Even though it was quite deep the horses went well, and people brought better horses than last year,” said Peter Webb, who played in the main tournament as well as the international. “When the sand is wet it compacts the base better, but once the horses have trodden it in there can be big holes. And it was much easier to score in one direction because of the wind.”
Matias Amaya, however, commented that he found the environment somewhat tricky. “Sticks were going everywhere and the umpire was blowing nothing,” he said. “But it’s a show.” F British Beach Polo Championships; 10-11 July; Sandbanks, Dorset Result: SOS Recruitment beat Lloyds Property Group 8-6 and England beat South America over two matches on goal difference Handicap level: 10-14 goals Principal sponsor: Sunseeker Number of team entries: six Most valuable player: Charlie Wooldridge Best playing pony: Jack Kidd’s Dorada Final teams: SOS Recruitment (13): Charlie Wooldridge 0; Jamie Morrison 6; Jack Kidd 7 Lloyds Property Group (13): Spencer McCarthy 2; Maurice Ormerod 5; Eden Ormerod 6 International teams: England (18): Simon Holley 1; Peter Webb 6; Chris Hyde 9 South America (14): Matias Ballesteros 4; Nico Fontanarossa 6; Matias Amaya 4
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Report La Martina Outdoor University Championships
Happy campers meet for summer showdown More than 300 students fought for 2009’s grass university titles, displaying pro-style 60-yarders, great sportsmanship and the stamina for a good party night. London players Emily Cromey-Hawke and Isabel Natalie Tacq report ith a record 78 team entries in this summer’s La Martina Outdoor University Championships, the evidence of the staggering ongoing growth of SUPA since its inception in 1994 is there for all to see. The first national universities summer tournament 15 years ago featured five teams. Since then, in parallel with SUPA’s growth, the expansion of the game at grassroots level in UK clubs has been immensely encouraging, to the point now where the amateur lowgoal community reportedly makes up over 80 per cent of the HPA’s 3,000-strong membership. This summer’s championships were hosted by Warwick University at Offchurch Bury Polo Club, where the majority of visiting teams camped onsite. There was the welcome addition of improved bathroom facilities this year and the event benefited from the sponsorship of Roxtons Polo, Polo Del Sol and, in particular, new supporter Lycetts, who generously provided accident insurance cover for every player until 21 February 2010 (see news, July issue of Polo Times). Durham University won the Open division for the third year running, narrowly beating their only opposition Newcastle, 7-6. However, Newcastle’s captain Ed Bromley-Martin did not go home empty handed: he was named most valuable player and drew complimentary remarks from the onlooking sides from lower divisions. “The Open level was amazing to watch” said Liverpool beginner Richard Gordon-Colebrooke. “The game moves so much faster than we are used to.” Reading, in their first year in the Combined division, won comfortably against Scottish Combined in a quick chukka on a rather divoted ground. The final score was 2-0 and the division’s MVP award went to Jason Turner, who heroically played on with a head injury after being a hit with a mallet from an off-side backhand. The best female player of the championships came from the combined division: RCSI Dublin’s Fiona Seager scooped the prized award. London faced Warwick in the final of the top Novice division. The sides drew 1-1, so the winner
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Open winners, Durham University (l-r: Charlie Talbot-Baker, Alec Houston, Matt Cudmore and Robbie Wilson)
Student prices for student polo Approximate costs per player: ◗ ◗ ◗ ◗ ◗
Food = £10 Drinks = £5 Travel = various, but £30 on average Camping = free Pony hire = £60 per chukka (normally four chukkas each = £240)
◗ Team entry fee = £150 per team (so £50 a head)
◗ Entry to party (including food) = £15 ◗ Insurance = free (provided by Lycetts and SUPA)
Total = £350 (Team entry costs and pony hire costs are often subsidised by a player’s respective university)
was decided via a dramatic run-down, in which Warwick won, after London’s ball rebounded off the umpire’s back. However, London’s Jonathan Willén, a beginner last year, was named novice MVP. He produced outstanding performances, not only in his own division, but when he stood in last-minute for Regents A team in the intermediate section. The Polo Times award for the best playing pony at the championships – awarded only to a pony played by its owner – went to Firefly, belonging to Lorna Broughton of Bristol University, playing at Intermediate level. There was controversy elsewhere in this Intermediate section, as question marks hung over the handicap of the Regents B team, who were being followed by a reality TV camera crew and won against Regents A in the fast-paced final of their division, 3-1. Despite losing, Regents A’s Constantijn Huynen demonstrated terrific shooting technique with a fantastic 60-yard penalty goal that wouldn’t have X
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Anna Walker, a third-year economist, and Sarah Freites, a second-year sociologist
A travelling team’s tale of teamwork and fun First-year student Steph Ritchie tells the story of York University’s championships
From top: Combined winners, Reading University; Beginners Division 1a winners, Southampton Medics, with Mike Hobday; Intermediate winners, Regents B, with Jeanie McNeil of Roxtons; Beginner Division 1 winners, Royal Holloway; all players at this year’s outdoor championships received commemorative salvers from Polo del Sol
THREE TEAMS FROM York University Polo Club set off for the biggest championships on our fixture list on the morning of Friday 12 June. We had a 150-mile journey ahead of us, from York to Offchurch Bury Polo Club, but it passed quickly enough as we managed to follow the printed directions and avoid getting lost. The nine of us – eight girls and one very brave boy – went down in a convoy of three cars, separated into each car according to our team. This allowed us the chance to discuss tactics, in between some loud team sing-a-longs to the radio. On arrival, we got to work on setting up what would become our humble home for the weekend, pitching five tents around a makeshift campfire. Despite the loos being a problematic distance away, and the showers even further, we felt comfortable. Indeed, given that our halls of residence up north could never exactly be described as luxurious, we were more than happy with the arrangement. It wasn’t the discomfort of the tent that kept us awake, just our anticipation of the day’s polo that was to follow. Saturday morning was fuelled with nerves, as all three teams were playing their first chukkas of the weekend. For the two beginners’ sides, almost all of whom only took up polo since starting university, it was our first official tournament. That these sides were at all competitive is a great credit to Tony Wesche, our coach at White Rose Polo Club where we train. The players’ party on Saturday night gave us the chance to get out of our polo gear and truly relax with some of the 75 other sides at the event. There was also a chocolate fountain and vodka ice sculpture to enjoy, which we were happy to get involved in! We were up early on Sunday, woken by the sunshine coming in to the tent at about 7am. Most of us also had fairly early chukkas that morning too and, needless to say, some of us were feeling a bit more fragile than others! We stayed for the Open final and set off back to York at about 6pm. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and, even with a few injuries and sleepless nights, the championships were a fantastic celebration of everything we and the wider university polo community seem to stand for: teamwork, enthusiasm and fun.
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Report La Martina Outdoor University Championships
Clockwise from above: Jeremy Pidgeon and Rebecca Grffiths watch as best lady player, Fiona Seager, plays the ball; Lorna Broughton and Firefly receive the Polo Times best playing pony award from Emily Cromey-Hawke; Reading University’s raffle winner receives a La Martina-donated saddle, raising funds for the Heaton-Ellis Trust; Fiona Seager accepts the Mcklintock Plate and a Tina-Sparkle pashmina from Mike Hobday as the top lady player
X looked out of place at Smith’s Lawn in high-goal
and his team-mate George Shelton took home the Intermediate MVP award. In the Beginners’ section, newcomers Liverpool University played their first chukkas after only a dozen lessons, having received very little help from their university. Impressively, they finished mid-table in their division. SUPA kindly waived the team’s entry fee and other university teams offered strategy, riding and marketing advice.
Photographs by Ed Phillips
Newcomers Liverpool finished mid-table, after only a dozen lessons and very little help from their university “We were surprised by the amount of support we received,” said Aaron Lutchman, a first year student at Liverpool. “It was fantastic and very encouraging.” Another high point was Saturday night, when teams had a chance to unwind at the players’ party – complete with pole dancers. On the minus side, some complaints were raised towards the end of the weekend about the sense in allowing teams of fairly disparate handicaps to compete in the same divisions. For example, in the Intermediate section, team handicaps ranged from
42 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
four to seven goals. Of course, due to the fluctuating nature of university polo, teams are annually adapting to the loss and introduction of new players of varying talents and it is difficult to know which section some sides should enter. The issue is particularly difficult, given that not all incoming players have recognised HPA handicaps. In the past a SUPA official handicapped every player to monitor their ability, but this has lapsed. Had such a system been in place in time for this championship, might we have seen more evenly matched teams, a less crowded Novice section and a significant rise in Open teams for those sides over three goals? We suspect so. In any case, the future is bright. In February 2010, Guinness World Records officials have been invited to attend the University Arena Polo Championships at Ham Equestrian Centre, so they can record what is believed to be the world’s largest polo tournament. More than 100 teams are expected and it is now clear that university polo is at the centre of the increasing supply and demand for low-goal polo across the British Isles. SUPA deserves thanks and congratulations for this achievement and SUPA and SAPA graduates and alumni are already entering the polo community with connections, experience and, in some cases, handicaps. It is great news for our game. F
La Martina National Universities Summer Tournament, 12-14 June 2009; Offchurch Bury Polo Club, Leamington Spa Principal sponsor: La Martina Handicap level: various low-goal Number of team entries: 78 Results: Open Champions – Durham SAPA Champions – Old St Andrews Combined Champions – Reading Combined Intermediate Champions – Regents B Novice One Champions – Warwick Novice Two Champions – Warwick B Beginners One Champions – Royal Holloway Beginners One (a) Champions – Southampton Medics Beginners Two Champions – Newcastle B Most valuable players: Open – Ed Bromley-Martin (Newcastle) Combined – Jason Turner (Reading) Intermediate – George Shelton (Regents A) Novice – Jonathan Willén (London) Beginners – Clare Taaffe (Loughborough) Best Lady – Fiona Seager (RCSI Dublin) Polo Times best playing pony: Firefly, owned by Lorna Broughton (Bristol)
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SUPA National Senior Schools Tournament Report
Daunting, helpful and demanding: Dawnay’s new test
Division one winners, Radley (l-r: Giles Bromley-Martin, MVP Josh Nimmo, Angus Nimmo and Dillon Bacon)
Rekindling old rivalries Jo Brooks and Jane Phelps watched Radley come top of the class without conceding a single goal
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John Kent’s mare Vanessa receives the Polo Times rug for best playing pony
for Millfield when Fifi Watson scooped the award for best girl at the tournament and John Kent won the Polo Times best playing pony blanket for his mare Vanessa. The 14-year-old was bred by John’s father, Alan, by his late, great stallion Catisfield Kid and out of Victoria. Stowe beat Cheltenham College in the third/fourth place play-off, with Stowe’s Will Berner receiving the Cheltenham Ladies Cup for the most promising player. Meanwhile, those sides eliminated in the first rounds of each division formed a mini-league of their own, deciding who would be fifth and sixth, with Marlborough beating Wellington, Harrow and Sherborne to fifth place and the Malvern Plate. Division two was won by Milton Abbey, who beat Bloxham in an intense game to claim the Millfield Trophy. Shrewsbury took third behind Bloxham, beating Cheltenham Ladies’ College to the award. It marked excellent progress for the polo set-up at Shrewsbury, who only began playing five years ago, training principally at Longdole polo club and occasionally at Rugby. F
Final rankings Division one 1st – Radley 2nd – Millfield 3rd – Stowe 4th – Cheltenham College 5th – Marlborough College 6th – Wellington College 7th – Harrow 8th – Sherborne
Division two 1st – Milton Abbey 2nd – Bloxham 3rd – Shrewsbury 4th – Cheltenham Ladies College 5th – Rugby 6th – Wycliffe 7th – St Barts 8th – Heathfield
Individual awards Most valuable player – Radley’s John Nimmo Polo Times best playing pony – Vanessa, owned and played by Millfield’s John Kent Best girl – Millfield’s Fifi Watson Most promising player – Stowe’s Will Berner
Additional reporting by Jonathan Wain
www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 43
Photographs by Michael Chevis
week after the culmination of the University Championships (see opposite), attention turned to Longdole for the National Senior Schools Tournament. Sixteen schools were split into two divisions, with age-old rivalries between some of the UK’s premier schools coming to the boil. In the top division, Millfield beat Harrow and Cheltenham College on their way to final, where they met Radley, who had got there at the expense of Sherborne and Stowe in the first and second rounds respectively – without conceding a single goal. The final was fought out in 30-degree heat, and pitted Millfield’s Fifi Watson, Jack Mesquita, John Kent and Max Hutchinson – who train together at Vaux Park in Somerset – against Giles Bromley-Martin, Dillon Bacon, and Josh and Angus Nimmo of Radley, whose polo practice takes place at Kirtlington. Radley had a pre-match drama at lunchtime when one of their ponies quietly became untethered and wandered off in search of her own lunch. Angus set off in pursuit, his mother and sister following in the car when he didn’t reappear. She was found some distance away, ridden back bareback and saddled up for the final with minutes to spare. In the event Radley, three of whose players were in their last year at the school, dominated the final to win 2-0. Their captain, the promising one-goaler Josh Nimmo, put in an especially fine performance and received the most valuable player prize from Tim Satchell from the Worshipful Company of Saddlers. There was consolation
THE DAWNAY TEST, as introduced in the news section of Polo Times in the July issue, was launched in practice at the SUPA international trials in late June. Rugby Polo Club’s Phil Baker and Cool Hooves Polo’s Phil Meadows managed the process and witnessed first-hand how the children coped with the test. “So much polo we watch at low-goal and junior level is played in a straight line, up and down the field,” said Meadows. “The Dawnay Test demanded and encouraged players to play a much larger range of shots, with angle and placement, and I hope we will start to see this in play. It should certainly help produce a more enjoyable and tactical driven game to watch and play.” Malmesbury School pupil Barney Wilson, who is 15 and plays at Beaufort and Cirencester, took part in the trial. “It seemed daunting at first, but it challenged us and is a great way to warm up for a game. Regular practice will definitely help us improve and give us the discipline to handle pressure situations in a match. Though it’s an individual test, we all helped each other along and importantly, team building formed a big part of the trials day.”
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Reports Around the clubs
Binfield Heath
Lucky ladies rejoice on Black Bears turf hen hot weather at start of last month left Binfield Heath Polo Club’s grounds too hard to play on, several ladies and a very special pony accepted an invitation to play their 0-goal Sexy Kaftans Ladies’ Tournament at the private grounds of the Black Bears polo team. The quality of the surface made for a faster and safer platform for both players and ponies to exhibit their full range of skills, according to player Louise Sandberg. All games were open, fast and competitive, though the thrill of playing on such hallowed turf meant there was none of the unnecessary arguing that is sometimes associated with ladies polo. The girls’ enjoyment was there for all to see and they produced some fantastic play. Stephanie Haverhals, Amber Clutton-Brock, Kelly Keyte, Helga Keay and England’s Rosie Ross, in particular, shone bright in the glorious sunshine. Ross also rode best playing pony, Velvet. Now owned by Ian Wooldridge, Velvet is a former Black Bears pony herself, making an ironically successful return to what used to be her home turf. Tournament sponsors, beachwear specialists Sexy Kaftans, provided the trophies, rosettes and prizes.
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Sexy Kaftans Ladies winners, Borough Marsh Farm (l-r: Amber Clutton-Brock, Kelly Keyte, Mel Hamilton and Helga Keay), with Louise Sandberg (centre), a representative of the sponsors
Silver Leys
Flintstones yabba-dabba-doo their way to victory atie Flint’s Flintstones team won the -6-0-goal Extraflex Ladies Polo Tournament over the weekend of 27-28 June. It is one of Silver Leys’ most important and popular fixtures of the month, and attracted four strong teams of ladies, sponsorship from Feedmark and plenty of vociferous support. The teams battled it out on the Bury Green ground, which had plenty of irrigation in what turned out to be excellent weather. Club president Terry Bone provided witty and informative commentary as experienced players such as Flintstones’ Amber Clutton-Brock and St Albans player Vicky Griffin produced a fine display of how to hit the ball in the final. Lofted shots and fast open polo was the result, but the Newmarket-based Flintstones eventually proved too strong for the other visiting side. During the same weekend, Silver Leys hosted the Top Race Polo Cup – won by Friedrich Oldenburg’s Santa Paz, beating Potential to the title. The sides from both tournaments teamed up after the completion of the polo on both the Saturday and the Sunday and enjoyed a fun and friendly evening in the clubhouse.
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Winners, Flintstones (l-r: Zoe Cawthorn, Jane Mills, Katie Flint, Amber Clutton-Brock)
Suffolk
Birthday boy swoops on pigeon prize ix teams formed a league at Suffolk Polo Club on the last weekend in June to fight it out for the small but perfectly formed Whitby Pigeon Fanciers’ Trophy, a popular addition to the Feedmark Flaming June Tournament on 27-28 June. Victor Chau’s team Candesic took the title on goal difference. They topped the table on equal points alongside Hare Park, but triumphed because of a better scoring ratio that showed they had fired home three more goals. Candesic’s win put the icing on the cake for Victor Chau, who was also celebrating his birthday with many of his friends who had come to support. Suffolk Polo Club gave themed ‘Flaming June’ prizes of garden chairs, beach towels and red-hot chilli sauces. In addition, sponsors Feedmark generously gave the finalists tubs of Extraflex HA plus vouchers. Hare Park’s Tasmin Loke won the most valuable player award, having defied her young age and inexperience to produce several quick and incisive performances.
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Winners, Candesic (l-r: Matt Perry, Victor Chua, Albert Lee and Fabio Lavinia) with Anastasia Maximova and Amy Delotta
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Border Reivers
Record numbers soak up scorching Scots sunshine order Reivers Polo Club hosted its fifth annual 4-goal BRPC tournament in the Scottish borders over the weekend of 30-31 May. Held in aid of The Kivuli Trust, which builds and runs hostels for disabled children in Africa, the day drew more than 200 spectators, who enjoyed champagne and a sumptuous lunch in glorious weather akin. Together, the players, spectators and organisers helped raise £2,000 for the trust. Despite the recession, there were 11 Scottish teams – a record for a single tournament at the club – and a twelfth side from Toulston Polo Club in Yorkshire entered for a chance of victory. At the end of a weekend of fierce but friendly competition, Perth’s George Middlemass, Augustin Muller, Alistair Archibald and Nick Walter swept to the title in emphatic fashion in Sunday’s final, brushing aside Border Reivers’ Charlie Swanson, Ed Bromley-Martin, Will Ramsay and Nick Hunter, 7-31/2. Another 0-4 goal tournament follows this month, on 22-23 August, and the club is keen to welcome Members of the Perth side celebrate their win (l-r: Nick Walter 2, teams up for the weekend. Organisers are also happy to arrange other matches in Scotland to Alistair Archibald 3, Augustin Muller 0) make the trip more worthwhile – so, who fancies a trip to the Highlands?
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Cirencester Park
Power and precision as the panthers beat the bears he promise of high-goal action between the Black Bears and Panthers lineups brought large crowds to Cirencester Park Polo Club for the exciting culmination of the club’s 18-goal championship on Sunday 28 June. Panthers featured a line-up largely familiar to local spectators, but the excitement of seeing high-goal New Zealand internationals Simon Keyte and John Paul Clarkin on the field for Black Bears meant they also canvassed plenty of support from the large crowd. A tight contest followed, with Panthers only clinching it in an extra chukka, 11-10. In the subsidiary, the Mansion Cup, the combination of Rob Archibald and Malcolm Borwick for Enigma proved too strong for club chairman Richard Britten-Long’s Corovest side, as Enigma ran out the winners, 8-4. On 11 July, Cirencester played host to the final day of the International SUPA Polo Festival. The crowd were treated to exciting, competitive polo, providing proof that the future of polo continues to look bright.
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Photograph by Tom Reynolds
Satnam Dhillon (in white) and John Paul Clarkin square-off in the 18-goal final
Sussex
Prizes galore in swashbuckling seven-team challenge even teams gathered at Sussex Polo Club in June, all looking for the chance to scoop the bespoke Square Peg Challenge Trophy. The winning side at each of the two levels would also be the recipients of an unusual added prize, a set of Scottish Basket Hilt Claymore swords – one for each player. Fierce competition was the result and supporters of the sides were boosted by prize incentives themselves, including “Golden Divot” presents awarded to children who discovered chocolate golden coins concealed by the umpires on the ground. There were also bouncy castles and a children’s activity corner, while the adults entertained themselves with luscious picnics, live music and the opportunity to witness some tightly fought polo. The resident eponymously-named Sussex team were the favourites, but Kwan Lo’s Aquila team showed much-improved form at the business end of the tournament and produced an excellent display in the final to grab the Square Peg 2-Goal Challenge Trophy. In the -2 Goal Challenge, defending champions Amicus triumphed to retain their title. Special awards of rare malt whisky were presented to Nick Clague, owner of best playing pony Lola, and to Paul Addison, patron of the Amicus team and winner of the best non-professional player prize.
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Left: Champions in the 2-goal, Aquila (l-r: Patrick Furlong, Kwan Lo, Julian Mills, Telmo Maidana)
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Reports Around the world
Nigeria
Fearless Philadelphians forge ahead in Africa igeria’s Fifth Chukka Polo and Country Club hosted the Emir of Katsina Charity Shield Tournament in the last four days in May and first week in June. Sponsored by Access Bank and played for at the Kangimi Resorts in Kaduna, the tournament is staged as a major fundraiser for UNICEF and its work with HIV, AIDS and the disadvantaged youth of northern Nigeria. Four cups were played for over the 11 days of competition, featuring ladies’ sides from South Africa and the the US, six locally funded teams at 12 and 20-goal level, and even a composite side made up of African-American teenagers from the inspirational Work to Ride programme in Philadelphia, playing alongside Jamaica’s Lesley Fong-Yee. Work to Ride, created in 1994, is a non-profit organisation offering disadvantaged youngsters a positive alternative to trouble born of boredom. It’s founder Lezlie Hiner has helped the Work to Ride side become one of the top 10 interscholastic polo teams in the US and she travelled with the three youngsters, Drea Taylor and brothers Daymar and Kareem Rosser for the tournament. They beat both the ladies’ sides en route to victory in the final of the Governor’s Cup.
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The successful WTR team (l-r: Kareem Rosser, Drea Taylor, Lesley Fong-Yee and Daymar Rosser) proved to be a revelation in Africa
Singapore
Touring Aussies run on-song local side close ingapore Polo Club’s Satinder Garcha drafted in the help of seasoned polo-fixer Karen Kranenburg ahead of the Audemars Piguet Gold Cup on 14 June, hoping she would be able to put together a suitable 14-goal side at short notice. His call came just days after a team of touring Australians had made good their escape from Jamaica, where they had produced some terrific polo to complete a clean sweep over their hosts in a three-match series (see the June issue of Polo Times). Thus, despite Karen’s complaints that looking after the Aussies in the Caribbean was an exhausting and life-altering experience, it was to the most energetic of their side – Matt O’Leary – that she turned for help. Accepting the challenge, O’Leary formed a team, including Simon Walker (4), Stirling McGregor (3) and fellow Jamaican tourist Dick Doolin (4). They arrived for a sophisticated week’s entertainment and a terrific international contest on Gold Cup day in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 local spectators, who left happy, as Team Singapore rode out victorious, 14-12, and a wild night of partying followed.
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Simon Walker sprays the victorious Singapore side with champagne. They were Satinder Garcha (2), Martin Ravina (6), Sattar Khan (4) and Ameer Jumabhoy (0), with Marcus Lin (0) ever-ready as a replacement
Jamaica
Boozy Bajan invaders turn it on when it counts fter the week-long Singapore trip, which was as exhausting as it was fabulous, detox was well and truly on the menu, writes Karen Kranenburg. However, arriving back in Kingston on Monday 22 June off the back of a 48-hour journey from Vietnam and with just a day to prepare for the Bajan invasion on the Wednesday, chance would be a fine thing! Rather like the recent touring side from Australia (see the June issue of Polo Times, as above), Barbados had put together a “boys’” tour, with all its rabid implications. They were the first invitational Barbados team to visit Jamaica in nine years and brought the 8-goal side of Alex Cole, Teddy Williams, Richard Gooding and Jeff Evelyn. However, despite the sense of occasion, somehow the polo itself seemed to be lower on the list of priorities than the other favourite Jamaican pastimes of the day; namely, partying hard and fitting a day in at the West Indies vs India cricket match at Kingston’s Sabina Park. Sure enough, the visitors looked jaded for their first game against the home team of Jorge Donovan, Jonathan Dougall, Dominic Chung and James Robertson on Thursday, and drew 5-5. However, an excellent game from Barbados’s Alex Cole won them the decider on the Saturday, 6-5, despite a brilliant late rally from the Jamaicans, who brought it back from 6-2 down in the fifth and final chukka.
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The visiting victors, Barbados, at the end of a action-packed week both on and off the field (l-r: Richard Gooding, Jeff Evelyn, Teddy Williams and Alex Cole)
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Farriery special Feature
Top tips for neat feet To introduce our farriery feature, PT asks what else polo ponies’ feet need – apart from shoes STUDS ARE AN INTEGRAL part of polo ponies’ match equipment. Polo farrier Pete Wherrett (see overleaf) says that in the UK 90 per cent of animals are fitted with them for games – though in New Zealand it’s the other way round, and in America some shoes have a bent-up end instead. “The UK rule book says you can use half-inch polo or jumping studs, on the outside heel of the hind foot,” says Pete. “They help prevent horses slipping, and are usually fitted just before matches.” Some stud-makers have devised neat ways to make it easier to stud up. SupaStuds (www.supastuds.com), whose designs include an approved polo stud, have pioneered a selfcleaning stud that removes the need to use a tap to clear the thread of dirt first. The studs have a recess at the base to remove a potentially problematic pressure point, and are designed not to cross-thread and to screw in flush to the shoe – avoiding “lost” studs. The firm also makes a “StudStasha” magnetic wristband – to keep studs literally “to hand”.
Wherrett also considers a light hoof oil essential, to supplement the natural oils horses produce. “Apply it daily – not just for polo – to stop too much moisture entering the foot in the wet and to stop too much leaving the foot in dry weather,” he says. Various dressings are available, but one for everyday use that passes the moisture test is Kevin Bacon’s Hoof Dressing (www.kevinbacons.co.uk) – a natural mixture that incorporates laurel to keep bacteria away and help horn growth. The firm also makes natural dressings for particular conditions. For white line infections or thrush, the antibacterial Hoof Solution dries out and cleans infected tissues, while to give horn growth a serious boost, Hoof Formula is one of the most concentrated supplements on the market – with biotin, calcium and cobalt in its make-up. The same firm’s Manicouagan Sea Clay, from a Canadian riverbed, can be applied to tired legs to cool and tighten tendons after strenuous exercise for the ultimate post-polo revival. F
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Feature Farriery special – Uncle Pete celebrates 30 years
Pete Wherrett, whose army career propelled him into a life of 10-a-day, seven-days-a-week shoeing for big-name teams – from Kennelot to Brittany Polo Club – talks to Yolanda Carslaw as he marks 30 years as a polo farrier hen Pete Wherrett first arrived at the Black Bears base in the late 1980s in a well-worn estate car, the grooms eyed him suspiciously, wondering what this scruffy fellow was doing at their pristine Berkshire yard. “It's OK,” he reassured them with a grin. “I'm Uncle Pete – I do the feet!” The grooms relaxed – and the name stuck. Since that year, when his polo career took off in a big way, practically everyone with ponies in Berkshire has come across Uncle Pete, and this year the ex-army farrier marks 30 years of shoeing for polo. When arranging to meet Uncle Pete at Andrew Hine's yard, where he keeps his four polocrosse ponies, I get the impression he's laidback and friendly – as well as what is known as a “character”. “Alright girl,” he replies in a cheerful Gloucestershire drawl when I suggest coming to see him. “OK girl,” he texts, when we firm up a date. I soon discover it's no surprise so many people know Pete. Although he's decelerated a little now, at the height of his career he would shoe 10 polo ponies a day, seven days a week, from March to September – for low- and medium-goal players as well as high-goal teams such as Kennelot, Pendell, Los Tamaraos, Hildon House, Isla Carroll, the Flying Tigers and Brittany Polo Club. Teams he didn't work for, too, had the Uncle Pete treatment. He recalls: “Three teams brought me to Cowdray once, and the only team that lost a shoe was Labegorce, the team that hadn't. I reshod the pony, they won and they gave me £100.” Pete came into polo both by accident and design after leaving school at 15 to join the army. “I was a country boy, and was always keen on animals,” he says. “I was keen to get out of
tradition. Officers from the 10th Royal Hussars were the first to play the game in England in 1869, and more recently Maj Hugh Dawnay, now a polo coach and author, was in charge of polo at the regiment before his retirement from the army in 1971. “The head lad Jock McGregor was a brilliant man to learn from,” continues Pete. “He didn't go to Northern Ireland because he had gallstones. Our stable manager was Capt Rogers, a two-goaler and the best player in the regiment at the time.” After three years working at both yards, as well as spells learning to drive a tank and an HGV, an opportunity arose to learn to shoe. “In 1977 the regiment had two farriers, both of
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Pete Wherrett with Twizzle, an eight-year-old mare with a slightly twisted hind leg by Santa Cruzito who came free with a horse Pete later sold to Peter Wright
school and I signed up for the boy service.” In 1974 he joined the Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own) - an amalgamation in 1969 of the 10th and 11th Royal Hussars. The regiment was training to go to Northern Ireland, but as Pete was 17 and the minimum age to go there was 18, he was sent to Sennelager in Germany instead. “The regiment had stables, and the officers used soldiers as grooms,” he says. “I had a choice between stables, stores, mess or policeman. I chose stables and it turned out I preferred horses to tanks.” The regiment, which in Uncle Pete's time had a general yard as well as a polo yard with about 16 playing ponies, has a strong polo
‘The regiment had stables, and the officers used soldiers as grooms. It turned out I preferred horses to tanks’ whom were due to leave the army,” says Pete. “The head lad favoured me as a replacement.” He was sent on a three-month initial course at the Royal Army Veterinary Corps at Melton Mowbray, then spent two years shoeing back in Germany before completing his qualifications in 1979. During this time, in 1978, he had also married his German girlfriend, Gaby – through whom he learnt the language. Pete left the regiment in 1983 a Lance Corporal, as head lad for the polo yard and at times for the general yard, driver for both yards, HGV teacher and fully qualified farrier.
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Shoeing according to Uncle Pete ◗ “AFTER MY ARMY training, it came as a shock to find people want to wait longer than four weeks between shoeings. I've found four weeks works so well for the horses that I stick to it. I've fallen out with vets and owners over it – owners think they're saving money but I think it's false economy to go too long. When the feet get longer the tendons get stretched – and polo's a hard enough sport anyway. If a horse is being properly fed, it needs shoeing every four weeks.”
◗ “READY-MADE SHOES have four holes each side. A lot of farriers use the front three, as it's easier to get the nails in, but I use the back three because that supports the shoe better. Shoes are normally knocked off at the back, so using the back ones leaves more of the shoe supported.”
◗ “I USE PEGASUS shoes, made by Pledger, with pencil rather than upright heels, because they follow the line of the foot. I fit them tight to the heel rather than with a longer back. Longer heels cause overreach problems on the front feet and the loss of hind shoes from other horses knocking them off.”
◗ “I’VE HAD OTHER PEOPLE work for me at times, such as Brett Hamer from New Zealand, and my son, Alan. But I'm a bit fussy and particular. If you've done the work yourself you know everything is your problem, so mostly I've worked by myself.”
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Returning home, he found work with leading Gloucestershire farrier Michael Thomas, whose clients included Claire Tomlinson. Working at various yards, Pete found more and more that he preferred shoeing polo ponies to other horses. “Polo ponies aren't too big or small, and most are quiet,” he declares. “All the shoes are a similar size and the metal is light and easy to work.” The owners were a factor, too. “In polo, you turn up and there's an easy understanding between you and the grooms. You talk to the head lad for 10 minutes about the horses for that day and you're left to get on with it – you don't end up dealing with lots of 'silly owners'.” For 18 months Pete worked for Thomas, who then helped him set up on his own. His business
soon flourished as he capitalised on the rapid growth of polo in the 1980s. “I knew Claire Tomlinson's head lad Elvio Serio, and when he moved to Kennelot, which was based at Cirencester at a former hunt yard, I started doing their shoeing,” says Pete. “The next year, in 1985, the year RCBPC started, they moved their 28 horses to Berkshire and I went with them. By the end of that season I was doing seven for Peter Scott (of Pendell) and nine for Urs Schwarzenbach. “The Berkshire was growing – the next season Peter Scott went from seven to 30 and Urs from nine to 35 and I had nearly 100 horses to do. I averaged 10 a day and worked weekends as well.” In winter Pete shod hunters and caught up with family holidays – he and Gaby by then had three X
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Feature Farriery special – Uncle Pete celebrates 30 years
All photographs by Yolanda Carslaw
X children: Nick (now an accountant), Alan (a
farrier) and Anita (a cabinet-maker). He travelled occasionally with work, going to Deauville with Los Tamaraos, to Sotogrande and to Royal Pahang to teach four of the Sultan's farriers. “It was so hot in Malaysia that the most I managed in a day was three horses,” Pete says. Polo pretty much took over in the 1990s, with more and more customers in Berkshire, including low- and medium-goal players, and quite a few playing arena polo. “In those days, also, people would bring their horses in on 1 March and I'd get so full I'd need to do some in February,” Pete points out. “I started renting in Berkshire and would go home once a week.” Pete started playing polocrosse 12 years ago, when he was 40, and he's now a fanatic. “I'd lost my driving licence and needed someone to drive me around,” he says. “I took on a New Zealander called Rick Murray, who was a seven in polocrosse and got me into the game. It's one horse per person per tournament, so it’s cheaper than polo. “It's also great fun and very social. There are no grooms, pros or patrons. Rich or poor, you're all mates and people are willing to help and teach you and lend you stuff.” Pete himself, an eight-goaler in polocrosse (in which handicaps go from zero to 20), is well know in the game, and recently lent out his horses at a home
international. Iain Heaton, an official from the UK Polocrosse Association, described him to me as “one of the best characters in the sport and one of the most generous”. Pete and Gaby's marriage, sadly, didn't survive, and when his divorce was going through four years ago he decided to go to New Zealand to chance his arm there. “For my first visit, Cody Forsyth and Pete and Hett Wright helped me get organised, and the Ainsleys lent me a Ute. I bought an anvil, forge
‘It was so hot at Royal Pahang in Malaysia that the most I managed in one day was three horses’ and tools, and set up a little business ready for the next year at Clevedon, the main polo area, just south of Auckland,” he says. Now he spends each winter there, shoeing for the likes of Jonny Wade, Pete Wright, Tommy Wilson and Cody Forsyth. “New Zealand makes me money and is laid back, but the handling and stable management is not as good as in the UK,” he says. “They're mainly concerned with the riding, and a horse with a problem is just chucked in the field until it comes right.” Pete's own horses look like they're thriving. He does them himself, after work, and it's clear he subscribes to what he describes as the UK approach. Pete himself, too, looks like he thrives on a life of New Zealand winters, weekends on the polocrosse circuit, a new partner called Lorraine – and a marginally more relaxed schedule than he once pursued. F
Pete with two of his mares. Baby Jo (left) is the nine-year-old half-sister to Twizzle (previous page). Kelly (right) is a six-year-old New Zealand mare bred by Errol Gloyn, a former crack polocrosse player who now makes and breeds horses. Kelly is half-sister to Smoothie Lee, who won best playing pony in the 2007 Indian Empire Shield with JP Clarkin (see PT, July 2007 issue)
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How Pete’s favourite polo footwear made its first steps IN 1972 – SEVEN YEARS before Pete qualified as a farrier – the union between Pegasus Horseshoes and AJ Pledger was struck. From the early 1900s the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire was home to two major farrier merchants: AJ Pledger & Co (Metals) Ltd, a name that was synonymous with farriery for three generations of the Pledger family, and Charles Grey & Son, which continued until the early 1980s. By the 1960s the horse population in the British Isles was going through a major revival after the harsh years following the Second World War, when both horse and farrier suffered severe decline. In the 1960s Simon Dale, a young farrier, was so inundated with work that he turned away potential customers daily. Due to the lack of good-quality machine-made shoes, most farriers spent 40 per cent of their working day making shoes by hand, therefore limiting the number of horses one could shoe in a day. With this gross shortage of shoes and growing demand Dale saw it was time for a change. It took him two years to develop the shoe-making equipment, and in 1972 Pegasus Horseshoes was ready to roll. At that time there were only two rolling mills producing fullered concave horseshoe steel, so Dale wrote to both hoping to secure a deal at mill prices. This wasn’t to be. The mill directed his correspondence to their sole agents, AJ Pledger, and Charles Grey & Son. Mr Grey was first to call a meeting, which didn’t go well. Dale says: “I left feeling very pensive because it was also the time of the 1970s power and steel workers’ strikes, therefore steel was in very short supply. “With one place left to go I set out for Pledgers, the other side of town. To my great relief the next two hours was the start of a decade-long union and friendship between Pegasus and Pledgers.” The acquisition of AJ Pledger & Co (Metals) Ltd by Pegasus Horseshoes Ltd took place in 1983, on the retirement of Peter, a third-generation Pledger, who is now in his 83rd year living happily in Spain. Dale adds: “Pledger and Pegasus have a combined age of 90 years’ service to the farriery industry. This has been achieved through the generations of farriers, loyal and faithfully supportive. Thank you.”
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The knowledge Duty vet Mark Emerson MRCVS of Thames Valley Equine Clinic is a three-goal, fifth-generation polo player and equine vet
Suspensory ligament injuries – sprains and knocks in polo ponies Ligaments are generally defined as bands of fibrous tissue that connect bones to support and strengthen joints. The ligament most susceptible to injury in polo ponies is the suspensory igaments, like tendons, are made up of collagen fibres that are arranged lengthwise so that they are capable of stretching. Collagen is a tough protein substance that is also found in skin, bone, cartilage, and connective tissues. In most cases, ligaments do not exhibit the same degree of elasticity as tendons. The suspensory ligament is evolutionarily derived from muscle and still contains some muscle fibres.
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Location and function
Photographs courtesy of Mark Emerson
The suspensory ligament connects the top of the cannon bone to the sesamoid bones at the back of the fetlock. It runs down the lower limb between the cannon bone and digital flexor tendons. The top half is encased on either side by the two splint bones. It attaches to the very top of the cannon bone just below the knee and passes downward, splitting into two branches about two thirds of the way down the cannon, before attaching and wrapping around the sesamoid bones at the rear of the fetlock. The suspensory ligament is vital for supporting the fetlock.
Above: high suspensory injuries often manifest themselves after fast work
Injuries to the suspensory ligament can be divided into three areas: high suspensory injuries close to or involving the attachment of the ligament to the cannon bone; injuries affecting the body of the ligament in the mid-cannon region; and injuries affecting the medial (inside) or lateral (outside) branches of the lower suspensory ligament.
Types and causes
Symptoms and diagnosis
As with tendon injuries, two basic types of injuries can occur: intrinsic sprains and extrinsic traumatic injuries. Sprains occur when ligaments are stretched beyond their elastic limit and in severe cases may rupture. Traumatic injuries are caused by external blows, such as from sticks and balls.
Suspensory injuries are characterised by heat, swelling, pain when pressed with the fingers, and variable degrees of lameness. High suspensory sprains are often the most difficult to detect as the top of the ligament is not only behind the tendons, but also hidden on either side by the splint bones. They often manifest themselves as
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lameness after fast work. In the forelimbs the lameness may improve after a few days rest, although in the hind limb lameness is often more persistent. Nerve blocks allow vets to pinpoint the area of pain causing the lameness and ultrasound scans can be used to confirm the diagnosis and assess the severity of the injury. X-rays of the upper cannon bone can be used to detect old, ongoing injuries relating to the site of attachment of the suspensory ligament and can also be used to rule out avulsion fractures (where a portion of bone is torn off when the ligament becomes partially detached). Injuries to the body of the suspensory are easier to spot in terms of localised heat, pain and swelling, but lameness is usually
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Clockwise from above: X-ray image showing an abnormal bony prominence (arrow) on a sesamoid bone where a branch of a sprained suspensory ligament attaches - a partial avulsion fracture; ultrasound scan being used to assess a sprained suspensory ligament; Shockwave therapy being used to treat a horse with a high suspensory injury in a hind limb
less obvious. They are more commonly seen in the forelimbs. Ultrasound scans can be used to assess their severity, although they may not be particularly useful for monitoring repair, as the appearance of ligament sprains in scans may change little even after recovery. Suspensory branch injuries illicit varying degrees of lameness depending largely on their severity. Like suspensory body injuries, localised heat, pain and swelling makes diagnosis fairly straightforward. Ultrasound scans can also be used to assess their severity and X-rays can be useful for ruling out avulsion fractures of the sesamoid bones where the ends of the branches attach.
Treating suspensory injuries Many treatments have been advocated for
ligament injuries. In the very early stages, anti-inflammatory therapy – such as oral ‘bute’ and ice or cold hosing – will help to reduce the initial heat and swelling. In the case of traumatic injuries from sticks and balls, the lower suspensory branches are most likely to be involved, as they are most exposed (blows to either side of the limb higher up would likely result in injury to the splint bones). Lameness is generally mild and, once any heat and swelling has subsided, a scan would confirm minimal disruption to the structure of the ligament. Exercise can often recommence after a relatively short period of rest. Sprains, on the other hand, are much more serious and have to be managed with a great deal of patience. High suspensory
injuries are often managed with a prolonged period of box rest in conjunction with controlled exercise. Nowadays, shock wave therapy is commonly used as a means to induce more rapid healing. Sprain injuries affecting the body or branches of the suspensory ligament often benefit from a long period of active rehabilitation following an initial period of aggressive anti-inflammatory therapy and rest. Walking in hand or on a horse-walker gently stretches the ligament and optimises fibre alignment as it repairs. Return to any form of polo is rarely possible within the same season unless the sprain is very mild with little damage visible on ultrasound. Severe injuries may benefit from localised corticosteroid injections or intramuscular Adequan™ injections. Stem cell therapy is now becoming more widely available, with the aim of completely renewing the damaged area within the ligament. Blistering and pin-firing, although controversial, may be a useful way of strengthening the suspensory ligament following body and branch injuries. Although the resultant fibrosis leads to a loss of elasticity, this is probably less detrimental to the suspensory ligament than it can be in the flexor tendons, which cannot afford to lose much of their elasticity. Shock wave therapy may be useful in treating low suspensory injuries where the branches attach to the sesamoid bones. F ◗ Mark Emerson is based at Thames
Valley Equine Clinic, Sheephouse Farm, Reading Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 4HF. Tel: 01491 414007; email: tvec@btconnect.com
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Horsemanship The knowledge Horse expert Andrew Seavill shares his trade secrets
The ‘trombone’ drill that turns your horse ‘off’ ere’s a handy exercise to use if your horse moves off of his own accord or gets out of control. Practise this until it becomes an automatic response, and you will help him develop patience. As the horse moves forward at a walk (you can do it at any speed), run your hand down one rein (as far as you can reach) back and forth three or four times as a preparatory command. It looks like you’re playing the trombone. Now, reach down for the rein one more time, bring it to your leg, and hold it like you have done in previous drills while standing still. Look at your stirrup and bend the horse’s neck and hold his head around until he quits moving and stands still. The horse will move, probably in tight circles. Wait until he stops. Let go of the horse’s head, but be able at any time to run your hand down the rein to bend the neck once more. Do the same exercise using the other rein. While you are looking down at your stirrup, and holding your horse’s head firmly, relax your body. Hold the horse’s head for a long time, around 30 seconds. Rub on him to help him relax. Do this drill many times until you get good at it. Do it with rhythm. Let the horse move anywhere he wants, look to your stirrup, gracefully bend the horse’s neck around until he stops and hold on. Don’t make the mistake of not holding on. Hold on to that neck; sit and hold the head for 30 seconds. Anybody can turn a horse on; can you turn him off? This exercise teaches him that you have total control over his body and his actions. In this exercise, you’re asking your horse to make the change from an active, moving state to a passive, relaxed one in a short amount of time. You’re exercising the horse’s emotions here. That’s why you hold him for 30 seconds. You change his mind from whatever it was on to your new way of thinking. F
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If your horse is in the habit of getting out of control – as this one in Argentina is rather – there is a simple exercise you can practise to help him develop patience and to teach him that you have control over his body
Ask Andrew... How should spurs be used in polo? SPURRING IS NOT INTENDED to lengthen a horse’s stride and make him go faster, but is to heighten a horse’s stride and/or cause him to move laterally. To use spurs properly as extensions of your legs, learn to press or squeeze with them. Actually, you press with the spur after you squeeze with your calf. Whatever you do, don’t kick or gouge. Cause your horse to yield from your leg with four ounces of pressure. If your horse doesn’t respond to your leg, then cause him to yield from your spur by pressing or squeezing harder. The secret to using spurs is pressing in the right spot and then knowing when to quit pressing. This is where focusing comes in. The spur is an extension of your leg. Get your focus, use your hands and legs, feel for the response, and quit stimulating. Do you have a question you’d like to ask Andrew? If so write to letters@polotimes.co.uk
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PTAugust 2009 p56-57 Pony power JM MB YC
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The knowledge Pony power
Hamita Aussie high-goal star Jack "Ruki" Baillieu (pictured) has 10 retrained racehorses playing polo in the UK. He tells Tony Ramirez what makes one of his newest British acquisitions so special
Vital statistics
Main photograph by Tony Ramirez
Name: Hamita Height: 15.2hh Colour: Plum Bay Age: 8 years old Sex: Mare Breed: English Thoroughbred
What is Hamita's background? She is a retrained racehorse. I bought her in May last year from British three-goaler Hamid Ali, who bought her when she was an unbroken four-year-old. He retrained her and kept her at Coworth Park, where he keeps Sheikh Mohammed's horses. When I bought her, she was three-quarters trained but I got her playing almost straight away, mainly in last year's medium goal. She was still a little green then but has been really impressive this season and has just got better and better. If we'd been playing England in the Coronation Cup again this year, she definitely would have made my string this time around. She has matured into a really nice high-goal mare. What are her strengths and weaknesses? She has amazing sides and is very lateral and very capable. I rarely play my horses a full chukka but she lasted perfectly in a whole chukka against Zacara in our final group game of the Gold Cup last month, which really impressed me. She clearly has huge capacity. As far as weaknesses go, she is definitely not for everyone. She can be slightly fresh at times and can buck, and she is sometimes also a little spooky, staring at things and making plenty of noise. But that doesn't worry me. She suits me and I'm very happy with her. Which chukkas do you usually play her in? It varies, but I consider her a very important part of my string already. In that game against Zacara, I played her in the fourth chukka – but I will often double her with another of my better ponies in the last if necessary. I tend to rotate the ponies I do this with, because you need to
have a few pretty good ones that can play the important moments in a game. She is definitely one of those ponies. What regime do you follow to keep her in top form? I try to carry as many horses as I can, so I don’t play her too much or overuse her. At the start of the season, when she was a bit heavier, we rode her every other day, but now she will get a good ride at least every three days and we will give her about an hour’s work with 20 minutes’ trot each day in the rest of the week. What do you feed her? Nothing special. Aside from a little polo mix, she pretty much just eats oats, oats, oats and more oats! Will you breed from her? I probably will, but she needs to go to a particular type of horse with a good temperament. However, there’s always a slight risk because, although she is a Thoroughbred, we don’t exactly know her line. Would you ever sell her? She is fast becoming one of my best horses, so I wouldn’t be looking to sell her at the moment. However, you know what they say, everything is for sale really! Why do you think there are not more retrained horses playing polo in the UK? I think the temperament of the racing Thoroughbreds here in England tends to be a little hotter than, for example, those in New Zealand or Australia. Calmer ponies are usually considered more suitable for polo. F
Experts in polo nutrition Tel: +44 (0)1371 850247 www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk 56 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
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Feeding The knowledge Lorna Jowett, specialist equine nutritionist, gives expert advice on all things edible
Why do some players muzzle their ponies? What are the pros and cons? Good question! Basically, the idea is to stop ponies eating their bedding, so they don’t get colic or so their performance isn’t hindered from being “heavy”. However, personally I don’t think there are any benefits to using muzzles, unless your vet advises it. And, as far as drawbacks are concerned, where do I start?
Buena pregunta! Básicamente para evitar que los caballos se coman la viruta de las camas sufran cólicos, o que su desempeño se vea afectado por estar “pesados”. En lo personal, no creo que existan beneficios en el uso de trompetas, a menos que lo haya prescrito el veterinario. Desventajas: por dónde empiezo?
Psychologically, it’s depressing for a horse not to be allowed to chew. Chewing is natural for animals that have evolved to trickle-feed, which is why many ponies try to scoop bedding into their muzzles – only to have the top and holes taped up. Scientific research proves that horses deprived of fibre are more likely to develop behaviour such as wind-sucking, cribbing and weaving, leading to a more acidic gut and further behavioural issues.
Psicológicamente, es deprimente para el caballo que no le permitan masticar. El masticar es un acto natural en animales que han evolucionado con la necesidad de comer en forma casi constante pequeñas cantidades, es por eso que el caballo entrompetado tiende a levantar viruta por los agujeros, hasta que estos son tapados.
Physically, the digestive tract is compromised and the beneficial bacteria in the hindgut are disrupted, increasing the risks of colic and affecting overall health, fitness and exercise tolerance. The gut is mechanically compromised when empty, which heightens the chance of twisted gut and gas colic. When polo ponies stand for several hours wearing a muzzle, they cannot chew, so saliva is not produced. Saliva acts as a “buffer” to the acid that is constantly produced in the stomach and, if the stomach is empty for long periods, this acid “spits” into unprotected areas, causing ulceration.
Investigaciones científicas demostran que caballos a los que se los priva de fibra son mas propensos a desarrollar un comportamiento estereotipado como chupar aire y el amaqueo, generando otras complicaciones serias como un intestino ácido y problemas de conducta. Físicamente, el sistema digestivo se ve comprometido cuando bacteria benéfica en el intestino se ve alterada, aumentando el riesgo de cólicos y afectando a la salud del animal, su estado físico y su respuesta al ejercicio. Mecánicamente el intestino se ve comprometido al estar vacío, lo que incrementa las posibilidades de un intestino retorcido y cólicos por gases.
Excess acid may also eventually enter the small intestine and hindgut, where absorption of nutrients (hard feed) and fibre will be disrupted considerably, killing off beneficial bacteria.
Cuando los caballos de polo pasan varias horas entrompetados, no pueden masticar por lo que no producen saliva. La saliva actúa como defensa contra el ácido que produce el estómago y, si el estómago esta vacío por períodos prolongados, el ácido salpica áreas desprotegidas, ocasionando úlceras. El exceso de ácido eventualmente puede llegar a los intestinos donde se produce la absorción de nutrientes y fibra, eliminando bacterias beneficiarias y ocasionando considerables incovenientes.
Overall, muzzles are not good news for polo ponies. F
En general, entrompetar es perjudicial para el caballo. F
A muzzled polo pony. Muzzles can lead to an increased risk of stomach ulcers and twisted gut, as well as behavioural problems such as weaving
Tip of the month Allow access to more good quality, soft, digestible hay or haylage and take away those muzzles – you won’t have a “heavy” horse, just a healthy, happy one! No uses trompetas y permití el acceso a una mayor cantidad de fibra suave y fácil de digerir, en forma de fardo seco o húmedo (haylage). No vas a tener un caballo pesado, sino un caballo saludable y feliz!
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PTAugust 2009 p60-63 Travel YC JM MB
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The knowledge Travel
Where the door is open, rain or shine Surrey player Linda Muddle fulfilled a dream of opening an Argentine estancia last autumn, and El Milagro is the result. Cowdray regular Vanessa Taylor heads up the Pan Americana highway with her husband to check it out hen most women get divorced, they buy a new car or change the colour of their hair. Not Linda Muddle. More of a Karen Blixen than an Ivana Trump, when she got divorced her first thought was to buy a farm in Argentina. Two years in the making, her dream estancia is now open for business. We arrived at El Milagro in Open Door in the early evening to the worrying noise of the frogs announcing rain, and hoped they were either lying or mistaken. Open Door is the next polo
All photographs by Vanessa Taylor
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enclave after Pilar on the Pan Americana highway and, if Pilar is the equivalent to Guards, then Open Door is Argentine polo country’s Cirencester or Cowdray. With jowl houses, back-to-back polo fields and lovely tracks and gateways, it is more country and less chic that the grounds closer to the city – more Midhurst than Ascot. Thanks to my inability to listen to instructions of any kind and our slow English driving, it took more than the “30 minutes from Palermo on a good run” that was suggested by the farm’s resident four-goaler, Eduardo “Ronco” Miles. However, the arrival at the house is a splendid
one. As you approach on the drive, past stick and ball fields and lovely-looking stables, you are greeted by a view of the house sitting proudly in front of two magnificent polo fields. We made our tardy entrance just in time to sit down to dinner, enjoying scrumptious empanadas – a speciality of the Salta region in the north of the country, from where El Milagro’s cooks all hail. We were seated around a giant table with other guests. These varied from a couple of beginners who wanted to learn about polo as part of their wider travels around Argentina to the professionals in
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residence at the estancia for the season. There was also a doctor who picked up the game at medical school, looking to improve her skills, and her friend with a similar idea, a lawyer. The house can accommodate up to 10 guests, but a typical week would only welcome about six players as the organisers aim to create the atmosphere of a relaxing house party. Linda herself also sat down to eat with us all and, as a group, we successfully navigated everything from Argentine politics to high-goal polo in our lengthy conversations. Polo, in particular, was top of the agenda, as one might expect, but personally I always find discussion on the intricacies of Argentine politicians extremely entertaining – though lessso now that it seems our own political leaders are no better, only perhaps marginally more subtle!
Sleeping arrangements We were shown to our bedrooms after supper, and were pleased to discover well-decorated and spacious accommodation with all the comforts – and more – of home. Ours featured a lovely big double bed, white fluffy towels, mosquito nets on the windows, air conditioning, a powerful shower for those who need to change quickly, and a large deep bath
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that I would recommend highly for soaking tired muscles after polo. Each room is separated from the other by wide hallways so, if you are smarting from a loss or gloating from a win, nobody will be able to hear. This is one of El Milagro’s great strengths: the estancia brings aficionados together for good
next day wondering if we would get the chance to play polo at all. However, Ronco conducted eager groundinspections of the estancia’s playing fields – of which there are three in total – and discovered a patch large and dry enough for us to stickand-ball on. Pretty quickly we had a three-on-
‘Ronco’ conducted eager ground-inspections and found a patch large and dry enough. Soon we had a three-on-three contest as other guests joined us, encouraged by our success communal fun and activity, whilst also offering privacy and space to enjoy oneself on one’s own. For those who really like their privacy, it’s possible to take the entire house. This would best suit a large family looking for an escape close to Buenos Aires. El Milagro also has a pool that could occupy children or those not interested in polo-playing. When it’s not raining, that is…
Out on the field We were very unlucky. The frogs hadn’t been having us on unfortunately and, shortly after we retired to our rooms for our first night at the estancia, the rain came. And how. There was as much as 12 inches overnight and we woke the
three contest on a corner of their number two ground, as others guests joined us, encouraged by our success. The ponies, presumably used to running hard in big open spaces, took to the challenge of a shorter game impressively, showing themselves to be very well schooled indeed. A shorter game might even have been a valuable new experience for some of the ponies and it also gave us the chance to practise with beginners, Nick and Pippa, who acquitted themselves admirably. They had an excellent first chukka and an enjoyable time was had by all. Nevertheless, it was a shame not to get the chance to test the number one ground X
From left: Linda Muddle, with resident professionals Hernan Foutham and Eduardo Miles, in front of the splendid house
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The knowledge Travel
Clockwise from top left: Javier, who has worked with Hernan and Eduardo since childhood; one of two stable yards at the estancia that services the club and its guests; evening light illuminates part of the air-conditioned guest accommodation at Casa El Milagro; Linda’s longtime groom, Jorge, checks over a pony before chukkas; a groom exercises two of the ponies available for hire, of which there are some 50 for all abilities; Hernan, Eduardo and LInda ride out to chukkas; guests relax in the main sitting room at the farmhouse
X properly. Crowned with the obligatory
“Tifton” grass, it is the same size as Palermo and looks a beautiful surface. As far as our visit was concerned, it was ironic to be told proudly by Linda that all the grounds are irrigated daily!
The verdict Not only an estancia for visiting players, El Milagro is also a fully registered polo club. As well as ensuring polo throughout the English winter, the advantage of this status is that the resident professionals – who range from two to six goals – are able to provide tuition for guests of all levels and, having judged them, arrange a local tournament at the appropriate standard to best help them improve their game. There are as many as 10 resident pros at peak times and they tailor the polo to suit their guests. They can even organise for a team to take part in a tournament elsewhere. We were sorry to be staying for such a short time, especially given that our opportunities to play were stifled by so much rain, but I met up with Nick and Pippa a few weeks later at Palermo
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and asked them how the rest of their stay had gone. Despite having more rain, they told me they had had a fantastic time, improved their riding, enjoyed playing a bit of polo and they felt that Linda and her team had looked after them very well indeed. On this basis, the potential for El Milagro looks limitless. Projects already ongoing include increasing the stabling capacity – El Milagro currently keeps some 125 horses, of which around 50 are reserved for guests – and landscaping the rest of the estancia’s 80-acre site. I suppose the one question visitors from the UK will want to ask themselves when deciding if El Milagro is for them is: “Do I want to go all the way to Argentina to stay at an English-operated estancia?” Undoubtedly, for some it will be an attraction to have everything done our way and with a point of contact in the UK. However, for some of the more adventurous or seasoned wintering groups in South America, they would perhaps prefer to immerse themselves with the Argentines and do it their way to get the full and genuine gaucho polo estancia experience. That choice is up to you. F
El Milagro essentials A player staying at El Milagro can expect to pay US$400 (approx £250) a day, which includes airport transfers, a full maid service, all food and drinks, a morning of stick-and-ball practice or lessons and four chukkas in the afternoon. An onsite masseuse is also available daily. Non-players can stay for US$100 (approx £62) a day, and ordinary riding can be arranged for these guests at a nominal charge. Excursions off-site can be arranged as desired, from shopping and tango in Buenos Aires – about 45 minutes away – to light aircraft flights across the Pampas. The season runs from the beginning of October until the end of April. Vanessa Taylor travelled to El Milagro in late November. Contact www.elmilagropolo.com.ar Email: lmuddle@hotmail.com
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My travels with Aurora Eastwood Where have your polo travels taken Where is your favourite hotel? It’s in Thailand – the Rayavadee on Krabi you so far this year? Island. The Thais really know how to do I was in Argentina until late January, service and the whole place is spectacular. playing at Arelauquen in Bariloche, before They arranged a visit to “The Beach” on what I returned to Europe in order to supervise I’d describe as a 30ft rocket, complete with the collection of 31 horses from Belgium two 500bhp outboard engines. – foals, stallions and playing ponies to sell on “Driving home in The crossing was more fun than the beach itself! behalf of a patron. For my trip back over the Atlantic, I just our bras and Where is your favourite pants after thought it might be nice to polo destination travel back to Buenos Aires 2008’s aborted outside Argentina? by land and enjoy the Tortugas Open Brazil. Its hospitality and amazing landscape. warmth are second to none. was memorable!” Hindsight is a beautiful The scenery is incredibly lush, thing! The 24 hours on the – Aurora Eastwood the beaches are something coach, followed by 16 on a else – and I’m half Brazilian, plane then a drive to Antwerp, left me too, so I automatically feel an affiliation to the absolutely shattered! country and its people. In March I went to Méribel in France with my husband, Nick, who’s in the army and What is the first thing that goes in currently serving on operations in Iraq. It your suitcase on a polo trip? obviously wasn’t a polo trip, but I think it was Goggles. I am completely paranoid about the best holiday I’ve ever had. I can’t get protecting my eyes, so they always go in first. enough of the views in the Alps and I was Where would you like to go for polo introduced to off-piste skiing – challenging that you haven’t yet been? but great fun. I ate nothing but lasagne, chips South Africa. I hear it’s amazing and they’re and crème brûlées: I blame the cold weather! supposed to have awesome fields. Also New Which have been Zealand, as I love mountains your most and I hear they have a few... memorable polo Where is your favourite holidays? restaurant? My sister Heloise and I I can’t choose, as I love so went to Brazil in 2007 to many types of food. But Lisbon buy horses. It was in the far has amazing places to eat. I south, on the border with Aurora loves the Argentine Open lived in Portugal for a while and Argentina and Uruguay. the non-touristy side is very underrated. They’d never had polo-playing girls there before and we were treated like royalty. What are your happiest holiday We had guided tours of all the estancias, memories? and the one belonging to Cabeto Bastos was As a child I spent summers at our house on especially beautiful. His four sons, all the fjords in Norway, with my grandparents, amateurs, played the Camara together in brothers and sisters. It was idyllic and I am 2007. Heloise and I felt like rock stars, sad that the polo season no longer allows especially when we were taken out on the me to go. town. The locals stopped dancing and just Where do you think every polo stared – it was hilarious! player should visit? Another funny moment was when Fiona Argentina. There’s nothing comparable to their Turney and I had to strip down to bras and spring season. The incredible polo, pants to drive home after being caught in a culminating in the Open – it’s just brilliant. To downpour at the aborted Tortugas Open final that end, who wants to lend me some ponies? in 2008. It was a good job the windows ◗ Interview by Antje Derks misted up.
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Property The knowledge
Local, low-goal and lovely Are you ready to keep your ponies at home? Josephine Brooks tracks down houses with stables that lie a quick drive from friendly grassroots clubs his month we’ve searched high and low for player-friendly properties close to sociable low-goal clubs. For players starting out in the game, these homes are ideal for those with a handful of ponies they want to keep at home, a very short drive from their local club. In the Gloucestershire village of Minchinhampton, 15 minutes by horsebox from Edgeworth Polo Club, Burnt Ash House, which once belonged to Nick and Ginny Williams – stalwarts of the polo scene at home and abroad and parents of Inglesham’s Roddy – is up for sale. With a handsome period house, nearly seven acres and five stables, at £1.35m it represents a relative bargain for these parts – perhaps because it sits on a fairly main road. However, for a polo player that could be a plus – getting in with the lorry would be easy. And with Cirencester’s Aston Down ground a few hundred yards away, the Beaufort 10 miles to the south and Cirencester Park 10 miles to the east, this is a dream location. The setting is also endorsed by one of polo’s most famous families, the Hipwoods, who own a property right opposite, as well as keen low-goal player Alison Clark, who featured in “Ladies who work hard and play hard” article in the June issue. A further bonus is a heated swimming pool outside, plus an extraordinary wooden Swedishstyle barbeque hut with a fire in the middle that could come into its own for post-polo gettogethers. The property comes in two lots; the
T
Burnt Ash House, once home to the Williams family
second includes a level 1.8-acre paddock plus further stabling. Contact Hamptons (01424 263559; www.hamptons.co.uk for more details. Further north, seven miles from the all-yearround low-goal hub that is Rugby Polo Club in Warwickshire, lies Old Marton Glebe farm, a spacious three-bedroom property priced at £795,000 through Knight Frank (01789 297735; www.knightfrank.co.uk) with wooden beams and a double-height sitting room. In the four acres of grounds are three stables and a decent-sized arena for schooling or winter exercise. Another grassroots club with a year-round timetable is West Wycombe. Just a couple of miles away, in Bledlow Ridge village, lies Chiltern Hills Farm, which would perhaps suit a poloplaying commuter. The four-bedroom property, which has three acres, stabling and a manege, is for sale for £775,000 through Strutt and Parker (01844 342571; www.struttandparker.com). The
house is a modern build of reclaimed brick, and has views over open countryside. The Berkshire clubs are within easy reach too, as is the new club of Lacey Green, north of High Wycombe. South of the M25 and also a good bet for keen novices and intermediates is Sussex Polo, whose owners pride themselves on offering competitive play at competitive prices. Within hacking distance of its fields at Rowfant is a six-acre property with stables, up for sale for £895,000 through Cubitt and West (01342 314324; www.cubittandwest.co.uk). The modern, five-bedroom house, one mile from the
The Swedish barbecue hut would come into its own for post-polo parties club, features three en-suite doubles and the owners have gone to town on the bathrooms. There are four loose boxes, a tack and feed room and a further outbuilding/store. Also close to Sussex – though even closer to Knepp Castle, another good low-goal choice – is an attractive former gamekeeper’s cottage that has been extended into a five-bedroom house. Priced at £885,000, also through Cubitt and West (01403 731901), it is in a wonderful rural location and has stabling for five as well as a mobile home suitable for a groom. A further adjacent six acres is available via separate negotiation. F
Three houses for serious starters
£625,000 – A four-bedroom bungalow on Frankton Lane, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Warks, with a two-acre paddock, loose boxes and an indoor pool. Six miles from Rugby Polo Club. Through Loveitts, Coventry (02476 258421)
£650,000 – Four-bedroom Seaborough Barn, a spectacular, thatched conversion, sits in 2.4 acres and has three stables and an arena. Three miles from Little Bentley, Essex. Through Jackson-Stops (01245 467600; www.jackson-stops.co.uk)
£815,000 – A gorgeous three-bedroom cottage with five stables, a barn and a tack room, in 12 acres. At Loosely Row near Princes Risborough, Bucks, on the doorstep of Lacey Green. Through Hurst (01494 521234; www.hursts.co.uk)
For further information with regard to equestrian property sales contracts, please contact Mark Charter at Blake Lapthorn directly: on 023 8085 7116; via email, at mark.charter@bllaw.co.uk; or write to Mark Charter, Partner, Real Estate, Blake Lapthorn, New Kings Court, Tollgate, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 3LG
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The knowledge Dates for the diary
What’s on in August
For comprehensive tournament listings and results, visit www.polotimes.co.uk
Principal fixtures at home and abroad UK highlights Test Matches Cowdray Park – St Regis International (Open): 6 September High-goal Cirencester Park – Warwickshire Cup final (18-20 goal): 9 August Cowdray Park – Challenge Cup and Stocklands Cup finals (18-20 goal): 16 August Guards – Duke of Cornwall (12-16 goal): 18 to 30 August Medium-goal Cowdray Park – Harrison Cup (12-15 goal): 20 July to 2 August Cirencester – National 15 Goal Championship (Open): 11 to 23 August RCBPC – 12-15 Goal Championship (12-15 goal): 15 to 23 August Low-goal Cowdray Park – Holden White Cup final (4-8 goal): 1 August Juniors Hurtwood – Sal Oppenheim British Junior Tournament: 18 to 23 August Cowdray Park – 3C Pony Club Polo
Championships: 7 to 9 August Ladies Ascot Park – National Women’s Tournament (-2-2 goal): 1 to 2 August
France Polo de Deauville – Ellerstina v La Dolfina (40goal): 1 August Polo de Deauville – Deauville Gold Cup (20-goal): 18 to 29 August
Germany Hamburg Polo Club – DM High-Goal: 21 to 30 August
Spain Santa María Polo Club, Sotogrande – Hackett Bronze Cup (20-goal): 28 July to 1 August Santa María Polo Club, Sotogrande – Sotogrande Silver Cup (20-goal): 3 to 15 August Santa María Polo Club, Sotogrande – JaegerLeCoultre Gold Cup (20-goal): 17 to 29 August
Switzerland Saanen/Gstaad airfield – Hublot Polo Gold Cup (16-18 goal): 20 to 23 August Zurich Park Polo Club – Swiss Open Challenge Cup (18-goal): 25 to 30 August
USA Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club – 2009 America Gold Cup (20-goal): 5 to 16 August Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club – Pacific Coast Open (16-20 goal): 28 to 30 August
Sweden Almare Stäket Polo Country Club – Scandinavian Polo Open: 22 to 23 August Stockholm Polo Club – Jaeger-LeCoultre Stockholm Polo Open: 29 to 30 August
Cartier Day trivia In the July Issue of Polo Times, the Cartier International Day facts and stats box on page 13 erroneously stated that England have only played the USA for the Westchester Cup at Smith’s Lawn once in the past 25 years. In fact, the Westchester has been played for twice at Smith’s Lawn, in 1992 and 1997, with the scores running at one win each for the two countries.
Fixtures High 20 Goal
Low 6 Goal
Cirencester Warwickshire Cup 21 July-9 August Cowdray Cowdray Park Challenge Cup 10-16 August
Other High Goal Guards Duke of Cornwall
18-30 August
Medium 15 Goal Cirencester National 15 Goal Cowdray Harrison Cup Coworth Valerie Halford Memorial RCBPC 12-15 Goal Championship*
11-23 August 20 July-2 August 7-24 August 15-23 August
Intermediate 12 Goal Cirencester Cheltenham Cup Fifield Invitational Guards Duke of Wellington Trophy Guards Autumn Nations Ham Dubai Trophy RCBPC 8-12 Goal Championship*
25 August-6 Sept 11-16 August 28 July-16 August 25 August-13 Sept 28 July-2 August 25 August-6 Sept
Intermediate 10 Goal Beaufort The Non-Playing Members Beverley The Yorkshire Nations Cup RCBPC Polo Festival*
1-9 August 21-31 August 27 July-9 August
Low 8 Goal Beaufort The Wichenford Bowl Cowdray Holden White Challenge Cup Dundee TMI Tournament Fifield Challenge Cup Guards Town & County Championship Ham Roehampton Cup Kirtlington Budgett Everett Trophy Knepp August 8 Goal RCBPC Polo Festival* RLS The Wilson Cup*
14-22 August 17 July-1 August 15 August 28 July-2 August 31 July-15 August 13-23 August 4-16 August 6-9 August 1-9 August 12-16 August
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Ascot Whaka Cup Beaufort The Sidebottom Cup Cirencester Kingscote Cup Cowdray The 21 Cup* Coworth Belvedere Arms Trophy Druids Lodge Emerson Trophy* Hertfordshire The NFU Cup Hertfordshire The MWB Polo Inglesham Eraquell/Equimax Trophy Kirtlington Seeneys Tournament* Knepp Savills & Lycetts and Sotheby's New Forest Blue Jackets Summer RLS The Arthingworth Cup* RLS The Ferring Cup* Rugby The Towns Trophy Rutland Seavill Bowl* Taunton Vale The Houldsworth Cup
15-16 August 28 August-6 Sept 20 August-5 Sept 11-13 August 26 August-6 Sept 29-30 August 1-2 August 29-30 August 8-9 August 25-31 August 26-31 August 13-16 August 29 July-2 August 26-30 August 15-16 August 15-16 August 7-9 August
Low 4 Goal Beaufort The Henderson Rosebowl* Beaufort Beaufort 4 Goal Binfield Heath Chairman's Cup Burningfold Matthew Simmonds Cambridge Moorley Horsebox Cup Cheshire Demetriadi Cup* Cheshire Indart Cup* Chester Churton & Aldford Challenge Druids Lodge Aspiga Trophy Edgeworth Last Days of the Raj Edinburgh Edinburgh Autumn Fifield Challenge Cup* Haggis Farm Baileys Horse Feed
Ham Summer Tournament Hurtwood August Challenge Inglesham Kay Thorkildsen Cup Inglesham Plough Inn (Kelmscott) Cup Kirtlington August Chukka Cup* Kirtlington The Lousada Trophy* Knepp South Lodge Hotel Trophy Knepp Shotter and Byers Lacey Green Sponsor Cup Longdole 4 Goal Offchurch Bury Len Trophy RLS The Victors Shield* RLS The Warwickshire Shield* Rugby The Miller Cup Rutland The Ruddles Cup Silver Leys Silver Leys Cup Vaux Park St David's Trophy
1-9 August 4-9 August 1-2 August 29-31 August 29 July-2 August 11-23 August 20-23 August 30 July-2 August 8-9 August 1-2 August 1-2 August 6-9 August 20-23 August 1-2 August 29-31 August 22-23 August 22-23 August
Low 3 Goal Tidworth King's Royal Hussars' Cup* 8-9 August
18 July-2 August 15-23 August 8-9 August 13-16 August 8-9 August 1-2 August 22-23 August 29-30 August 1-2 August 15-16 August 30-31 August 22-23 August 15-16 August
Low 2 Goal Ascot Augustine Cup Beverley John Nash Cup Binfield Heath Alpha Suisse Cheshire Jean Kewley Trophy* Cheshire Henbury Cup* Dedham Vale Henleys Cup Edgeworth The Amir Trophy Edgeworth Stroud Farm Services Epsom General's Cup Hertfordshire The NFU Cup Hertfordshire MWB Polo Challenge Hurtwood Erin's Plate
22-23 August 8-9 August 15-16 August 8-9 August 15-16 August 29-30 August 8-9 August 22-24 August 15-16 August 1-2 August 29-30 August 28 July-2 August
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Hurtwood Club Friendly Tournament 11-16 August Hurtwood El Milagro Holiday 25-30 August Inglesham Inca Memorial Trophy 22-24 August Kirtlington Dashwood Trophy* 18-23 August Kirtlington The Winwick Cup* 4-9 August Knepp Sussex Saddlery 13-16 August Lacey Green The Scottish Tournament 1-2 August Lacey Green Club Tournament 15-16 August Lacey Green La Mariposa Cup 22-23 August Longdole Roxtons 2 Goal 22-23 August RCBPC Polo Festival* 27 July-9 August RLS The Champagne Trophy* 30 July-2 August RLS The Herbaceutica Bowl* 13-16 August RLS The Lord Chamberlain Cup* 27-30 August Rugby The Rugby 2 Goal 29-30 August Sussex Taste International 15-16 August Sussex The Terence Lent Trophy 29-30 August Taunton Vale Orchard Portman 29-30 August Taunton Vale The Dubai Trophy* 1-2 August Taunton Vale Hong Kong Tournament* 22-23 August Tidworth Canada Cup 15-16 August Tidworth Frost Cup 22-23 August Tidworth Light Infantry Trophy 29-30 August W Wycombe Countryside Cup* 15-16 August Waterford Eduardo Albaraccine Trophy 1-3 August
Low 1 Goal Beaufort 1 Goal Beaufort 1 Goal
1-2 August 29-31 August
Low 0 Goal Ascot Scott Dunn Trophy 29-30 August Ascot Ascot Park Cup 8-9 August Binfield Heath Corney & Barrow Cup 29-30 August Brightling The Summer Cup 8-9 August Brightling The Brightling and Burwash 22-23 August Cambridge Moorley Horsebox 8-9 August Inglesham Roxtons Polo 0 Goal 15-16 August Kirtlington Mid Summer Cup* 29 July-2 August Kirtlington Rousham Trophy* 11-16 August Kirtlington Tylor League* (Amateur) 29-31 August Knepp August Zero Goal 6-9 August Knepp Bank Holiday Trophy 28-31 August Lacey Green The Scottish Tournament 1-2 August Lacey Green Sponsor Cup 8-9 August
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Lacey Green Club Tournament Lacey Green La Mariposa Cup Longdole Emerging Tournament Moyne Moyne Plate New Forest Celebration Cup* New Forest Punch Bowl Trophy* New Forest Siamese Cup* Offchurch Bury The Prim Palmer Cup RLS The Susie Challenge Trophy RLS The Lindy Whiteley Memorial Rutland The Collie Cup Silver Leys Silver Leys Cup Sussex Mid Summer Cup Sussex Back to School Trophy Taunton Vale Weston-Super-Mare Tidworth King's Royal Hussars' Cup* Tidworth Frost Cup Vaux Park Shrimps Cup W Somerset Stags Cup Waterford Coolfin Cup White Rose Yorkshire Open
15-16 August 22-23 August 8-9 August 22-23 August 1-2 August 9 August 29-30 August 15-16 August 6-9 August 20-23 August 29-31 August 22-23 August 1-2 August 22-23 August 15-16 August 8-9 August 22-23 August 1-2 August 29-30 August 1-3 August 15-16 August
Low Below 0 Goal Asthall Farm Cinta Cup Dedham Vale Henleys Cup FHM Breast Cancer Campaign New Forest Stick and Ball Trophy* Rugby The Kangaroo Challenge Rugby The No Pro Challenge Rugby The Toft Shield Rutland Ladies & Gentleman 50/50 Sussex Taste International Sussex The Terence Lent Trophy Tidworth Canada Cup Tidworth Light Infantry Trophy Vale of York Conservative Trophy Vale of York Tribella Trophy Vale of York York and Ainsty Hunt Cup Vale of York Polo in the Park W Wycombe Countryside Cup* White Rose Yeo 2 x 2 Challenge
2 August 29-30 August 29 August 22-23 August 1-2 August 15-16 August 29-30 August 15-16 August 15-16 August 29-30 August 15-16 August 29-30 August 1-2 August 8-9 August 15-16 August 29-30 August 15-16 August 30 August
Young England Cowdray The 21 Cup Ham Stagshead Trophy
Picture of the month
11-13 August 16 August
by Tony Ramirez – www.imagesofpolo.com
José Donoso’s mare Viola did not want to be left out of the frame when Tony Ramirez was photographing Lauren and Liz Holton with four-goal Chilean player and rodeo champion Andre Pinosa at Cowdray’s Ambersham ground early last month. Ironically, José didn’t know Pinosa – a great friend of the late Gabriel Donoso – was even in the country, so it was up to his surprised-looking pony to bring it to his and our attention.
Club
contacts (UK and Ireland)
AEPC – Hickstead 01273 834315 All Ireland – +353 (1) 6896732 Apsley End – 01462 712444 Ascot Park – 01276 858545 Ash Farm – 01932 872521 Asthall Farm – 01367 860207 Beaufort – 01666 880510 Belmont, Mill Hill – 01344 829955 Beverley – 01964 544455 Binfield Heath – 01491 411969 Borders Reivers – 01890 840777 Brannockstown – +353 45483708 Brightling – 01435 810017 Bunclody – +353 876605917 Burningfold – 01483 200722 Cambridge & Newmarket – 07769 976781 Carlton House – 01986 892231 Cheshire – 01270 611100 Chester Racecourse – 01244 304602 Cirencester Park – 01285 653225 Cowdray Park – 01730 813257 Coworth Park – 01344 875155 Curraghmore – +353 51387102 Dedham Vale – 01473 280900 Donaghadee – 02891 882521 Druids Lodge – 01722 782597 Dundee & Perth – 07831 365194 Edgeworth – 07879 825660 Edinburgh – 0131 449 6696 Epsom – 01372 748200 FHM – 07778 436468 Fifield – 01628 620061 Foxhill – 0115 9651790 Frolic Farm – 01223 812922 Guards – 01784 434212 Haggis Farm – 01223 460353 Ham – 020 8334 0000 Herbertstown – +353 872552331 Hertfordshire – 01707 256023 Hurtwood Park – 01483 272828 Inglesham – 01367 253939 Kinross – 07831 365194 Kirtlington – 01869 650138 Knepp Castle – 01403 741007 Lacey Green – 07947 725305 Ladyswood – 01666 840880 Limerick – +353 872373903 Little Bentley – 01206 250435 Longdole – 01452 864544 Maywood – 01962 885500 Moyne – +353 851313224 New Forest – 02380 811818 Offchurch Bury – 07785 223383 Orchard – 01258 471000 Park Lane – 01491 411969 Ranksboro – 01572 720046 RMAS – 01276 412276 Royal County of Berkshire – 01344 890060 RLS – 01926 812409 Rugby – 01788 817724 Rutland – 01572 724568 Silver Leys – 01279 652652 St Albans – 07710 262435 Stewarton – 01560 483411 Suffolk Polo – 07990 576974 Sussex Polo – 01342 714920 Taunton – 01823 480460 Tidworth – 01980 846705 Toulston – 01422 372529 Vale of York – 07788 426968 Vaux Park – 01460 242684 West Somerset – 01884 820432 West Wycombe – 01865 858475 White Rose – 01430 875750 Wicklow – +353 (0) 404 67164 ◗ To contact the HPA, tel: 01367 242828 ◗ To contact SUPA, tel: 01344 625124
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The knowledge Gear
BELOW, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Traditional folded panama From Pakeman Catto and Carter (www.pakeman.co.uk; 0500 641113) The verdict: This panama has been hand-woven in Ecuador and shaped and blocked in England. Comes with a smart dark green carrying tube. The damage: £59
Polo panama From Jack Murphy; available from Anything Equine (www.anythingequine.co.uk; 0845 396 4728) The verdict: Robust shape and unlikely to suffer when thrown in the car boot at the end of the day. The damage: £34.99
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Panama boater From Orvis (www.orvis.co.uk; 0870 066 4177) The verdict: Woven in Ecuador and shaped in America, this hat has a good robust feel and is faithful to the 1920s boater style, with a red and navy fabric band. The damage: £75
Casual lazy day panama From Hackett (www.hackett. co.uk; 020 7939 6800) The verdict: With its checked cotton band this lightweight hat is perfect for summery spectating. Floppy, soft and comfy, but not so robust, so handle it gently. The damage: £75
...or if you’re flush and female, go for this summer’s ultimate luxury (above), a creation by milliner Stephen Jones in collaboration with Perrier-Jouët. The gorgeous anemone hat, inspired by the design of Perrier-Jouët’s Belle Époque bottle, comes with a handmade leather hatbox filled with Champagne goodies. Just eight have been made, so if you’re keen, you’ll need to hurry! Available through Harrods “By Appointment”; for details contact the Harrods Wine Shop (020 7893 8777) The damage: £5,000
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Out and about Toast Festival Clapham Common, London, 26-28 June
Chukkas on Toast bring party vibe to town Over three scorching days in late June 17,500 people descended on Clapham Common for polo with a festival vibe, writes Carlie Trotter. “Toast 2009” pitted Britain against the Antipodeans in arena-style matches, while spectators discovered the buzz for themselves in free “have-a-go” sessions, run by Ascot Park, involving foot mallets, a wooden horse and schooling ponies.
The England and New Zealand teams, plus officials, on the Saturday
GB fielded Tarquin Southwell, Andrew Blake-Thomas and Henry Collins, while the visitors – most of whom are based in the UK at this time of year – included Jock Mackay, Tommy Wilson, Rod Gutridge and Victoria Grace (who was born in NZ). On the opening day, the home team beat South Africa 7-6, despite a sterling performance by South Africa’s Sbu Duma, who at one point wowed the crowd by hurtling along the safety rope tapping the ball aloft. Kiwis cheered their side to an 8-7 victory over GB on Saturday, with Peter Grace on the microphone, and the Aussies rounded off the weekend with a draw. Besides live music, “gumboot dancing” and fashion shows, the festival also held wine-tastings, but you needed to grab a seat before the polo finished, as that’s where everyone headed on the final bell. As for the action itself, continuous play was obviously the plan, with little whistle and a few minor tweaks, though Ascot Park manager and umpire Victoria Grace said: “We followed arena rules”. As an informal alternative to Cartier, she added, the event spread the word about the grassroots game. “People often associate high-goal with the sport, when 95 per cent of it is played at grass-roots level,” Grace said.
Peter Grace (right), with Peter Kell, NZ High Commission counsellor for trade and economics, who threw in the ball
Ascot Park’s Robert Burke
Action from England v South Africa
Australians Jock Mackay, James Wayland and Tim Phelan
The Ascot crates had an outing
Photographs courtesy of Toast Festival 2009
Traditional dance was part of the fun
An international match, three on three, was played each day on sun-scorched Clapham Common
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Out and about Enigma fancy dress party, ‘Groups and Pairs’ Todham Stables, Midhurst – 12 July
Snow White steals the show at Todham bash To celebrate the conclusion of the Gold Cup quarter-finals, the transformation of one of Todham’s barns into a clubhouse and as a general excuse for merriment, Enigma threw a party at their team base in mid-July. Patron Jerome “Frenchie” Wirth and his right-hand man Malcolm Borwick, who took over the lease from “Sticky” Glue last year, invited players, Cowdray regulars and a few lucky fans. Importantly, the invitation read: “No costume, no entry!” “Groups and pairs” was the theme. Interpretations were imaginative, and many were dictated by what Haslemere Wardrobe, a local costume hire shop with a dizzying selection of outfits, had in stock. Todham’s traditional stone barn, which used to house nine stables, overlooks “Stick’s Lawn” and, as night fell and an asado smoked away nearby, guests mingled on the freshly paved terrace, trying to recognise new arrivals and sampling various cocktails.
Brothers Tom and James Beim – look at the six-pack on that one
Top marks went to the contingent from Great Trippetts, led by George Milford Haven as Snow White with seven “dwarfs” in tow. But we think these pictures, taken by photographer and player Vanessa Taylor, speak for themselves. To see the full set, visit www.vanessataylorphotography.co.uk and click “Private View”.
Robin and Carolyn Butler as the scarecrow and the lion
Metchie MacDonough, Pablo’s wife, with Matias’s daughter Isabel
Jock Mackay and Andre Fattal
Photographs by Vanessa Taylor – www.vanessataylorphotography.co.uk
The Broncos’ Pablo MacDonough and George Milford Haven
Lila Pearson with Sumaya’s Ahmad Aboughazale
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An elegant Tomás Palacios Bacqué
Ben Turner and Enigma’s Jerome Wirth
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It’s fun to bee Angus McKelvie and Harriet James
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Fina Jurado from Gaudi’s
Matias and Clara MacDonough – in need of a dentist
Slinky rocker Gonzalo Pieres and ski-suited Todham local Charles Roberts
Gareth Evans and Louisa Crossley
Batpair Teresa and Charles Beresford
Jose and Elina Donoso get childish
Party co-hosts Malcolm and Alix Borwick in full finery
Adrian and Hayley Flintstone-Wade
Gonzalito Pieres and groom Andreas Espinoza
Clare and George Milford Haven – aka Bashful and Snow White
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Out and about Christ’s College tour of the UK – 19 June-5 July
English schools provide perfect polo lesson Prominent polo-playing Kiwi school, Christ’s College, arrived in England in late June ready to take on seven of the UK’s most successful public school polo teams. Their tour took them to Millfield School, Kirtlington Park Polo Club, Barton Lodge, Rubgy Polo Club, the HPA’s Little Coxwell and Longdole Polo Club, where they met Millfield, Stowe, Harrow, Wellington, Rubgy, Marlborough and Cheltenham College. The tourists, all of whom played off their new handicaps of three goals, boarded their flight back to Christchurch with just one victory under their belts, one draw and five defeats. However, this is still a record they should be mightily proud of, having lost all but one of these games narrowly and, at times, playing sides with huge handicap advantages received ahead of the first throw-ins. They also won another game against a touring West Indies side.
The Christ’s College line-up (l-r: Marcus Spencer-Bower, James Wood, Ben Brown and Ash Reader)
The highest-scoring encounter of the tour was a dramatic 18-17 defeat at the hands of Rugby, who received eight goals on handicap. Millfield inflicted the heaviest defeat, putting the Kiwis to the sword 10-2 in their opening match of the trip. Christ’s College, playing their first polo since March in this contest, started well, recouping the some of the two-goal handicap advantage they conceded to their hosts to trail 3-2 at half-time. However, jet lag and fitness took its toll in the final two chukkas, where they were comprehensively outplayed. But the tourists proved what they had learnt in the course of the trip with a 8-41/2 victory over Cheltenham College in the last match of the tour, producing fine teamwork and showing some real class. Christ’s College tour organiser, Monique Ellis-Martin, left for home praising the generosity of all the people who lent ponies for the matches, the clubs for the use of their grounds and the schools that hosted the boys.
Ash Reader ready for action
Christ’s College in their white strip face up against Wellington College
Ben Brown takes a breather
James Wood charges up the field on route to goal Stowe’s no.4 winds up for a shot
Photographs by Monique Ellis-Martin
The Kiwis show their appreciation
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The Kiwis at Wellington College
A Millfield player arrives for the match aginst the Kiwis in style
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Boadicea’s Challenge Ladies’ Tournament Little Bentley Park, Essex – 27-28 June
Essex girls do battle Four ladies’ teams converged on Little Bentley Park Polo Club, 15 minutes east of Colchester in rural Essex, for the club’s first women’s tournament, the Boadicea Challenge. Enthusiast Fred Robinson and his partner Marjorie Gillespie set up the Little Bentley – a former turf, oilseed rape and wheat farm – mid-way through the 2007 season but a bout of strangles somewhat stifled 2008 for them, as no horses could visit or leave. This year the club, which has around 25 members, is making up for it by running a tournament every other weekend – and has become known for its friendly pub nights and regular asados as well. With polo manager Gustavo Combes overseeing play, the two-day ladies’ tournament went off without a hitch in glorious sunshine – and the Argentine warned the girls before each match that he would come down heavily on anyone using bad language or rough play… While some players brought their own ponies, many of the club’s 25 or so rental ponies – all of which live out, as do liveries – had a busy weekend, with regulars bagging their favourites. Hotly tipped for the title were Abbots Hall, with Little Bentley regulars Carlie Trotter and Katy Jordan, Emily Cannon, who has recently moved from Fifield, and young Argentine player Diana Cuesta Acosta. The team benefited from three ponies borrowed from club member Nigel Miller, as well as highly competitive direction on the field from Cannon. On the Saturday, Abbots Hall beat Little Bentley Park Angels – whose lynchpin Pippa Watmough picked up most valuable player of the weekend, while Las Marias – with an on-form Izzi Fibow – beat Little Bentley Park Sopranos. In Sunday’s final Abbots Hall beat Las Marias, producing speedy, flowing action and an exciting finish.
Charlene Goudekuil with her miniature dachshund Rolo
Action from Sunday’s final between Abbots Hall and Las Marias
Marjorie Gillespie brings in supplies
The club’s owner, Fred Robinson
Celebrations for the winning team, Abbots Hall (l-r: Katy Jordan, Diana Cuesta Acosta, Emily Cannon and Carlie Trotter) After a day getting ponies match-ready, Antonio Sansava prepares supper
Maj Tristan Halse and Emily Cannon Photographs by Yolanda Carslaw
Claire Wright, who played for two teams, gets the family involved. Left: goal judge Nigel Miller
Umpires Gustavo Combes – also Little Bentley Park’s manager and coach – and Diego Baygar www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 73
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Out and about Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Polo Club, The Army vs 007 – Saturday 20 June
Licence to thrill with 007 The Army challenged a 007 Quantum of Solace team to an exhibition match on the Round Ground polo field at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in June. However, despite producing a typically Bond-like tense and thrilling finale, on this occasion it wasn’t 007 that escaped unscathed, as the Army won it, 81/2-7. The 007 side was made up of one Bond and three Bond girls, as Leroux Hendricks teamed up with Heloise Lorentzen, Lisa Simonds and Claire Blakiston to good effect. Hendricks is a three-goal South African and is heavily involved with the organisation of Memo Gracida’s La Herradura estancia in Pilar. Another blond, like Hollywood’s latest Bond Daniel Craig, he played in black tie trousers and a dress shirt. His female sidekicks wore lilac tops and, with Ascot Park’s Simonds and Officer Cadet Blakiston both defending well, the 007 side ran the Army close. Lorentzen and Hendricks linked up well going forward, both making intelligent and incisive runs, and Lorenzen looked cheap off her handicap of 0. The winning Army side was captained by two-goaler Sean Wilson-Smith, who directed his squad of five players with superior tactical astuteness, bringing the best out in Captain Ben Marshall of the Royal Gurkha Rifles and narrowly taking the home side to victory.
Polo manager Barbara Zingg enjoys a little drink after the end of the match
Leroux Hendricks and Officer Cadet Prince Amir Ibrahim of Malaysia
Jessica Elmhirst, the academy’s adjutant’s wife, presents the trophy to the Army team’s captain for the day, Sean Wilson-Smith
Lisa Simonds of Ascot Park Polo Club
Leroux Hendricks, Michi Gracida and friends
Prince Amir Ibrahim
Officer Cadet Charlie Pearson with Barbara Zingg, who organsied and umpired the match
The two teams pose with the trophy and a brand new Audi Q5 on the Round Ground, set against the instantly recognisable backdrop of Sandhurst’s New College buildings
Photographs by Tony Ramirez
007 Leroux Hendricks
74 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
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Kirtlington Park Polo Club – Sunday 21 June
Dent Cup anniversary banks £20k for charity Kirtlington’s Dent Cup celebrated 20 years in June and marked the event by teaming up with EFG International Bank to raise money for Help for Heroes, the charity for injured servicemen. Guests from all over Oxfordshire were invited to attend a charity lunch prior to watching the polo. George Bailey, MD of Sothebys UK used his considerable persuasive skills when auctioning more than a dozen generously donated lots, which included holidays at a luxury villa in Marrakesh, at a beach paradise in Lamu, Kenya and at a penthouse ski apartment in Tignes. Over £20,000 was raised for Help for Heroes from the day. Launched in October 2007 with a target of raising half a million pounds, the charity has, to date, now raised over £20 million. Commenting on the day, Nick Cook a director of EFG International said “EFG International is an active participant in the dynamic sport of polo in various locations around the world. However, it is extra special when an event is also in support of such a good cause."
Roger Brown playing in the subsidiary final
Don Carlos beat Strategic 6-5 for the Dent Cup, which was presented by Lady Rosanagh Dent to winning patron Charlie Rigby. Don Carlos (6): Charlie Rigby -2; Nicholas Kneale -1; Greg Keyte 5; Mariano Darritchon 4 Strategic (6): Freddie Humphrey -1; Tim Fane 3; Sam Gairdner 5, Peter O’Rorke -1
Charlie Rigby and the Dent Cup with Lady Rosanagh Dent
Peter Saugman, Ali Wills and Laura Mitchell are all smiles
Marie Dent, Andrew Dent and Becky Steel enjoy a drink on the sidelines
Christopher Buxton and Jemima, Justin and Michelle Cadbury
Photographs by Nicholas Wills
Simon Henson, Kate Trowbridge and Billy Henson find their way to the bar
Ron Treverton-Jones, MD of EFG Harris Allday, a division of EFG International
Lord Chadlington and John Steel
Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill and Lisa Jessel www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 75
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Club information
LONGDOLE POLO CLUB Rob Cudmore England Coach, 2 HPA Instructors International Equitrack Polo Arena
August Fixtures 30 July - 2 6-9 13 - 16 13 - 16 20 - 23 25 - 31 25 - 31
Sussex Saddlery 3 a side Genitrix Vase 8 goal challenge South Lodge Hotel trophy Savills, Sotheby’s & Lycetts Credit Crunch league finals
Fantastic clubhouse with licensed bar & excellent viewing of the arena 4 goal 0 goal 2 goal 8 goal 4 goal 6 goal 0 goal
Polo Pony Hire, School Ponies Chukkas and Matches - call the office for Info Individual Coaching, Group Lessons, Social & Corporate Events
For information on membership, polo lessons and general enquiries please call: Tel: (office) 01452 864 544 Mobile: 07974 532 841 email: rob@longdolepolo.com
Email polo@knepp.co.uk or call 01403 741007
www.kneppcastlepoloclub.co.uk
Longdole Polo Club, Birdlip, Gloucestershire, GL4 8LH
August Tournaments 9-10 16-17 3-31 13-14 Sep
Chairman’s Cup Alpha Suisse Corney & Barrow Cup Farewell Tournament
0-4 goal -2-2 goal -4-0 goal -4-0 goal
LOCO 'inner seam free' horse riding jeans and whites
Bridget Hancock on 0797 624 2877 www.binfieldheathpoloclub.co.uk FITNESS EQUIPMENT
August/September Tournaments August
September
8-9
Hartopp Trophy Belvoir Cup 29-31 Ruddles Cup Preston Lodge Bowl 12-13 Masters 19-20 Ranksboro Cup Sandicliffe Cup
Rutland Polo Club
JULY
(2 goal) (-4 goal) (4 goal) (0 goal) (open restricted) (2 goal) (-4 goal)
Further information email rutlandpoloclub@aol.com call 01572 724568
76 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
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Classifieds PONIES
EQUIPMENT
GIFTS
FARRIER
Farrier Services Specialists in high goal polo ponies Berkshire & Surrey areas (all areas considered) Also: Racing, Riding, Driving and Dressage
Prices from ÂŁ50 Contact Tom Cunningham Mob: 0774 820 7037 Tel: 01932 873707 SUPPLEMENTS
www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 77
PTAugust 2009 p78-79 Classifieds
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Classifieds TRANSPORT The New Lightweight body by
Polo Lorries Made to Order Contact Cris Matthews on 07885 734 282 Polo Lorries built by qualified engineer and polo player who understands your requirements. • Can adapt to your specifications. • Any repairs to partitions, ramps, floors, welding of cabs, resprays and M.O.T preparation. • Or keep your container and we can swap your chassis/cab for a newer one. • Pick up and delivery service.
email: crispmatthews@hotmail.co.uk
Get yourself noticed email: karen@polotimes.co.uk
Our website gets over 50,000 hits a month
78 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
TRISTAR★★★ This revolutionary horsebox is designed to achieve a payload of approximately 3 tons – which means you can legally carry: 5 medium weight 16hh horses – around 600kg each, or 6 polo ponies of an average 460kg each – and this also includes all tack! This innovative body can be produced in any length from 10’ – 30’, with the same variations in specification as any other vehicle in our range.
www.tristarhorsesboxes.co.uk
Tel: 01570 422250 Fax: 01570 423842 Email: sales@tristarhorseboxes.co.uk
PTAugust 2009 p78-79 Classifieds
DESTINATIONS
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LIVERY
GROUND MAINTENANCE
EQUIPMENT
CH GROUNDS MAINTENANCE LTD Specialists in the construction, maintenance and drainage of polo grounds.
CONSTRUCTION SAND SPREADING VERTI-DRAINING OVERSEEDING DRAINAGE & SPRAYING
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CHESHAM OFFICE Tel: (01494) 758208 Fax: (01494) 758886 Email: mike@chgrounds.com www.chgrounds.com
www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 79
PTAugust 2009 p80-81 Classifieds
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Classifieds PONIES 15 HH, 11 YEAR OLD BEAUTIFUL ARGENTINIAN POLO MARE: Genuine pony. Fit/ready to go. Always sound. Easy to handle. Played pony club/medium goal. Currently playing up to 6 goal. Only for sale due to cutbacks. £5,500 private home only. 07970 568555. STRING FOR SALE: Mariana, 15.2hh bay mare, 12 years old. Played 2 seasons of 40 goal in Argentina, now playing 2-12 goal, £19,000. Sambuca, 15.2hh chestnut mare, 12 years old. Patron pony to play up to 12 goal, £15,000. Vodka, 15.2hh palamino mare, 10 years old. Amazing athlete playing up to 12 goal, £15,000. Cascade, 15.2hh dark bay mare, 14 years old. Played up to 15 goal, £11,000. Tel: 07738 684480. 15HH, 10 YEAR OLD ARGENTINE MARE: Sweet natured, genuine pony who's never sick or sorry. Fast, safe and easy to handle. Has played medium goal to pony club but would also suit younger, less experienced players. Fit and ready to go now due to Uni commitments. £5,000 to private home only. Tel: 0148873734 or 07831 669209 (Berks). 5 YEAR OLD TB MARE: 15.1hh bay, first season playing farm chukkas good mouth and attitude windsucks hence £3,000. 14.2hh dark bay 11 year old Argentine mare very easy quick and responsive £6,500. 07771 852871(Berkshire)
THOROUGHBRED BLACK MARE 18 YEAR OLD SCHOOL MASTER: Perfect horse for beginners or low goal players. Played all levels of pony club and young HPA. Easy horse to work with in all aspects and very sound. £2000. Contact Nicholson on 07515 063079. NUMEROUS PONIES FOR SALE: 5 - 15 years, will suit patrons and professionals. Green ponies to school masters. £1.5k - £10k. Please call Richard on 07711 476222. PERFECT PONY CLUB PONY: 14hh Argentine mare, 11years old, bomb proof, great mouth, faultless in every way. Will suit any level. £6,000. Please call Richard on 07711 476222.
15.3HH 6 YEAR OLD ARGENTINE MARE - £3000: Ideal for PC or more advanced, played 12 goal. Competes for Cambridge University. Price due to manageable back problem, completely sound since treatment, now merely requires appropriate schooling. 07786 607945.
TWO PONIES FOR SALE AS RELOCATING TO THE USA: Two excellent polo ponies for sale 7 and 9 years old, both fast, responsive, easy to play. £9,500 each. Patron or pro ride. Selling as relocating to the US, call Giuseppe on 0796 116 7372. View/try at Binfield Polo Club, Windsor. www.picasaweb.google.co.uk OUTSTANDING PROSPECT: 15.2hh chestnut TB filly. 3 year old. Very good looking, stick and balling starting to play chukkas. Winner over 6f as 2year old. £3500ono. 15.2hh 5 year old TB mare playing chukkas and low goal, good mare to play any level of polo. £5000ono. 07989 712104
BEAUTIFUL 8 YEAR OLD ARGENTINE MARE: Beautiful 8 year old mare. Fast and easy to play. Will suit competent -1 or more. £6,000. Selling due to cutbacks. Call Alex 07776 188155. View/try at Ham Polo Club, London. THOROUGHBRED POLO PONY: Six year old gelding with easy nature, will suit advanced pony club polo player. Selling due to cutbacks! Call Philip 07768 100900. View or try at Hurtwood Park polo club.
GOOD PONIES AVAILABLE TO HIRE OR LEASE: Very nice ponies to suit all standards. Available from a chukka to a season and anything in between. Tel: 07976 279161 or 01258 820495 email jemimasim@aol.com ROCK STAR: Awesome Argentine gelding, super easy, fast and handy, 12 years old. Total star. £4500ono. www.eastwoodstud.com 07970 697593.
80 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
PERFECT PATRON PONY: Grey mare 15hh 6 years old. Easy, nippy, beautiful. Played up to 4-goal so far, £8500 or nearest offer. Call Linda 01306 627255 or 07957 413966. Based near Hurtwood. LUNA - 15.3HH PRETTY LIGHT BAY TB MARE, WELL BUILT. £5,500: We also have; Mosca – talented, agile 7year old. 15hh strawberry roan mare. Suit female/PC player. £7,000. Tota – 15.2hh, aged dark bay mare, plays + hunts. £1,500. Miguelito – 15.2hh, Argentine TB, brilliant aged bay gelding. £1,500 Mob: 07810 863128 or Email: rookery_babe@hotmail.com FAST AND EASY, 10 YEAR OLD TB MARE: 15.1hh polo pony. Bred & played by Roddy Matthews. Has played up to 18 goal, would suit a competent novice. £6,000 for a quick sale. Other ponies available to suit all standards. Please call Clare 07957 587066 or email milleniumcaw@hotmail.com (We’re based south of Guildford, Surrey)
ARGENTINIAN CHESTNUT GELDING 15.1HH – BILLIE: 10 years old. Experienced, quick, easy to do. Rugby, Warwickshire. £4,000. Tel Peter 0772 9996249
15.2HH UP TO WEIGHT MARE: 15.2hh dark bay 10 year old Argentinean mare. Ideal low goal/pony club pony up to weight. Sensible, good hitting platform. Super Langford performer, now playing with 0 goaler at Taunton and Beaufort. Easy and straightforward. Can be tried at Taunton. 01823 461315/07786 235289 15.2HH BAY ARGENTINE GELDING - LOW GOAL PONY: 12 years old. Always sound. Suit beginner or 2 goal patron. Agile with fast turn and smooth paces. Fit and playing in Berkshire area. £3,000. Call 07789 585350
NEW ZEALAND APPALOOSA MARE: She has been outstanding for us in improving handicap to 0 over the last two years. She is a real favourite – always cheerful with a lovely character – has played at much higher levels but at 17 now has the experience to pass on to an up and coming player. Just lost a bit of 5th gear speed and has a job to catch the fastest TB’s in 4 & 6 goal now, otherwise in perfect working order. No quirks and very easy to do for a PC mum or beginner player. £3,950. 07770 526148 (Glos)
BOMBPROOF KIDS/BEGINNER'S/LOW GOAL PATRON'S PONY: Pretty 14.2hh bay Argentine mare. 12 years old. Snaffle mouth, played 8 goal 2009, but happier in Pony Club or low goal. School master, always sound. Owned for 6 years, sadly not fast enough for son playing medium goal. £6,000. 07889 916777
ARGENTINE BRED 15.3HH, 13 YEAR OLD CHESTNUT MARE: Previously owned by Carlos Gracida. Played 15 goal. Very good natured. Lovely to do. Not a novice ride. Very fast and nippy. Played Pony Club. Presently playing at Vaux Park. £4500. Tel 01963 370543.
SITUATIONS HIGH GOAL STABLE MANAGER REQUIRED: High Goal Polo Team based near Cowdray requires a Stable Manager starting asap for year-round position. Must be able to organise and work with grooms and school/prepare ponies to a top standard. On site accommodation and good salary. Please email your CV to milleniumcaw@hotmail.com or call Clare on 07957 587066. TRANSPORT AND MACHINERY
FAST PLAYING PONY FOR SALE/EXCHANGE: 15.3hh polo mare 8 years old. Trained and played by 3 goal pro. Fast, responsive, easy to play. Patron or pro ride. Will take player to the next level. Fit and playing now. £9500 or will exchange for similar price 3 horse non HGV lorry with some live in good condition or smaller Argentine pony of same price/standard under 10yrs. Tel 07823 771140 1 GOALER STRING: 9 year old 15.3hh mare and gelding by Jake played Gannon and up to medium goal with 1 and 3 goaler. Easy to do and play, £7000ono. 6 year old 15.2hh thoroughbred gelding played last year rising star! (07810 872778) or (07989 712104) FANTASTIC LOW/MEDIUM GOAL PONIES: SATNAV: 15'3hh mare, 10 years old. Super smart with fantastic handle. £8,000 ono. SIENNA: 15'1hh mare, 9 years old. Very straight forward and willing, confidence giving. £6,000 ono. Nick Pepper (07939 935076 Hampshire)
EASY/ EXCELLENT TEMPERAMENT- SUITABLE FOR ANY RIDER: 15'1hh chestnut mare, 7 years old, talented, quiet and easy to ride. Price: £6500 OIRO. Can be tried at Ascot Park contact 07515 384163 POLO PONIES AND YOUNG STOCK FOR SALE: We have a selection of polo ponies and young stock for sale to suit all abilities. All home bred out of ex-high goal mares by our half American Quarter Horse stallion. Please contact Gareth on 07930 991454 or gareth@carlshead.co.uk SMART BLACK MARE: Smart black mare called Libby, 15 years old. She has played all levels of polo from Gannon to 15 goal. Very easy to handle. Call Nick Pepper on 07939 935076.
HANDSOME 15.2HH TB POLO PONY/HUNTER £4000: 10 year old gelding. Very easy to play, fast and good in ride-offs. Has been played in Pony Club and low goal matches. Would suit a competent player or a beginner. Also hunts and can jump. Nice temperament and good to box, clip & shoe. £4000. Contact Philippa 07736 048606.
RICE 2 HORSE TRAILER & LLOYD 5 UNIT GANG MOWER: Rice 2 horse trailer/Lloyd 5 unit gang mower both built like a tank £500 each. Also 100 ground boards 18ft £1 each. Tel: 01608 737252 (nr Banbury) DRIVER AVAILABLE: Professional, freelance artic or rigid driver available, with polo pony experience. Clean LGV class C+E licence for 4 years. No accident claims. References available. Oxford/Henley based. Call Jonathan on 07810 772778 or email pellyfry@aol.com
HORSE TRANSPORT & FREELANCE CLASS 1 DRIVER FOR HIRE: Horse transport & driver available. Also freelance driver/groom. 25+ years experience working with & transporting horses in the UK & Europe. Class 1/O/CPC licence holder & DEFRA approved. 01794 323195 - 07786 475123 (Hants/Wilts based).
EQUIPMENT SCOREBOARDS AND CLOCKS ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR POLO: Outdoor and arena sizes. Fully electronic, displaying the time counting down, both scores and chukka number. Automatic bell/horn. Controlled wirelessly by a remote control you can even wear on your arm. Visit www.SportingDesigns.co.uk or call +44 (0)7860 303217
LIVERY WINTER GRAZING AVAILABLE NEAR MIDHURST: Well sheltered secure paddocks on dry sandy ground, 24 hour supervision. Tel 01730 813862 or 07721 512056. MISCELLANEOUS
SEEKING GRAZING: Small polo stud project looking for paddocks and stables in surrey area - can anybody help? Please contact 07973 309515.
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New style classified adverts for ponies From next month, you can add a colour photograph of your horse to your classified advert in the magazine for an extra £15 + VAT. Prices for subscribers £15 for 30 words and £5 for every additional 10 words. Plus £15 for a photo in the magazine and on the website, or £5 for a photo on the website only. Prices for non-subscribers £20 for 30 words and £5 for every additional 10 words. Plus £15 for a photo in the magazine and on the website, or £5 for a photo on the website only. All prices + VAT
Email admin@polotimes.co.uk, telephone 01993 886885
or visit www.polotimes.co.uk When you contact advertisers, please mention that you saw them in Polo Times
Large selection of sticks, saddles, stick & kit bags, knee pads & other polo gear Call or email Jamie Gordon on:
077100 73910 jamiegordon@villamil.co.uk
www.villamil.co.uk
Authorised Dealer
www.polotimes.co.uk August 2009 81
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The last word
A Week
in the life of. .
Photograph by Yolanda Carslaw
AFTER WE BEAT AZZURRA at Cowdray in our Gold Cup quarter-final on Sunday [12 July], Facundo and I decided to stay in Midhurst for the night with our parents, who are there for the summer. We all went to the Enigma team’s fancy dress party at nearby Todham. My mum, dad and younger sister had known they were going all week, and wore some great Abba-style outfits, but Facundo and I weren’t prepared and had to improvise. We put on dressing gowns and ginger wigs, while my younger brother Nico went as one of the Trippetts groundsmen, where he has been based all season. The only absent family member was my older sister, who is married and lives in the States. ON MONDAY WE WERE up around midmorning – we didn’t have many beers the night before, because of the big week ahead, but we’d stayed until 2am and, after a difficult game in the afternoon, we needed a quiet morning! I went to see Nico’s ponies at Trippetts, drank maté with him and his grooms then ate lunch with my parents before Facundo and I headed back to RCBPC for chukkas at 5pm. We played our spare ponies and those we hadn’t used much the day before and tried to decide which to lend to our team-mate Tomas Garbarini to give him extra horsepower. That evening, eight of us went for pizza and pasta at Dom Beni’s, an Italian we like near our accommodation in Berkshire. Facundo and I have separate apartments in the same complex, me with my wife and him with his girlfriend. TUESDAY WAS ANOTHER quiet day. I checked my ponies at 10am then did fitness training with Facundo and Tomas before spending the 82 August 2009 www.polotimes.co.uk
Gonzalito Pieres
The Gold Cup’s MVP tells James Mullan about fancy dress, Dom Beni’s Italian and why you need a little luck to win a big title afternoon with the grooms. Our patron JeanFrançois Decaux came from London to stick-andball then took about 16 of us to a smart sushi restaurant called Zuma, in London. WE PLAYED CHUKKAS on Wednesday at RCBPC about 11am, and Decaux showed his commitment to the Gold Cup by coming again. We mixed up our line-ups, playing with grooms and other players, including five-goaler Rodrigo Rueda, the guy who introduced us to Decaux after Ellerston folded. We only played competitive team chukkas twice all season, as our practices are not really for us but to try horses and get them in the best shape for the next game. If they are good, we will play well. The ponies are the key and we never want to risk hurting them. That evening, Facundo and I watched the video of our quarter-final then looked at our last game against Sumaya, our opponents for the next day. They had beaten us in the first Queen’s
Cup game, but we only lost by a goal in the last chukka so felt confident about meeting them in Thursday’s semi-final. We played cards to relax and take our minds off the game and I went to bed at about 1am. I GOT UP ON THURSDAY at 10.30am and tried to have lunch at a normal time so as not to upset my body. We arrived at Cowdray at 2.45pm, missing the first semi-final [in which Dubai beat Les Lions II], but I heard the result by phone in the car on the way down. They told me how well Cambiaso played, but I didn’t think about that. We had our own final first and I was focused on Sumaya. You can never get ahead of yourself. We were lucky to win our semi-final, as they played better early on and we got our tactics wrong. But the injury to Milo Fernandez Araujo in the final chukka changed the game. It’s always disappointing to see a player or pony get hurt but it proved to be fortunate for us. You need luck and, arguably, they were a bit lucky too when they beat us in the Queen’s. After the game, we didn’t stay for the Broncos’ party at Trippetts, but returned to Berkshire instead and ate dinner at Dom Beni’s. There were 22 of us, all Argentines, and it was a happy evening. ON FRIDAY I CHECKED my horses and then went for a run in the afternoon. I should have done it the other way round as it rained after lunch and I got soaked! We had another fun evening, as Decaux generously treated all the team’s grooms, staff and friends to another meal at Dom Beni’s. There were 44 of us! WE PLAYED CHUKKAS at 10am on Saturday, though Decaux sat this practice out because he was sore from a bash he took in the semifinal. But he joined us for running and stretching with our trainer, Pablo Erbin. I watched the video of our semi-final over lunch then spent a long afternoon in the stables with the grooms talking about the horses and finalising our pony lists for the final. I spent the evening trying to relax then slept from midnight until 11am. I WOKE UP REFRESHED on Sunday but the nerves came on when Facundo and I sat down to eat at midday. We left for Cowdray before 1pm, as we were worried about traffic, but arrived in plenty of time. It was colder than normal, so we spent time warming up in front of what seemed to be a pretty big crowd. I knew the game would come down to the last chukka, but we deserved to win as it was the best we have played as a team all season. Everyone contributed and, at the end, Decaux jumped off his horse and nearly killed himself! We all celebrated long into the night with our families and well over 100 people at the clubhouse at the Berkshire. This time I had more than a few beers, but I was off again on the Wednesday – to Sotogrande, for the Bronze Cup on 28 July. F
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Polo Times August 2009