July 2017 Polo Players' Edition

J U L Y 2 01 7

Roger Williams wins National Championship $5.00 US/$5.50 Canada

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CONTENTS J U LY 201 7

VOL. 20,

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

24 New and old by Emily Dewey

USPA BULLETIN

UVA women, Roger Williams men take titles

30 Zoned in by Gwen Rizzo

6 Association news 10 Instructors Forum

34 Polo on the Volcanoes by Dan Harvey Pedrick

12 Usefuls

USA advances to World Championships

by Tom Goodspeed

The game is back in all its splendor on Mauna Kea

14 18 22 40

J U L Y 2 01 7

OUR COVER

Roger Williams wins National Championship $5.00 US/$5.50 Canada

N O . 11

Roger Williams’ Daymar Rosser edges past SMU’s Michael Armour in the final of the men’s National Intercollegiate Championship Photo by: Elizabeth Hedley

44 58 62 63

by Gwen Rizzo

Equine Athlete by Heather Smith Thomas Polo Scene News, notes, trends & quotes Team USPA Polo in the Pampas

by Ernesto Rodriguez

Polo around the Globe Yesteryears Calendar Marketplace POLO REPORT

48 Tournament results

Morgan Stanley wins 6-goal USPA Masters Cup

OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN SIGNED COLUMNS ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PUBLISHERS OF THIS MAGAZINE.

2 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

THE

OFFICIAL MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE

UNITED STATES POLO ASSOCIATION

Editor & Publisher

GWEN D. RIZZO

Contributing Editors

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS, ERNESTO RODRIGUEZ, ALICE GIPPS, CHRIS ASHTON, TOM GOODSPEED

Editorial Board BOB PUETZ, TONY COPPOLA, TOM BIDDLE, DAWN WEBER, AMI SHINITZKY Art Director DAVID BEVERAGE Prepress PUBLISHERS PRESS Advertising & Editorial Offices USPA Member Subscription Inquiries (800) 232-8772 OR FAX (888) 341-7410 ldolan@uspolo.org

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©Copyright 2017 by USPA Global LLC. No part of this issue may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process without written permission of the publisher. Paul Brown illustrations are ©2016 and are reprinted by permission of Paul Brown Studios, Inc., P.O. Box 925, Hedgesville, WV 25427.

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VOL. 20, No.11 POLO Players’ Edition (ISSN #1096-2255) is published monthly by Rizzo Management Corp. 6008 Reynolds RD, Lake Worth, FL 33449 for U.S. Polo Association, 9011 Lake Worth RD, Lake Worth, FL 33467.

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4 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

From CEO Duncan Huyler The onset of summer in much of the United States serves as a reset for the sport of polo. Grass turns incredible shades of green in the Northeast in April signaling the beginning of practices in May and tournaments in June. Aiken, South Carolina and Houston, Texas get an early start along with Santa Barbara, California, and others across the country.

The National Youth Tournament Series begins while our intercollegiate/interscholastic events go on hiatus along with the high-goal season in Florida and the FIP Zone A Playoffs. This is an incredible time to be involved in the USPA and participate in the sport of polo either as a player— young or old—a fan, an official, a parent or a volunteer.

In 1955, Devereux Millburn Jr., then chairman of the USPA, commented in his forward to the annual blue book, “The strength of any sport is derived from the young people who play it.

Neither polo, nor any other game, can long endure unless the supply of active players is constantly being replenished from a reservoir of young men who begin the game, persevere with it, and in due course take it over completely. From this reservoir must come not only the players of the future but also those who will assume the management and direction of the game throughout the country.” Fortunately for the sport of polo and the influence of incredible women such as Sunny Hale, the sport is no longer limited to men only.

Milburn also recognized the merger of the USPA with the Indoor Polo Association of America, putting all of polo in the United States “under one roof” where it remains today. He went on to state, “It has been true in the past and will be true in the future that the important thing is the introduction of new players to polo of whatever kind and

6 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

wherever played. It is thus fitting and proper that all polo should be represented by a single organization.

“Arena polo affords a wonderful opportunity for the young beginners,” continued Milburn. “Fewer horses are required and, hence, the expense for the individual is greatly reduced. In addition, clubs will find it possible to acquire and maintain a string of club ponies; a solution to the problem of young men who do not have ponies of their own or who do not have stabling facilities. Whether it be arena polo or outdoor polo, however, let us never lose sight of our main purpose to encourage young people to play polo.”

It is not unusual to here that our 5,500-member organization consists of many people who are not “polo players,” discounting the youth that play the sport on a regular basis or those who may only have a horse or two. At times, many only want to count those who have eight horses, a truck and trailer, grooms and a pro or two. As Milburn stated over 60 years ago, you cannot sustain a sport without youth.

I am confident Mr. Milburn would be pleased with the multitude of programs that support his beliefs such as the Certified Polo Instructor Program, the National Youth Tournament Series, middle school, interscholastic, intercollegiate, college scholarships, varsity letters, clinics, I/I Startup and Enhancement, Team USPA, the Polo Development Initiative, among others—all having a material effect on the future of polo in the United States.

It is a great time to be involved in polo in this country at any level.

Apply to Team USPA Apply to become a member of Team USPA. The Team USPA program was created in 2010 to improve learning, training and playing opportunities for young American players in an effort to grow and sustain polo in the United States. Members that are accepted into the program will complete a core curriculum during the first year to help individuals find their focus in polo.

After consulting with Team USPA mentors, new members will then focus on one of the three tracks: professional player, industry professional or executive branch. The three-track program allows Team USPA to tailor mentoring and training opportunities to fit the needs of each member.

Interested in applying, or know of a young player that would be a good fit?

Please go to poloskilz.com or uspolo.org to download and fill out an application.

Applications will become available online July 15 and must be submitted by August 15.

DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS

Matt Coppola competes during a Team USPA event in Wellington, Florida.

Cristina Fernandez, club marketing coordinator at cfernandez@uspolo.org for more information.

Digital Blue Books The majority of Blue Books from 1890-present are now available for members to view online. These documents are a member-only benefit, easily accessible and user friendly in PDF format.

They can be used to search for information on past tournaments, players and polo history simply by clicking Control + F on any keyboard. This new benefit can be enjoyed by logging in to the Member Portal on uspolo.org.

Save the Date The fall USPA Board of Governors and Annual Meeting will take place September 27-30 in the Pacific Northwest Circuit at the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington.

Committee and LLC meetings will take place on September 28-29, and the board of governors meeting will take place Saturday, September 30. The room block is for September 26-October 1 at a rate of $185 per night. For additional details, please visit uspolo.org.

Handicap Changes Following a busy winter polo season, player handicaps were reviewed by the USPA National Handicap Committee and changes were officially made to both regular and women’s handicaps. All handicap changes are available on uspolo.org. This year, an online system was used by the committee to vote on player handicap changes. Some of the changes went into effect in April or June while others will take effect January 1, 2018.

The process for handicap recommendations and voting is going

through significant changes for the 2017 Annual Handicap Meeting. The USPA is in the process of developing an online system for club delegates to use for making handicap recommendations for this year’s annual meeting. This online system will streamline the process and make it more efficient. Questions about the handicapping process should be directed to handicaps@uspolo.org.

Club Marketing Materials The USPA now provides to member clubs a Club Brochure and Polo 101 Spectator Guide (indoor and outdoor).

This marketing collateral can be used to hand out at games, polo events and/or community outreach. These brochures were designed to be useful tools to brand clubs and generate interest, while also giving spectators souvenirs to take home.

Each brochure can be customized with club information, logo and photos.

Please note, the USPA will create the brochure and provide a PDF version, however, printing is the responsibility of the club. For clubs that received Polo Development Initiative funding, this expense is reimbursable. Please contact

Published by the United States Polo Association Offices at 9011 Lake Worth Rd. Lake Worth, Florida 33467 (800) 232-USPA Chairman: Joe Meyer President: Chip Campbell Secretary: Tom Gose Treasurer: Sam Ramirez Chief Executive Officer: Duncan Huyler

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 7

ELIZABETH HEDLEY

Aiken Training The USPA Polo Development, LLC hosted young players at the Aiken Training Center for two-week intensive training clinics during the month of May. As part of the program, participants spent time on the field with former 10-goal players Adam Snow and Owen Rinehart learning the nuances of the game. Off-field lectures included equine nutrition with Shelley Onderdonk, DVM and horse management with professional groom Samira Waernlund and player Kylie Sheehan. Coached practice chukkers, swing analysis and a fun end-of-training tournament rounded out the intensive clinics.

NYTS The National Youth Tournament Series qualifying season is well underway. In May, the Maui and Bluewater Creek Polo Clubs hosted their annual NYTS qualifiers after battling several weather-related obstacles.

Maika Panzarini, Alana Benz, John Kirton and Keala Panzarini were named NYTS All-Stars in Maui and Harry Caldwell, Elizabeth Walker, Charlie Caldwell and Gracie Brown were named NYTS All-Stars at Bluewater Creek.

Upcoming NYTS Tournaments include: July 8 South Bay Polo Club July 8-9 St. Louis Polo Club July 15 Santa Barbara Polo Club July 15-17 Gardnertown Polo Club July 19 Toronto Polo Club Southampton Polo Club July 22-23 Blackberry Polo Club Congressional Polo Club July 23 Seneca Polo Club July 30 Big Horn Polo Club Will Rogers Polo Club

Umpire Bootcamp Three members of Team USPA—Remy 8 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Muller, Matias Gonzalez and Marissa Wells—participated in the Aiken Umpire Boot Camp hosted by the USPA Umpires, LLC. Muller, Gonzalez and Wells spent time in the classroom discussing new rule changes and analyzing videos of matches. They were then given the opportunity to put their umpiring skills to the test during several practice matches throughout the week. All members of Team USPA are required to be certified umpires.

Two-week intensive training for young players was held at Aiken Training Center in May.

Intern Program This summer, 10 interns from the USPA Intern Program will work at clubs across the country in Connecticut, Aiken, Wyoming and Toronto. Most are products of the Intercollegiate/Interscholastic program and range from recent high school to college graduates.

These interns will have a chance to gain crucial experience in fields such as working for a breeding operation, being an assistant polo instructor, and learning how to manage a club. The intern program is also proud to have David Ragland as the chairman of the newly-formed Polo Development Intern Sub-Committee.

I/I Varsity Letters CPI The Certified Polo Instructor Program currently has over 50 instructors across the country. For more information about how to become a certified instructor contact Jess Downey at jdowney@uspolo.org.

Congratulations to our 85 Interscholastic Varsity Letter recipients for 2017!

I/I Youth Clinic Virginia Polo Center Youth Clinic, July 6-8, Charlottesville, Virginia. Contact Lou Lopez at: llopez@vapolo.org.

Without officials It’s just recess.

USPA Umpires, LLC To date, our professional umpires have officiated over 1,800 ames, at over 80 clubs includ 9 international clubs.

For more information r rdin professional umpir either Charles Muldoon: cmuldoon@uspolo.or or For information r

at your club. Please contact Mitchell: mmitchell@uspolo.or

ardin umpire clinics, please contact Steve Lane: slane@uspolo.or

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BY TOM GOODSPEED

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ITS A HIT! Good shots are all about body position, timing and follow through

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f you are not quite as successful with your shots as you’d like to be, there are five ways you can improve this season. First, strengthen your grip, then build a better hitting stance, swing sooner, brush the surface when you swing and rotate your body as you follow through with your swing.

Get a grip A lot of players have too loose a grip when they are hitting. Tighten your grip with your bottom three fingers (pinky, ring, and middle finger) on the mallet prior to a swing. Your thumb and forefinger are more relaxed, but tighten the base of your right hand as you begin to swing.

This allows you to control the positioning of your mallet head as you swing through the ball.

Hit dead center on the mallethead, the “sweet spot” where the cane enters the mallethead. However, it is not always easy to hit dead center, and a good grip will help salvage shots that are not dead center. A loose grip will lose out to the force of the impact of mallet against ball, especially at speed. A good grip will offset that force of impact when not hitting dead center. Relax between shots, but tighten your grip as soon as you start your swing.

Some players stick and ball or practice with either a loose sling or no sling at all.

If they don’t tighten their grip when swinging, they will likely lose their mallet.

When not playing, you can work on strengthening your grip by squeezing a squash ball while walking around or talking on the phone.

Hitting stance Many players first start swinging at a ball from the sitting position. They are than encouraged to stand in their stirrups

10 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

to hit the ball to make better use of their upper body when hitting. While doing so, riders will do whatever is necessary to maintain a sense of balance. It is not unusual to see players holding the reins tightly (and thus their horses’ mouths) as they pull themselves up into a modified stance then fall back into the saddle during the swing. Your horse’s mouth should not be used for balance or support.

Though not everyone will agree, you can put your rein hand on your horse’s neck for added support while hitting when needed.

A strong lower leg makes it easier to rise off of your seat since your weight is supported by your lower leg. This does not suggest straightening out your leg and pushing off the balls of your feet. Instead, rise out of your saddle but still maintain a good lower leg angle. Those familiar with posting the trot and even a two-point position for jumping are already fairly familiar with the concept of riding off the lower leg. A two-point position is very close to the hitting position in polo, but the hitting stance requires the lower leg to move even further back and the upper torso more erect.

A strong lower leg allows you to maintain a good angle between the thigh and calf, with a good percentage of your body weight pushed into the heel of your boots.

A percentage of weight is also supported by the grip of the inside of the upper knee and lower thigh.

I tell riders to roll the entire sole of their foot to the outside as if they are trying to show off the bottom of their boots to someone next to them. Turning the sole out pulls the knee and thigh into the saddle, which is so important in supporting the hitting position. If you just squeeze with your knee and thigh, weight will actu-

ally come out of your lower leg whereas if you learn to roll your boot sole out, you will get the added leg grip along with a well-weighted lower leg.

To build lower leg strength, first ensure your stirrup length is correct. Sit in the center of the saddle with your legs hanging straight down. If the stirrups are adjusted correctly, the base of the stirrup will be at your ankle. Stirrups that are too short can throw you further back, while longer stirrups will not support a good hitting position at speed.

Now, without a mallet in hand, place your right hand underneath your rein hand on the horse’s neck for added balance and starting at a walk, rise off the seat of the saddle. Stay balanced in your lower leg without falling back onto your seat as you walk along. Let your lower leg (calf/ankle/foot) slide back a ways to keep you from falling back and your upper torso to stay fairly erect.

Riders often push their upper torso too forward because their lower leg is not far enough back. Be careful, though, not to dig your heels into your horse’s sides as you slide your lower leg back unless you are purposely trying to encourage it to either maintain pace or increase its speed.

If you are turning your soles out your heels won’t be in your horse’s sides.

Once you have mastered it at a walk, work your way up to the trot, and then a slow canter and so on. You want to be able to stay up in your stirrups for as long as you want at any speed to have a good hitting position. And guess what, most players do not have a strong hitting position.

Timing of your swing For obvious reasons, beginners learn to play at slower speeds, taking hundreds of swings at slower speeds. They do a fan-

NANO’S POLO MALLETS polotom@usapolo.com.

tastic job of learning to swing once the ball reaches their stirrup. When they speed up, their brain doesn’t automatically made the necessary adjustment. Players will often compensate by slowing down when approaching the ball even if they are galloping down the field with the pack. On a run, when their brain tells them to swing, they are already past the ball. Even those that realize they swung late will speed up their swing at the last minute, only topping the ball.

Teach your brain something totally unfamiliar—start your swing before you think you should, not when you arrive at the ball. Fighting muscle memory is not so easy so it takes practice. The only way to develop a better eye at speed is stick and balling and practicing at the same speed you want to play.

One exercise that can be helpful is to place four different colored balls 14 feet apart (about the length of an average horse’s stride while cantering) from each other to demonstrate when to swing at different speeds. For example, at a run, instead of waiting until the ball reaches the stirrup to begin the swing, start 42 feet before the ball. So, begin the swing when you reach the first ball to be ready to hit the last ball on time.

Do not overdo it with any of your horses. If you are stick and balling or practicing at speed, set your watch for 3 to 5 minutes per horse and let your horse come back down to an easy canter for a few minutes afterward. During the season, always give the horse a few days a week of just easy exercise rather than working hard every day.

Brush the surface When I ask students to show me their swings, I seldom see them take swings that brush the surface whether on grass or dirt. It is great discipline to brush the surface on all your practice swings, especially with nearside shots. Brushing the surface ensures you are swinging under the centerline of the ball, allowing for

cleaner hits and more loft.

If you struggle to brush the surface at slower speeds, it will be near impossible at greater speeds. Consider using a longer mallet if you struggle with brushing the surface. Find a mallet length you are comfortable hitting with on your nearside and adjust your body position on your offside.

If necessary, stand an inch taller on your offside. It may take a little getting used to but the returns are worth it. A longer mallet will get you more balls and hooks.

Follow through While a strong lower leg is needed for support and balance, it is equally important for the upper body to get out over the ball and to rotate the shoulders and hips through the swing. Follow through the swing before returning your shoulders to the center of the saddle.

Practice this without a mallet, staying up in your stirrups at the various gaits. At the same time, practice rotating your shoulders as you swing, starting and ending in line with the horse’s spine without losing balance. If you can’t balance well at a walk and trot, you will not be successful at it running down the field.

Often, players don’t finish their stroke, instead they swing back into their saddle.

While rotating your hips and shoulders, and after brushing the surface, hesitate at the finish of your stroke before returning your body to the center position. Staying with your follow through for another second or two will allow the mallet to stay under the ball a tad longer for more loft and compliment the angle of your mallet upon contact with the ball. This will give you a better chance of sending the ball at the angle you were looking for.

Tom Goodspeed is a renowned polo instructor, coach and horse trainer.

He achieved a 5-goal handicap outdoors and 9 in the arena. He can be reached at

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(800) 903-NANO (6266) Tel: (561) 793-4911 Fax: (561) 793-4714 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 11

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BY GWEN RIZZO

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SETTLING THE SCORE A score sheet not only helps track goals, it records history

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f your club relies on the umpire or the person changing the numbers on the scoreboard to keep score of the game, it may be time to think about keeping a written record of the match.

Having someone fill out an official score sheet during the match helps avoid any confusion on the field and records the match for the history of the sport.

The most difficult part of keeping a score sheet may be finding someone willing to fill it out, which requires the score keeper to play close attention during the entire match.

An official score sheet can be found on the USPA website (uspolo.org) by clicking on the Forms in the Programs drop-down menu. Simply print out the score sheet and make copies so you have one for each matched played.

Be sure as much information as possible is included on the score sheet, starting with the name and date of the tournament and the name of the club.

Write as neatly as possible.

Include the name of each team and the color of the jerseys to help keep track of who is playing for which team. Write the first and last name of each player and his (or her) handicap. If more than four players (more than three in the arena) participate on any team, put an X in the chukker column for any chukkers that player does not play.

Use open space on the side or another sheet of paper for any notes or other game information, such as an injury or game postponement. For example, if someone is injured, note which chukker it was in and time left in the chukker when the injury occurred. If the injured player is replaced by another player, add the substitute’s name to the team roster and mark an X for the chukkers the injured player and substitute did not play.

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Also make note of any technical fouls called, as well as who they were called on.

When the players line up for the first throw-in, confirm each player’s position. If the line-up has changed, simply cross out the position next to the player’s name and write in the correct position. Some score keepers also like to write in each player’s helmet color next to his name to keep track of the players more easily.

Each chukker has a ‘Goal’ column and a ‘Penalty’ column. Keep track of goals scored using letters of the alphabet, beginning with A for the first goal scored, B for the second goal scored, C for the third goal scored and so forth. Mark the letter in the box corresponding to the player that scored the goal. If the goal was scored on a penalty shot, circle the letter. The letters of the alphabet are listed at the bottom of the score sheet. Put a line through the letter at the bottom once it has been used.

The ‘Penalty’ column is used to keep track of what penalties are called, who committed them and if they resulted in goals scored. Indicate the penalty number (2, 3, 4, 5, 5b or 6) corresponding to the player who committed the penalty and circle the number if the opponent scores the penalty shot.

You will notice a separate box for recording goals knocked in by a horse, referred to as pony goals, and Penalty 1s.

Under that, the total box has a diagonal line through it. In the top half, list the number of goals scored in any given chukker, while total goals for the game go in the bottom half. Remember to include any handicap goals given, if applicable, beginning in the first chukker.

A separate box is used for listing injuries to either equines or humans.

Mark E if an equine is injured or H if a human is injured. You can also list the

position of the player who was injured.

In the totals column on the right, add up the goals scored for each player, then add the handicap. This should match the cumulative total from the chukkers.

If Most Valuable Player or Best Playing Pony awards are given, write the winner of each award on the sheet.

Send, email or fax completed score sheets to this magazine for inclusion in the polo results section. Please provide a list of players for each team that competed in the event and a complete tournament schedule, noting the scores for each match.

Include a high-resolution photo of the winning team, and an action shot if available. High resolution photos are minimally 300 dpi at 4X6 (1200 x 1800 pixels). Brims on baseball caps will often shade the players’ faces, making it difficult to see them. Ask players to remove hats for photos. Zoom in or get close when taking the photo. It is difficult to identify players when they are too far away.

Acceptable photo formats are jpeg, pdf or tiff. Send photos individually. Do not embed photos in word or pdf documents.

Don’t overcrowd the photo with extra people in it. When possible take the photo of just the players, or the players and a presenter. Be sure to identify everyone in the photo, left to right.

For USPA-sanctioned events, fill out the USPA Tournament Results Package listed under Forms under the Programs tab.

Completed forms can be emailed, along with a high resolution photo, to tournaments@uspolo.org for inclusion in the annual Blue Book.

Deciphering the score sheet Why is it important to fill out a score sheet correctly? It is a historical record of the tournament, not just for the club but

for each of the players who participate.

Anyone should be able to read and understand the score sheet.

It can also serve as a guide when identifying players in photos, particularly when team colors and player positions are noted correctly.

In the example scoresheet below, George Miller scored the first goal for the Eastcott team. The Hurricane’s Kirk Johnson scored the next goal. Willis Cox was whistled on a play and Eastcott was awarded a Penalty 3, which George Miller took and converted. The 3 is circled in the Penalty column next to Cox’s name, while the C (indicating the third goal) is circled in the Goal column next to Miller’s name.

Cox was whistled on another Penalty 3, however Eastcott failed to convert the goal so the second 3 is not circled. Cliff Scott also committed fouls resulting in penalties for the Hurricanes, which were not scored.

The first chukker ended with the teams tied 2-2. Eastcott scored both its goals, while Hurricanes were awarded a handicap goal to begin the game, added to Johnson’s goal.

The next goal (D) was scored by Herbert Reid in the second chukker. Kirk Johnson scored the next goal and his teammate Henry Wideman added a Penalty 4 conversion, after Scott was whistled on the play. Wideman’s goal is circled, indicating a penalty shot, while a circled 4 is noted in the Penalty column in the second chukker corresponding to Cliff Scott.

If the umpires award a rehit for any reason it is still recorded as the same penalty. If the ball is knocked over the back line off an opponent’s mallet on a penalty shot, the umpires will award a Safety (Penalty 6). This will be noted as a separate penalty from the original.

The second chukker ended with one goal scored for Eastcott and two for the

Hurricanes, giving Hurricanes the slight 4-3 advantage.

Johnson scored again in the third, while Scott and Reid countered with goals, ending the third tied 5-5. Reid was injured with 30 seconds left in the chukker, and was replaced by John Robinson (see note on bottom left). The Xs in the first three chukkers indicates Robinson did not play those chukkers, while the X associated with Reid’s name in the fourth period indicates he did not play that chukker. An H is noted in the injuries row, indicating a human was injured, under the third chukker. If the pony had also been injured, it would have been indicated with an E. If both fell and were injured, it would read HE. A score sheet can also serve as a learning tool for teams. They can see who is doing most of the fouling and how severe the fouls were. It can also be helpful when scorers keep track of hits that go wide. u

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BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

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THE HEAT IS ON Keep your horses comfortable on and off the field

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eat stress, heat exhaustion and heat stroke are terms that refer to dangerous conditions that may occur when horses are working hard in hot weather. Extremely hot, humid weather can pose a risk for horses in general, but is most likely to be life threatening when a horse is exerting (creating more body heat) or hauled in an enclosed trailer with inadequate ventilation.

Kent Allen, DVM, says the terms heat exhaustion and heat stroke are often used interchangeably. Allen is a sports-medicine veterinarian in Middleburg, Virginia; he was veterinary coordinator for the Atlanta games, veterinary delegate for the Sydney games and the veterinary coordinator for the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

A horse’s temperature can be measured several ways. “Core temperature, at the center of the body, is usually highest—a degree or more higher than rectal temperature. In the past, the only way we had for measuring core temperature was to put a catheter near the heart. Today there are sensors that can be put into the horse,” says. Allen. These are like a big lozenge, put down the throat. It goes into the stomach and eventually passes on through the digestive tract. This measures core temperature once it gets to the small intestine; at that location there’s nothing to skew the reading, such as cold water coming into the stomach when the horse drinks.

“Everything is relative, however. “Even though rectal temperature is lower, if it’s what you are consistently using to measure a horse’s heat load, it all winds up the same, and it’s the most practical to use,” says Allen.

WHY THE BODY OVERHEATS When looking at the problem of heat stress, we need to consider where the heat is coming from, says David Marlin, PhD (Associate 14 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Dean for Research, Hartpury College, Gloucester, UK). An expert in the field of equine exercise physiology, his areas of professional interest are respiratory function in humans and animals, with focus on exercise physiology and thermoregulation.

“Heat is produced in the muscles. The harder a horse works, the hotter he gets. It’s the intensity of the exercise that matters, not simply the running speed. The way we normally define how hard a horse is working is by heart rate,” explains Marlin. Things that affect work intensity are speed, softness of the ground (how much effort is involved with each stride), weight the horse is carrying or pulling, terrain (hills), and climate.

“If it’s very hot, the horse must use extra energy to try to get rid of the heat being produced. If you exercise in cool conditions you don’t have to expend as much energy in getting rid of heat as you do in hot conditions,” he explains.

“About 95 percent or more of the heat produced during exercise is produced by muscles. Like a car engine, they are not 100 percent efficient at converting the potential energy stored (fuels) and oxygen into movement. Heat is produced as a by-product of the chemical reactions,” says Marlin.

“The harder the horse works, the more heat is produced, and the body must get rid of the heat. At the rate a horse works during a race, if he didn’t get rid of any heat produced, his temperature would go up about a degree C per minute (or nearly 2 degrees F per minute). During intense exercise like racing, it’s not uncommon for a horse’s temperature to go up 2 or 3 degrees C (nearly 4 to 6 degrees F.) in a 2 to 3 minute race,” he explains.

HOW THE BODY DISSIPATES HEAT TO KEEP WITHIN A SAFE TEMPERATURE RANGE

Normal temperature for a horse is between

98 and 101 F. Individual horses have a consistent resting temperature. Some are always 99 and others 101. Temperature can vary more widely in horses than humans, with a larger range of safety. A rectal temperature of 103 in a horse is elevated, but not dangerous.

“He just needs walked around, letting him have sips of water, and washing down with cool water,” says Allen. “It’s normal for a horse to heat this much while working.”

In the horse, sweating is the primary means of cooling. “They also dissipate heat via radiation, if air temperature is cooler than the body,” says Allen. “They can also pant (breathe fast and shallow) but this is the least effective cooling strategy, since the horse must breathe through his nose rather than mouth. Unlike the dog, that opens the mouth to pant (losing heat via mouth and tongue) the horse doesn’t have that option,” explains Allen. The horse just breathes faster, to create more air exchange via the lungs.

The horse’s body doesn’t control its temperature during the short term, like a 3minute race. “It allows itself to get hot, like a car engine,” says Marlin. “Blood is equivalent to the cooling fluid in a car. The muscles are like the engine. The car radiator is like the skin. Cooler blood flows to the muscles picking up heat, taking it to the skin and getting rid of it, then circulating through the muscles again. This is like cooling fluid from the car radiator going to the engine, picking up heat and going back to the radiator to get rid of some of the heat before going round again,” he explains.

“Where it’s different for the horse is that the blood is also bringing oxygen to the muscles. There’s only a certain volume of blood in the circulatory system. If the body sends 20 percent of that blood to the skin to try to keep the body cool, this leaves 20 percent less oxygen-rich blood to go to the muscles. So the horse’s body chooses to allow

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itself to get hot so it can send more oxygen to the exercising muscles. Humans keep sending blood to the skin, no matter how hard we’re exercising. This is one reason the horse (especially the Thoroughbred) is such a great athlete; he can run hard for several minutes, storing a large amount of the heat being produced,” says Marlin.

“At the other extreme, endurance horses produce heat more slowly because they are not working as hard. But during an hour of exercise, they’d go up almost 18 degrees F if they didn’t get rid of any heat. The fact their temperature only goes up 2 to 4 degrees means endurance horses are getting rid of maybe 98 percent of the heat being produced, while they are working,” says Marlin.

“The cost for getting rid of this heat is primarily in sweating. The body uses energy to produce sweat. It also loses electrolytes and water. The horses become dehydrated and their electrolyte balance becomes disturbed, depending on what they are taking back in (drinking, electrolyte supplements),” he says.

“Horses can eliminate heat several ways,” says Barney Fleming, DVM (Custer, South Dakota). “The physiology of heat regulation in the horse is a little different from humans, and a lot different than dogs. The latter don’t sweat; they cool themselves via the respiration system by panting,” says Fleming. Horses and humans cool themselves mainly by sweating, but also via respiration, dissipating heat from the lungs.

“The horse’s lungs have a huge surface area. He blows hot air out and draws in cooler air that absorbs heat and blows it back out. He flares his nostrils to aid that process. If the horse’s nostrils are flared, he’s hot and trying to get rid of heat. He must draw in as much air as possible—to supply more oxygen for metabolism of working muscles, and also to dissipate heat,” explains Fleming.

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SIGNS OF HEAT STRESS The rider should be aware of subtle signs of trouble when working in hot weather. “The scary part is that a lot of horses have a tremendous amount of heart and will continue to work even though they’re distressed,” says Allen. “Those horses keep going, but lose some impulsion.” Where normally the horse’s ears POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 15

would be pricked forward and he shows enthusiasm for the job, he may now be lopeared and droopy, without a focus.

“Occasionally, when a horse gets hot, he whinnies—and a lot of people don’t recognize this for what it is (a distress signal).

Horses evolved as herd animals and when in distress they signal the herd they are having problems,” says Allen. “The overheated horse is listless, tired, and moves with a stiffer gait (no bounce). Don’t keep pressing the horse or he may keep going until he collapses,” says Allen.

If the body has been trying to cool via sweating, he may not be able to sweat anymore or sweats at reduced rate if he is dehydrated. “This doubles or triples the risk for heat stroke,” says Fleming. The horse has run out of ways to cool himself, so his temperature shoots higher.

Skin becomes less elastic due to fluid loss from underlying tissues. A pinch of skin pulled out from the neck or point of shoulder does not spring right back into place but stays tented a few seconds. If it takes 2 or 3 seconds for the skin to sink back into place, the horse is moderately dehydrated and has lost at least 4 gallons of fluid, which equates to about 32 pounds of body weight. If the pinch of skin stays elevated for six seconds or longer, he is severely dehydrated.

Mucous membranes such as gums become dry and discolored, turning brick red instead of bubble-gum pink. Heart rate increases as the body tries to pump more blood to the surface for cooling, but has less fluid to do it. The horse’s eyes seem sunken, and eyelids and tissues around the eyes more wrinkled, due to loss of fluid in the tissues.

Any sweat the horse produces will be thick and sticky instead of clear and watery. Capillary refill time is longer than normal; if you press your finger into the gum, the blood does not rush right back afterward. The spot where you pressed out the blood stays pale for several seconds.

Pulse and respiration rate may remain high in spite of rest. Pulse may be weak, heart rhythm may be irregular, intestinal sounds may be diminished or absent if the gut has stopped working. Anal tone is another clue. If the anal sphincter is loose and 16 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

floppy, the horse is tired. It may be difficult to get an accurate temperature on a hot, tired horse because the rectum is so relaxed. If he seems hot but has a normal rectal temperature, be suspicious that it’s not reflecting his true temperature.

The horse starts to look depressed, with lower head carriage, and may not be interested in eating or drinking. He may not be very responsive to people. “The horse might not be sweating, but be hot to the touch,” says Marlin.

The horse can’t keep going in normal fashion and begins stumbling. He may become anxious and start behaving in an irrational or erratic manner, due to overheating of his brain. He may be excited, depressed, or disoriented. He may be oblivious to his surroundings or have difficulty moving.

A hot horse may have rapid, shallow breathing (primary panting), but often the sign of a hot horse is blowing (taking deep gulps of air) as soon as he stops exercising.

“Blowing (second phase panting) is an attempt to get rid of heat,” says Marlin.

“Second phase panting is slower and deeper, with effort. The horse is drawing in as much air as possible, trying to maximize respiratory heat loss. This is one way to recognize a hot horse,” he says.

Horses sometimes become wobbly immediately after extreme exertion in hot weather. “If a horse has been working hard and then stops exercising abruptly, all the blood that was going to the muscles (and very little to the skin) suddenly experiences a big reversal; a lot of blood is shifted toward the skin. Because this is happening very quickly, the blood pressure drops dramatically.

When you see a horse that’s ataxic (uncoordinated, wobbly on his feet) when pulled up after exertion, this is due to low blood pressure,” says Marlin.

“People often mistake it for fatigue or shortage of oxygen. Oxygen levels in the blood do decline during intense exercise but go back to normal almost immediately after the horse pulls up. But blood pressure drops and the horse becomes unsteady because when he stands still the muscles are not pushing the blood in the veins back to the heart.

There is not enough blood going round the system to keep it at the right pressure in the right places. This is a big danger. When horses exercise hard in hot weather and suddenly stop, this is where problems can occur. It’s better to keep them walking so they can start cooling. You don’t want them to come to a sudden stop but it’s also essential to start cooling them,” explains Marlin.

CONDITIONS/RISK

FACTORS THAT CAN

LEAD TO HEAT STROKE

A horse does not have to be exercising to get heat stroke. He may be outside in the heat with no shade, day after day, especially if there’s high humidity and no breeze, and he’s not getting enough salt or electrolytes.

High humidity during hot weather increases the risk. When air is full of moisture, evaporation rate slows or ceases and you lose the cooling effect of sweat. “The hot sweat sits on the skin and becomes insulation, holding heat in rather than dissipating it,” says Fleming. The body doesn’t cool and signals for more sweating. Sweat covers the body and runs off in streams; the horse stays wet but doesn’t become cooler, and quickly overheats. In an arid climate, sweat evaporates almost as fast as it is produced, constantly cooling the body. And if you put water on the horse, it evaporates quickly.

“In areas with high humidity you must help the horse get rid of the heat, by getting rid of the water (scraping it off or continually pouring more over the horse so it runs off, taking heat with it),” says Fleming. “But in the arid West, if air is dry and there’s a breeze, sweat evaporates so fast you may not even see it,” he says.

Be aware of weather conditions and predictions, especially the heat-humidity index.

Don’t work a horse hard when temperature and relative humidity together are dangerously high. A rule of thumb: when temperature and humidity numbers are added together and the total exceeds 130 (as when it’s 80 degrees with 50 percent humidity) there’s risk for overheating. If the total number is 150 or higher, this is the danger zone---any working horse will probably overheat. If the temperature is 90 degrees the horse may get into trouble if humidity is 60

percent, or at 80 degrees if the humidity is 70 percent or higher. When humidity is high, the horse may overheat at a lower temperature just because he can’t get rid of the sweat and is unable to cool himself.

A fit horse usually does better than an unfit fat horse, but in some instances the fit horse might be more at risk just because he has a higher capacity for exercise and may keep going longer. “Sometimes unfit horses save themselves by quitting early,” says Marlin.

DEALING WITH HEAT STRESS: If the horse is overheated, halt, remove the saddle, sponge him with water and provide shade. Walk him in a big circle if there’s a breeze, to cool him on all sides. If he’s severely overheated and dehydrated, get veterinary assistance to give him large volumes of IV fluids to restore what’s been lost and help restore proper blood circulation. While waiting for the vet, try to lower his temperature.

Take rapid action to bring the temperature down. If the horse is not responding within an hour, he needs IV fluids and other treatment. Delaying a couple hours until you can get the horse home might be too late.

One of the quickest ways to cool him is to put cold water where major blood vessels are close to the surface, such as the jugular groove and belly. “The veins there are very close to the surface; they will be standing out prominently if the horse is hot,” says Fleming.

If you use wet towels over the neck or head, continually pour cold water on them. A wet towel left in place without constantly adding cold water or rapidly changing the towels will soon warm up and act as insulation, retaining heat.

Traditional wisdom advised against cold water over major muscles like rump, shoulders and back, to reduce the risk for muscle cramping. Now, many people are not so worried about muscles cramping (more concerned with cooling him quickly), but there’s still difference of opinion regarding how to cool the big muscles. Fleming says it’s not a good idea to wet the whole horse in an arid climate, since rapid evaporation can cool the horse faster than you realize.

“If you chill the big muscles they contract and constrict the blood vessels and actually hinder dissipation of heat. In the East, where humidity is always higher, you can dunk the whole horse in water or pour cool water over his big muscles and get away with it because the water is not evaporating very fast. But in New Mexico if I dunk a horse in cold water, he will cramp up. This defeats the purpose and puts him into a more dangerous category,” says Fleming.

Alternate walking and cooling, since moving helps promote muscle action/blood circulation and blood flow to the skin, and air movement aids evaporation unless humidity is too high. Keep checking the horse’s temperature as you cool him. It should drop about 2 degrees F within 10 minutes. Once it starts to drop, slow down your cooling program. Stop using cold water as soon as his rectal temperature comes down to 101, or when the skin over his hindquarters feels cool after a walking period, or when respiration rate drops below 30. Stop if the horse starts to shiver or stands humped up and cold; this means you’ve gone too far with the cooling. “This is good reason to have a thermometer and continually monitor the horse.

You can actually go too far, with collapse of the blood vessels, and put the horse in worse shape,” explains Fleming.

“Cooling with ‘room temperature’ water all over the body is fine in a hot, dry climate,” says Marlin. The water will evaporate quickly into the dry air, cooling the body. “If it’s hot and humid, you need water lower temperature than the horse (maybe water with ice in it, about 40 degrees F). Some people don’t use enough water. They pour some down the neck but not over the body, think-

ing it might damage the muscles. But if you pour water only on the neck, you are using just one-sixth of the total possible area you could be using to cool the horse. It used to be popular to just hold bags of ice over the jugular veins, but this cools only the blood going to one part of the body. Even the legs provide surface area for cooling. The skin from the legs is about a quarter of the body surface,” explains Marlin.

Fleming says the legs have a lot of exposure for blood vessels since there’s not much muscle covering. “Wetting the legs with cool water, including the feet, can help cool an overheated horse. There’s a lot of blood circulating through the feet. If there’s a stream nearby, just walk the horse into the stream, stand him in the water and use it to keep wetting his jugular groove and abdominal veins,” says Fleming.

Allen says putting ice water over the jugular furrow and neck and scraping it off is helpful. “You can do the same thing up between the hind legs, if the horse is used to your doing this, since the veins are very distended in that area,” he says.

“It’s important for people to realize that large muscle masses, particularly over the back and rump, comprise a lot of the heat generation and it’s crucial to cool them.

When a horse starts getting up to 105 to 106 or higher, you need to use ice water, and lots of it, and be diligently putting it on the horse and scraping it off,” says Allen.

“It’s most important to keep putting more water on, since it will take heat with it as it flows off,” says Marlin. “Scraping may be fine, but your efforts may be better spent in putting on more water, getting more volume u moving over the horse,” he says.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 17

POLO SCENE N E W S

•

NO T E S

•

T R E N D S

•

Q U O T E S

BRIGHT AND BUBBLY

10th Annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic is a hit

sold-out event drew 10,000 spectators including a bevy of A-listers like Alicia Keys, Neil Patrick Harris, Nicole Kidman, Lucy Hale, Kate Mara, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Jessica Jung, Jamie Chung, Ahna O’Reilly, Jessica Hart, Laura Harrier, Andrew Rannells, Lais Riberio and many more.

On the field, players included Nacho Figueras, his wife Delfina Blaquier, Lia Salvo and Bill Ballhaus playing for Veuve Clicquot, while Melissa Ganzi, Ashley Van Metre Busch, HH Sawai Maharaja Padmanabh Singh and Hilario Figueras played for the Liberty Comets. The Veuve Clicquot team came out on top 9-7 in a spirited game against an unusual backdrop of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline, and in the shadows of the Statue of Liberty. Nacho Figueras was named MVP and received a limited-edition timepiece from Hublot, which was designed especially for the Veuve Clicquot event, while Bill Ballhaus’ Via Lactea, played by Hilario Figueras, was Best Playing Pony.

Recording artist and Broadway sensation Jordan Fisher kicked off the day with his striking rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” and the ceremonial ball toss was thrown in

by Priyanka Chopra. Model Coco Rocha took the day off from being a mom and enjoyed stomping divots during half-time while Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys made it a date and soaked in the beautiful afternoon. Kendall Jenner hung with pals including Derek Blasberg, cheering on the polo players at her first-ever polo match.

As part of the event’s promotions, Nacho Figueras threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium a few days prior.

BFA

BFA

THE 10TH ANNUAL Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic was held on June 3 at historic Liberty Island State Park in New Jersey. The

GETTY

The match was played on New Jersey’s Liberty Island located in the Upper New York Bay. The Manhattan skyline made for a unique backdrop.

A special musical performance by Alicia Keys had her singing “Empire State of Mind,” “Girl on Fire,” and “No One.”

18 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Celebrity guests included Kate Mara, Priyanka Chopra, Kendall Jenner, Keri Russell and Nicole Kidman.

DOG’S LIFE

Pet buffalo enjoys home on the farm, even polo

SHELLEY HEATLEY

... He will come up to the [bunkhouse] door and let himself in. It’s hilarious! Although, he is getting to be a little large to be a lap dog and has left a few unpleasant surprises in the house!” said Shelley.

Clyde also waits underneath the window for Clint while he is working in his shop, and enjoys playing with Clint’s dogs.

Recently, Clint started riding him, so of course he had to take it a step further and see if he would make a polo buffalo! Shelley reports that so far, so good. Mortenson owns the Silver and Saddles Polo Club and has modified his roping arena specifically to use for polo. We’ll see what the other polo ponies think of this new polo partner!

SHELLEY HEATLEY

P

OLO PLAYER AND horse trainer Clint Mortenson had always wanted a buffalo. The ranch across the road from his ranch in Sante Fe, New Mexico does some breeding and when the owner mentioned he had a few babies on the ground, Mortenson decided it was time to bring one home. The ox was so young when they brought him home, he was bottle fed for a while.

Shelley and Phil Heatley were staying at Mortenson’s bunkhouse on his ranch and got to meet “Clyde” first hand.

Shelley said Clyde’s temperament is amazing and that he thinks he’s a dog. “He literally walks into Clint’s house. He knows how to open the door so Clint had to start locking it.

Clyde thinks he’s a dog and follows Clint around. He even plays with the dogs.

SHELLEY HEATLEY

SHELLEY HEATLEY

Clint’s 16-yearold son Wyatt helps his dad with Clyde’s polo training.

Clyde lets himself in to the bunkhouse after opening the door himself.

Clyde hangs out with Clint after some training.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 19

LOVING N.Y.

Club introduces programs designed to grow membership

T

HE SOUTHAMPTON POLO CLUB in Watermill, New inviting, entry fees are being waived and the club is providing York kicked off its 28th season in the Hamptons with a full overnight board, umpires, an EMT, coaches and an asado for schedule of competitive polo ranging from 4- to 12-goals. In players, friends and families. addition, the club is adding a number of programs aimed at For members, the club is extending its novice and growing its membership and providing intermediate programs with a new lowan easy path for beginners to experience goal challenge. New players will get a the sport of polo. chance to experience competitive polo at The club recently began an internship an easier and less expensive level than program to help up-and-coming players the regular leagues. It is restricted to advance their careers as professional novice and intermediate players paired players. The club covers the intern’s with a pro or rated player, and novice green fees, provides turnout and covers players from other clubs can participate housing expenses for selectees. In with no fees. Each team will include two return, interns are available for club B-rated players and pros are restricted members to hire for leagues and private from scoring. Matches are played as lessons. This year, the club selected three eight-minute chukkers. The club Team USPA’s Matias Gonzalez, a young expects to have six teams competing in 2-goaler from Wellington, Florida. this series.

This month, on July 19, the club will host a National Youth Tournament Series qualifier. All eligible players are Team USPA’s Matias Gonzalez will be interning at Southampton Polo Club this summer. welcome to participate. To make it more

PARKER’S POLO MINUTE

SHELLEY HEATLEY

CLUB TAKES THE CAKE

BY PARKER SCOTT

T

HE GRAND CHAMPIONS Polo Club in Wellington, Florida finished up its most successful season to date with The Memorial Cup held over Memorial Day weekend. The final was played on May 28 between Newport and Dutta Corp. (See results page 56). Before the match, classical tenor Ingvar Estrada sang the National Anthem.

In addition to a competitive match, hundreds of guests enjoyed an array of passed finger foods by award-winning chef Shannon Atkins, fruit infused mojitos, as well as a special polo-themed patriotic Memorial Day cake provided by Shelly Nuss of Cakes and Cakes.

20 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

ARI DELIN/CHUKKERTV

Sweet season ends with Memorial Cup

“... Failure to prepare is preparing to fail” —John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach

SanDiegoPolo@hotmail.com

KISS A PRINCE Polo event raises money for African youth affected by AIDS

CHRIS JACKSON/2017 GETTY IMAGES

CHRIS JACKSON/2017 GETTY IMAGES

UNDER A BLISTERING Singaporean sun and in front of a crowd of over 300 guests, Prince Harry took to the polo field on June 5

for the Sentebale Royale Salute Polo Cup to raise funds for his charity, Sentebale. The event took place at the Singapore Polo Club and brought together distinguished guests who showed their support for the charity’s work helping youth affected by the AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa.

Prior to the game, guests gathered for national anthems and a minute’s silence in remembrance of those affected by the London attacks on Saturday evening.

Later, Sentebale ISPS Handa clinched victory over St Regis for the second year running. Prince Harry struck the final blow in the closely fought game, giving Sentebale ISPS Handa the win. The match also featured valiant performances from Royal Salute World Polo Ambassador Malcolm Borwick and Sentebale and St. Regis Ambassador Nacho Figueras.

Sentebale’s flagship fundraising event has been running for eight years, taking place in different locations around the world. This year was the first time the prestigious event hit the shores of South East Asia. Singapore Polo Club has a history of Royal Patronage, with Edward VIII, The Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales having played there.

To date the event has raised nearly $6 million for Sentebale’s work providing care, education and critical psychosocial support to children and adolescents living with HIV in Lesotho and Botswana, two countries with the world’s second and third highest infection rates and where the burden of the HIV epidemic remains.

At last year’s Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, hosted at Bob Jornayvaz’s Valiente Farm in Wellington, Florida, Prince Harry announced the charity’s plans to expand its program of psychosocial support to young people living with HIV into Botswana. Since then, Sentebale has supported over 2,800 children and adolescents living with HIV across Lesotho and Botswana through monthly Saturday clubs and camps.

This year, speaking at the post-tournament dinner at the St Regis Singapore, Prince Harry spoke about Sentebale’s newly developed Let Youth Lead program aimed at encouraging all youth in Actress Joanne Froggatt throws in the ball to start the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup sub-Saharan Africa to know and manage their HIV on June 5 in Singapore. status by 2020, a program Prince Seeiso launched at the charity’s first youth summit in Lesotho in April this year.

Prince Harry explained, “Through youth-led campaigning, training and advocacy, the initiative allows young people affected by HIV/AIDS to be heard. We hope this will create a platform where the needs of young people in the region are listened to, from the need for adolescent-friendly health services, more trained counselors in rural areas and better sexual reproductive health education in schools. Young people know what works for them and their friends, so we must listen and take note.”

Sentebale CEO Cathy Ferrier said, “We have ambitious plans to be operating in five countries in the African region by 2020 and the funds raised through our annual flagship event remain key to us achieving these goals.”

To raise additional funds, a one-of-a-kind Royal Salute online auction lot was offered through June 14. The Master Blender’s flagon of new limited edition Royal Salute 21-yearold Polo Edition whiskey was donated to the auction by Royal Salute’s Director of Blending Sandy Hyslop.

Prince Harry and Nacho Figueras check out the detail on The Sentebale Polo Cup trophy.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 21

Sydney bound Team USPA qualifies for FIP World Championship The United States Polo Association established Team USPA in 2009 to grow and sustain the sport of polo by identifying talented young American players and providing opportunities to grow their abilities.

By Hayley Heatley

The tenacious young players of the USA team edged past Mexico in a nailbiting final match of the XI Federation of International Polo World Championship Zone A Playoffs. Remy Muller (3), Geronimo Obregon (4), Felipe Viana (5) and Herndon Radcliff (2) were selected from the nine-man roster comprised of Team USPA members to represent the United States in the play-off tournament against Mexico and Guatemala. The United States Polo Association sponsored the Zone A qualifying tournament in conjunction with Port Mayaca Polo Club and International Polo Club. The threeteam tournament between Mexico, Guatemala and the United States pitted each team against each other. The team with the best record after two games would secure a berth in the World Championship to be held in Sydney, Australia this coming October.

Geronimo Obregon expressed his excitement for playing on the FIP team for the first time. “Having the opportunity to play for the USA team was awesome, but I also felt a huge responsibility to perform well. There is a lot of pressure when you are on the field representing your country, especially when you are playing at home,” said Obregon, one of the eight members of the team who traveled to Australia prior to the tournament for several weeks of training with coach Joel Baker.

The United States Polo Association’s FIP program continues to evolve and now includes an intensive training period before the qualifying round and the World Championship. Training together 22 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

builds team chemistry and creates an environment where the players can grow, forming lifelong friendships on and off the field. Riding and practicing on unfamiliar horses mimics the FIP format and the individual player’s skills can shine through. When putting together the FIP team, Baker aimed to create a balance between the four players to encourage his preferred traditional, open style of play.

Viana and Muller played on the FIP team previously and were familiar with how Baker’s system worked. Baker spent several weeks switching the teams around to try and find the best possible combination while in Australia.

The young Team USPA players were exceptional ambassadors for the sport, the country and the USPA. Graham McGregor, a local Australian player, spoke highly of the group. He told Baker, “Having watched your boys in action over

several weeks and socially, I want to say how delighted I am that we will see you here in October. The style of polo you have been coaching is fast, inspirational and at last a spectacle for spectators too.

Your [players] are outstanding ambassadors for polo.”

Upon returning to the United States, Team USPA joined forces with Team Mexico and Team Guatemala to help the horse masters sort through the pool of horses at the Port Mayaca Polo Club for the upcoming tournament. Three strings with horses of equal caliber were created to ensure an equal playing field for the three teams. The teams each drew their string then spent the next few days getting to know the horses through stick and ball sessions and a practice game against the other teams.

The expansive Port Mayaca Polo Club served as home base for the FIP tournament, housing all three teams’ strings and providing fields for stick and ball sessions, practices and tournament games. Team Mexico and Team USA played the final match of the qualifier tournament at the world-renowned International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida. The impressive stadium served as the perfect venue for fans to cheer on their home team.

While polo and winning were always on the forefront of the players’ minds, the USPA aimed to bring the three teams together during the off time. A friendly golf match and a boat cruise gave team players, coaches and their family time to enjoy the beautiful spring weather in Florida.

Team USPA players and their coach during training in Australia in March.

The three-game series began with Guatemala suffering a narrow half-goal defeat to Mexico in the opening match-up of the tournament 10-9½ at the Port Mayaca Polo Club. In the second match of the tournament, Team USPA took on a determined Guatemalan team looking to avenge its first loss. The U.S. team stuck to its tried-and-true strategy of playing open, flowing polo, defeating Guatemala 10-6½.

With Mexico and USA both defeating Guatemala, the third game of the tournament was a virtual final between the two 1-0 teams. The talented USA team, comprised of Team USPA members, focused on executing its strategy of classic, open polo. Its strategy seemed to catch

Mexico off guard, as USA scored three unanswered goals. A single goal by Mexico kept it from falling too far behind, but USA continued to forge ahead, widening the lead to 5-2.

Mexico reorganized its game plan and shut down the USA team, scoring four goals and taking the 6-5 lead at halftime.

Mexico rode back on the field to start Chukker 4, eager to expand its lead.

Gonzalez swiftly added a goal from the field. USA gradually worked its way back into the game. Radcliff and Viana each scored, tying the score 7-7 as teams entered the fifth and final chukker of play.

With only seven and a half minutes

Team USPA won the FIP Zone A Playoffs over Guatemala and Mexico.

remaining, Team USA knew it had to act quickly. A missed penalty shot for both teams left the score tied 7-7 as the clock ticked down. Muller was the first to break the scoreless chukker, pushing USA ahead 8-7. A miscued hit sent the ball over the boards and out of play. Viana, fast on his feet, took control of the ball from the bowl in. A missed defensive play by Mexico left the doors wide open for Viana to tap in the final goal of the game, securing the 97 victory for USA. Viana was honored with Most Valuable Player. Chili, owned by Del Walton, bred by Gabriel Crespo and played by the Mexico team, was awarded Best Playing Pony.

When asked about the final game against Mexico, Baker reflected on several aspects. “I thought they did great, they have been training really hard the last month and the first two chukkers showed the teamwork. The third chukker we made a technical error, we went with our weaker horses so that we could have our stronger horses for the last two; the other team was able to score four goals against us and get back in the game and get ahead by two. Then the guys really showed their character along with their training and came back out scoring four goals in the last two chukkers and won by two, so we are really proud of them.”

Team USA will now focus its efforts on preparing for the XI FIP World Championship in Sydney, Australia. After falling short in the final of the last FIP World Championship, this time the young team is hungry to bring home the gold from down under.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 23

New and old UVA women and Roger Williams men take titles

BY EMILY DEWEY

T

his year’s National Intercollegiate Championship held at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club in Carpinteria, California saw a veteran school team take the women’s division, while for the men, the school earned its first ever championship. The event was held from April 3-8.

Women’s division

Regional winners from California Polytechnic State University, Texas A&M University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Virginia, and wildcard Cornell University traveled to sunny Santa Barbara to compete in the 2017 USPA Women’s National Intercollegiate Tournament and vie for the Katydid Farms trophy.

California Polytechnic State University Mustangs and Cornell

University Big Red opened the 2017 Women’s National Intercollegiate Championship with a defensive battle.

Emma Eldredge scored the lone, first chukker goal off a penalty shot to give Cornell the lead. Eldredge scored again in the second, and teammates Hannah Noyes and Shariah Harris added to the team total, putting Cornell ahead 4-0 at half time.

The Mustangs came out firing in the third chukker with Trista Noland and Maggie Papka scoring back-to-back goals. A tally from Harris and an ace shot from the penalty line by Eldredge extended the Cornell lead again, but a Cal Poly pony goal put the score at 6-3.

Cal Poly opened the fourth chukker with three goals, including a rocket Penalty 2 shot from Noland, to tie the game, but Cornell still had some fire power left.

Noyes knocked in two more goals to give

Cornell the lead and a trip into the semifinal round to defend its 2016 title.

Cornell met the University of Virginia Cavaliers in the first women’s semi-final game, which would prove to be a defensive battle. Back-and-forth play had both teams scoreless until Harris picked up a pass from Eldredge to put Cornell on the board. UVA’s Julia Smith answered with a Penalty 2 just before the horn to even the score. Harris took the ball out of the first bowl in of the second and passed to Eldredge, who knocked it in to regain the lead for Cornell. UVA’s Katie Mitcham tied the game with a nearside neckshot. A 25-yard neckshot from Mary Collins gave the Cavaliers its first lead of the game. Later, Collins scored off another neckshot, ending the chukker 4-2.

Harris closed the gap to one off a Penalty 2 to open the third chukker.

Participants in this year’s National Intercollegiate Championship held at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club in California

24 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

A beautiful backshot from Smith to Mitcham, and a heads-up play by Collins resulted in another UVA goal.

Smith exhibited tremendous ball control, evading defenders and increasing the Cavalier lead to three.

Eldredge put her team back on the board with a beautiful sweep shot to goal to cut the lead to two. Collins and Smith combined for three more goals before the horn to take the 10-4 lead.

The fourth chukker opened with a classic “walk the dog” by the Cornell team, resulting in a goal from Noyes. A huge Harris backshot set up another Noyes goal to cut the lead to four.

Eldredge was quick out of the lineup to add another tally to Cornell’s total.

Eldredge scored again and Harris capitalized on a Penalty 2 to cut the lead to one, but time ran out on the Big Red’s comeback, giving UVA the win and sending it to the Saturday final.

“Today’s game was a very tight game, well played by Cornell,” said UVA coach Lou Lopez after their win. “They (UVA) know what they need to do and they will be coming out hard in the finals.”

The Texas A & M Aggies met the University of Connecticut Huskies in the second semifinal of the women’s tournament. UCONN’s Carly Persano struck first with a beautiful nearside neckshot. Teammate Tessa Kell added a second tally out of a line-up on the 15yard line that was a result of a ball exiting the arena. Kendall Plank got TAMU on the scoreboard after picking up a Marissa Wells’ backshot. Persano answered with a final goal to end the chukker with UCONN up 3-1.

Wells opened the scoring in the second chukker with a two-point shot to tie the game. Persano put the Huskies back on top with shot that was just shy of two points. A short backshot from Wells set up Ally Vaughn for her first score of the game. Wells found the goal twice to spread the Aggies lead, but Kell found her mark just before the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to one heading into halftime.

Persano put UCONN back up by one with two quick scores to begin the third, but Vaughn tied the game again with a

UVA’s Julia Smith interrupts Texas A&M’s Kendall Plank in the final of the women’s division.

nearside neck shot to goal. TAMU went up by one again with a nearside flip from Plank. Wells added to the total from the penalty line just before the end of the chukker.

In the beginning of the fourth, Plank picked up a score right in front of the

goal to increase the TAMU lead to three.

Persano pulled UCONN within a goal, but Vaughn popped in another goal to keep the difference at two. Persano aced a shot from the penalty line, but the TAMU defense held for the rest of the chukker, giving TAMU the 11-10 lead

University of Virginia coach Lou Lopez and Mary Collins, Katie Mitcham, Julia Smith and Jessica Schmitt celebrate their USPA National Intercollegiate Championship victory.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 25

Women’s tournament All-Stars were Texas A&M’s Marissa Wells, UVA’s Mary Collins, UCONN’s Carly Persano and UVA’s Julia Smith.

and a trip to the championship game.

“Today’s game was a very fun one to watch and both teams played well,” said Texas A&M coach Mike McCleary. “The Aggies are going to the finals and it’s going to be a fun day on Saturday.”

On Saturday, April 8, The University of Virginia and Texas A&M University women’s teams mounted up ready to fight for the USPA National Intercollegiate Championship title in a rematch of the 2016 NIC semifinal when Texas A&M narrowly defeated UVA. The rivalry showdown was destined to be a battle from the start.

A Plank-to-Wells nearside combination started the Aggie scoring.

Wells struck again on an offside flip shot at a gallop. Defensive skills dominated the rest of the chukker, leaving the score at 2-0 in favor of TAMU. Determined not to let Texas A&M run away with the trophy, UVA’s Smith retaliated with four consecutive goals in the first three minutes of the second chukker to take the lead 4-2. Wells countered with a strong 40-yard shot down the arena to score, but Smith evaded a scrum of players out of a line up to score her fifth of the chukker.

Smith lofted a backshot to Collins, who 26 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

put the ball dead center on the goal to close out the half 6-3 in favor of the Cavaliers.

Smith capitalized on two penalty conversions early in the third to put UVA ahead by five halfway through the chukker. Texas A&M fought hard for the remainder of the period, playing a strong defensive game in addition to putting one more goal on the board. The chukker ended in favor of UVA, 8-4.

Despite trailing by four, Texas A&M was certainly not ready to give up. An unwavering Wells, determined to make up the deficit, picked up her own rebound off of a Penalty 3 and popped it into goal. She then carried the ball down the arena out of the lineup, but was fouled directly in front of goal. Texas A&M was awarded a Penalty 1 which brought it within two. A clash of the two powerhouse players—Smith and Wells—ensued as the clock wound down, each contributing a closing goal for their team to end the game with a final score 9-7.

Smith was the game high-scorer, contributing eight of UVA’s nine total goals, while Wells followed, singlehandedly scoring all seven of Texas A&M’s goals.

“It’s nice to go out with a bang,” said graduating senior Smith. “It’s such an honor to play alongside these girls and win. We worked so hard throughout the entire year, so it’s very nice to see that hard work pays off.”

UVA’s win marks its ninth championship title and fifth under the direction of coach Lou Lopez.

“These women were awesome today,” Lopez remarked. “This was a great match from the second the ball was thrown in until the last buzzer. The women fought very, very hard and I’m very proud of them.”

University of Virginia’s Mary Collins, University of Connecticut’s Carly Persano, University of Virginia’s Julia Smith, and Texas A&M’s Marissa Wells were selected to the tournament All-Star team.

Cal Poly’s Leah Torres was chosen as the Sportsmanship Award recipient. Best Playing String was awarded to Julie Empey’s horses, and Best Playing Pony went to Jeff Scheraga’s Pablo.

Horses were also provided by Megan Judge of Central Coast Polo Club in Los Osos, California; South Bay Polo Club’s Francesca Finato; and Stanford University.

Roger Williams wins first title

The men of California Polytechnic State University, Cornell University, Roger Williams University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Virginia made their way to the Pacific Coast to compete in the 2017 USPA Men’s National Intercollegiate Tournament and the right to hoist the John R. Townsend trophy.

California Polytechnic State University Mustangs and Cornell University rode into the arena for the first quarter-final game on Tuesday, April 4. Cornell’s Ignacio Masias struck first, but Cal Poly’s Sayge EllingtonLawrence tied the game with a score from the penalty line. A pony goal gave Cornell the lead and was followed up with a Masias hat trick. Teammate Lorenzo Masias capped of the first chukker scoring to put his team up 6-1.

Between the Masias brothers and teammate Dan Shaw, the Big Red extended its lead to 14 while holding the Mustangs scoreless in the second chukker. The combination repeated in the third chukker, scoring six goals between them, and the ponies adding another tally. The ponies scored again for Cornell in the fourth before Ellington Lawrence put Cal Poly on the board again with two scores. Lorenzo Masias and teammate Liam Palacios finished out the scoring for Cornell, giving the Big Red a 23-3 win and a trip to the semi-final round.

The second quarter-final game was a re-match of the Central Regional Men’s final, pitting Southern Methodist University against Texas A&M University.

SMU put in four unanswered goals to begin the first chukker, with Manuel Ituarte and Max Langlois scoring from the field, and teammate JT Shiverick knocking two in from the penalty line.

Christian Aycinena got the Aggies on the board first and teammate Dalton Woodfin was an ace from the penalty line, cutting the SMU lead to two before the horn.

Aycinena, and SMU teammates Langlois and Michael Armour traded

Cornell’s Ignacio Masias hooks Roger Williams’ George Hempt in a preliminary match. Both Masias and Hempt were named tournament All-Stars.

four goals between them to keep the spread at two goals to start the second.

Aycinena tacked on two unanswered goals to tie the game mid-way through the chukker. The teams split a pair of field goals again to keep the score tied, but the ponies gave SMU the 8-7 lead heading into halftime. Shiverick tacked two more goals onto his team’s tally in the beginning of the third to extend the SMU lead to three. Aycinena notched his seventh score of the game from the field and with a Woodfin penalty score, TAMU pulled within one at the horn.

Woodfin tied the score at the beginning of the fourth and then scored again to give TAMU its first lead of the game, but Shiverick and Armour combined for four goals in the remaining minutes of the fourth chukker, cementing the SMU win.

SMU met the Number 1 seed University of Virginia in the opening semi-final games. Manuel Ituarte kicked off the scoring with a galloping offside scoop shot. UVA’s Felipe Gomez knocked

in a penalty conversion and teammate Ali Mobtaker took a ball out of the air and popped it into goal to give UVA the lead. Gomez sank another shot from the penalty line and set up a Merrill Echezarreta goal. Mobtaker added to his team’s total with an end-to-end run to increase the UVA lead to four. With time expiring, Shiverick aced a penalty shot to end the chukker 5-2 in UVA’s favor.

Gomez opened the second chukker with another blazing goal from the penalty line. Shiverick finished off a Penalty 5b play to garner SMU’s third score. SMU’s Ramon de la Torre popped in a goal and set up teammate Michael Armour for another to cut the UVA lead to one. Echezarreta flipped a pass to Gomez for UVA’s seventh goal. Shiverick ended the scoring in the half, picking up his own rebound out of the air, with the score 7-6 in UVA’s favor.

Gomez struck twice from the penalty line to start the second half before Shiverick could tally a penalty score and another from the field to bring his team POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 27

Men’s All-Stars were SMU’s JT Shiverick, Texas A&M’s Christian Aycinena, Roger Williams’ George Hempt and Cornell’s Ignacio Masias.

back within one point. Shiverick tied the game on a penalty rebound and took the lead, 10-9, after controlling the ball out of the lineup and taking it straight to goal. Shiverick capitalized off of a scrum in front of the goal to increase his team’s lead. Gomez aced another shot from the penalty line and Shiverick countered with a penalty score of his own.

The penalty showdown continued with a rocket from the 25-yard line from Gomez to pull UVA back within one goal. SMU’s defense took over for the remaining minutes of the game, leading the Mustangs to a 12-11 win and its first trip to the USPA National Intercollegiate Championship Final.

“Today’s game is testament to the fact that you can arrive with all of your abilities, yet still not be fortunate enough to pull off the win,” SMU coach Tom Goodspeed remarked. “Virginia played an awesome game today, we are lucky to be advancing, and we are happy to be doing so.”

In a re-match of the Northeastern men’s final, Cornell met the regional champion Roger Williams University Hawks to determine the second team advancing to the National final. The first chukker began with back and forth open 28 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

play. RWU’s George Hempt struck first with a spectacular backhand to goal.

Hempt picked up his team’s second goal from the penalty line. Ignacio Masias got Cornell on the board just before the horn to end the chukker 2-1. Shaw tied the game after picking up a Masias backshot and sending a nearside shot to goal. RWU’s Pedro Cabrera regained the lead again and Hempt increased it to two with another penalty conversion. A near two-point shot from Lorenzo Masias pulled the Big Red within one again.

Daymar Rosser went end to end with a bouncing ball to keep the Hawk’s lead at two. A long shot from Ignacio Masias ended the scoring in the first half leaving RWU up by a single goal.

In the second half, Saul evened the score at five right out of the first line up.

Cabrera picked up a Rosser rebound to give RWU the lead again. Hempt tallied the Hawk’s seventh goal on a quick breakaway from the sidewall. A rocket penalty shot from Ignacio Masias cut the lead to one to end the chukker with RWU holding a slim 7-6 lead.

Roger Williams’ coach Ted Torrey and George Hempt, Pedro Cabrera, Daymar Rosser and Brandon Reese celebrate their men’s National Intercollegiate Championship title.

Hempt struck first in the final chukker, hooking Ignacio Masias, turning and making the shot to goal.

Saul finished off an Ignacio Masias run to goal to get Cornell within a single score again. A bank shot off of a Cornell pony by Hempt increased the RWU lead once again, but Ignacio Masias aced a penalty shot to keep the score close.

Hempt nailed an offside tail shot to end the game, sending Roger Williams University to the championship game for the first time.

Established in 2014, RWU’s polo program, based out of Bristol, Rhode Island, has rapidly progressed to the upper echelons of college competition in three short years.

“I am so proud of these guys,” said RWU coach Ted Torrey. “They worked hard and we are headed to the finals!”

The week-long championship culminated in the historic final match between Roger Williams University and Southern Methodist University. SMU’s Langlois controlled the opening line-up to strike first, but Hempt countered to tie. Shiverick added to the SMU tally from the penalty line and another quick short shot in front of the goal. Hempt finished off a team wall play and picked up his own penalty shot rebound to cut the Mustang’s lead to one. Langlois flipped the ball into goal on a bouncing pony, but Rosser countered it with a neck shot at the other end of the arena, tying the score at the end of the first chukker.

De la Torre added to SMU’s tally early in the second chukker. Hempt nailed a Penalty 4 conversion between the legs of Shiverick’s horse, but Shiverick controlled the ensuing lineup to reclaim his team’s lead. Hempt placed the ball on the end of Rosser’s mallet for him to tie the game before the halftime bell.

Cabrera went end to end to open the third chukker for RWU, giving the Hawks the lead. Hempt picked up two goals from the field to increase the lead to three. Shiverick converted a penalty shot, but Rosser scored to maintain the RWU lead heading into the final

Texas A&M coach Mike McCleary presents the Connie Upchurch Memorial National Intercollegiate Sportsmanship Award to SMU’s JT Shiverick and Cal Poly’s Leah Torres.

chukker. Shiverick and Cabrera traded goals to begin the fourth. Shiverick aced a Penalty 2 and Langlois picked up a pass from de la Torre to cut the lead to one. With 15 seconds remaining, a boarding call on RWU set up a crucial Penalty 2 for SMU. Shiverick coolly scored to send the game into overtime.

The teams tied in the first round of the shootout, which sent the game into double overtime. In round two, both Rosser and Hempt of RWU converted their penalties while SMU converted a solitary goal, ending the game with a final score 12-11 and giving Roger Williams University its first USPA National Intercollegiate Championship.

Rosser, an Interscholastic National Champion from the renowned Philadelphia-based Work to Ride

program was speechless after his win.

“It is an honor to be here. I am still taking this moment in. In a couple of hours, I think it will set in that I am a National Intercollegiate Champion!”

When asked what he thought about the final games, USPA CEO Duncan Huyler said, “Incredible polo today. This is a fantastic venue and we saw some tremendous sportsmanship.”

Christian Aycinena, George Hempt, Ignacio Masias, and JT Shiverick were selected to the tournament All-Star team.

Shiverick was also chosen to receive the Connie Upchurch Memorial Sportsmanship Award. Best Playing String was awarded to Santos Arriola’s horses, and Best Playing Pony went to George Dill’s Jaguar. Horses were also provided by Megan Judge.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 29

Zoned in

USA advances to World Championships

By Gwen Rizzo • Photos by David Lominska/Polographics

T

eam USPA edged Mexico and Guatemala in the FIP Zone A Playoffs to earn a spot in the FIP World Championships to be held in Sydney, Australia from October 17-30.

The United States Polo Association teamed up with the Port Mayaca and International Polo Clubs to host the Federation of International Polo Zone A Playoffs, with teams vying for a chance to advance to the World Championships.

The opportunity to move on to the World Championships is an honor, and gives the U.S. team another opportunity to put its name on the coveted trophy.

Since the 10- to 14-goal tournament’s inception in 1987, the U.S. has won only once, in 1989 in Germany with a team composed of a young 1-goaler named Julio Arellano, 4-goal John Wigdahl, 4goal Horton Schwartz and 5-goal Charlie Bostwick. The team edged England 7-6 for the honor.

Several years ago, Team USPA program officials decided to make a concerted effort to put together and train a competitive team. The effort nearly paid off in 2015 when the team made it to the final against the home team in Chile. It was an incredibly exciting game that could have gone either way, but in the end Chile took the 12-11 win in overtime.

Though disappointing, it was so close, Team USPA could taste victory.

The near miss inspired the team to continued to train even harder and now, two years later, it will get another chance at the top prize.

But it wasn’t just the team on the field that was working hard. Hosting the event was a complicated undertaking that couldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the USPA, its chairman Joe Meyer, the clubs and horse owners who were willing to lease their horses for 30 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

the event.

Originally, the Zone A Playoffs were going to be held in the Dominican Republic as they had been in 2015. USPA was prepared to send a team to the Dominican and was hopeful, if not confident, it would advance to the World Championships. USPA Director of Services Bob Puetz explained, “We pretty much planned our budget and timing around that. ... We separated our budget so we had a budget to train and prepare for zone playoffs and then we had another budget to train and prepare for the world championships if we won.”

Eventually, word came that the Dominican Republic would not be participating as host of the event nor would it have a team competing.

The five teams that normally compete for Zone A (USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, Dominican Republic) were now down to four.

FIP CEO Alex Taylor and council member Bruce Colley notified the remaining teams and asked who might be willing to host the playoffs. Mexico and USA officials both showed interest in hosting it initially. At the FIP meeting in Argentina in December, officials sat down and discussed the possibilities.

“USA is hoping to be [the host site] for the World Championships in 2020,” explained Puetz. “We requested that we be afforded an opportunity to host the zone playoffs in an effort to show FIP we were capable of hosting the World Championships, that we’d be organized and could put on a good event.”

Though Mexico had some interest in

hosting it, it understood the U.S. position and graciously withdrew the request to host it. With that, FIP officially awarded it to the U.S. “We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare and we didn’t really have a budget to prepare with,” explained Puetz.

In the interim, Wallace Ashton offered to host the U.S. team in Australia to train for a month, providing horses, housing and meals to the team. “Basically, their visitors bureau is sponsoring the world championships in Australia, and showing that America was really serious about competing and qualifying, coming down and trying to win this thing, gave it a more credibility,” explained Puetz.

It was a win-win for the U.S. The team would get a month to train at very little cost, and since USPA had budgeted for the team’s training, the money they were saving could be used to host the zone playoffs.

With funds in place, now officials had to find a venue and horses. “We were able to secure a partnership between the Port Mayaca Polo Club and the Orthwein family and IPC and the Bellissimo family to donate their facilities. So with that, we were able to put a plan together to house all the horses at the club barns at Port Mayaca through the tournament, as well as stick and ball and play practice and preliminary games there, and then play the final at IPC,” said Puetz.

FIP has rules that hosts must follow, particularly when it comes to horses.

Players are not permitted to play their own horses. Instead, the hosts put together a pool of horses the teams draw from. The games are played as five

Guatemala’s Sebastian Aycinena tries to keep the ball away from USA’s Felipe Viana.

chukkers so there must be 27 horses available for each team competing.

A horse master is selected to evaluate and grade the horses. Argentinean Jose Lartrigoyen, a former high-goaler, was hired by FIP as horse master, and USPA hired professionals Adrian Wade and Marcos Llambias as stewards to assist him. They spent a month finding 110 horses to lease for the four teams in the tournament, going through all the horses and grading them A, B or C. The horses were divided into three groups, each group with the same number of horses from the A, B and C pools and then the teams drew which group of horses they would get. This ensured all teams were as evenly mounted as possible.

All the horses were microchipped so they could be easily identified, and each horse was monitored so it never played more than a total of seven minutes per game, and never more than three-and-ahalf minutes per chukker. The clocked was stopped halfway through the chukker for all players to switch horses. A vet and shoer were on hand for every match, in addition to an ambulance for the players.

Then came word that the Canadian

team would have to withdraw after Julian Mannix had broken his collar bone and other team members were apparently having visa issues. With only three teams, only 80 some horses were needed so officials was able to choose the crème of the 110 horses selected.

To ensure it is neutral for all teams, umpires are chosen by FIP, which selected Julian Applebee and Fergus Gould, who had umpired the World Championship in Chile, to umpire and Sain Joseph as third man.

Games were live-streamed through the USPA Polo Network thanks to a discount provided by ChukkerTV. “It was very nice of those guys and that helped us be able to afford to do it,”said Puetz. “We tried to get a lot of social media and get people behind it and we ended up having a pretty decent crowd at IPC for the final, especially since it wasn’t a regular Sunday. We had planned to really promote it to the people during the Open final, but that was rained out so that was a little set-back.”

The USPA was also responsible for social events surrounding the playoffs. A welcome brunch was held at the

Wanderers Club for all the teams at the beginning of the event and the teams were treated to lunch and golf a few days later. They also enjoyed a cocktail cruise on the intercoastal and a reception at the polo museum cohosted by Bruce Colley.

“We tried to keep them entertained,” explained Puetz. “We had a lot of activities and the teams has a blast.”

The first game pitted Guatemala against Mexico on Wednesday, April 26.

Mexico was represented by Juan José de Alba (4 goals), Mariano Gracida (4), Alejandro Gonzalez (3) and Carlos Hernández (3), while Guatemala fielded a team of José Ignacio Beltranena (2), Sebastian Aycinena (2), José Miguel Aguilar (3) and Fernando Beltranena (2).

Guatemala received 3½ goals on handicap to start but Mexico was quick on attack with three unanswered goals to come within a half goal at the end of the first seven minutes. Aguilar scored for Guatemala to extend the lead, but Mexico responded with three more to take a 6-4½ lead at the half.

Penalties slowed the fourth and allowed Guatemala to keep pace with Mexico’s two goals. Trailing by a goal and POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 31

Team USPA’s Herndon Radcliff practices in Australia, where the team trained for a month.

a half, Guatemala reclaimed the lead after two penalty conversions early in the fifth. A penalty conversion by Mexico put it back on top by a half goal. Guatemala fought back with Aguilar sinking a deep neckshot off a pass from Aycinena. With

less than a minute left, it seemed as though Guatemala would take the win, but just after the 30-second horn, Gonzalez snuck the ball past the opponents and into the goal for the 109½ win.

Two days later, USA’s Remy Du Celliee Muller (3), Geronimo Obregon (4), Felipe Viana (5) and Herndon Radcliff (3) took to the field against Guatemala. Once again Guatemala started with a 3½-goal handicap. USA nailed three goals in the

Team USPA’s coach Joel Baker and team members Jared Sheldon, Jesse Bray, Remy Du Celliee Muller, Geronimo Obregon, Felipe Viana, Herndon Radcliff, Patrick Uretz and Daniel Galindo. Muller has taken a job so he has been released and Radcliff’s handicap is increasing from 2 to 3.

32 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

To ensure teams were evenly mounted, leased horses were evaluated and equally divided into three groups. Each team then drew a group.

first before Guatemala’s Fernando Beltranena scored a penalty and a field goal to keep Guatemala ahead 5½-3.

Team USA kept chipping away, eventually taking a 6-5½ lead. A pair of goals by Felipe Viana put USA ahead 8-5½ at the end of the fourth. The teams traded Penalty 2 conversions in the final chukker before Obregon sealed the 10-6½ victory for USA. Mexico and USA met on April 30 for the final showdown. U.S. fielded the same team, while 3-goal Diego Velarde mounted up in place of Carlos Hernández for the Mexican squad. Starting out even, an inspired U.S. team shot out of the gate with three unanswered goals. Mexico finally got rolling, ending the first down 3-1. Mexico scored early in the second, but USA shot back with two more to increase its lead to 5-2. Mexico rallied in the third with four unanswered goals to take the 6-5 lead at the half.

USA coach Joel Baker explained later, “They have been training really hard the last month and the first two chukkers showed the teamwork. The third chukker we made a technical error. We went with

Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez leans on USA’s Geronimo Obregon in the final match played at International Polo Club.

our weaker horses so we could have our stronger horses for the last two. The other team was able to score four goals against us, get back in the game and get ahead by two.”

Gonzalez scored early in the fourth to give Mexico the 7-5 lead. After several near misses, USA finally reached the goal with a Penalty 3 conversion followed by a field goal to level the score at 7-7 going into the final period. The teams struggled to reach the goal in the first four minutes until Muller split the uprights for USA. Viana ensured the victory in the closing seconds to take the 9-7 win.

Viana, high-scorer with five goals, was rewarded with MVP honors, while 9-yearold Chili, bred by Gabriel Crespo, owned

by Del Walton and played by the Mexican team, was Best Playing Pony.

Baker said, “I thought they did great. ... The guys really showed their character along with their training and came back out scoring four goals in the last two chukkers to win by two. So, we are really proud of them.”

Viana said after the game, “The support from everyone, the crowd, the

brand—everything was great. We pulled it off and showed that we are a team that has a lot of attitude, that we are competitive and most importantly that we are friends. We want to go for revenge and we want to win the world title this time.”

Puetz was happy with the well-played tournament and especially with the outcome. “It was a lot closer than I would have liked to see, so I’m really glad we won. It was fun to watch. It was great for the crowd and Mexico played so well.

They were happy with how well they played and they should be. They played outstanding.”

Now the focus is on choosing the players to represent USA in Australia as well as training them. Nine players were originally on the roster, however Remy Muller accepted a job opportunity so he was released, and Herndon Radcliff’s handicap is being raised from 2 to 3 so the team will have to adjust.

The countries that will be competing are USA, Argentina, England, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and the winner of the Zone E Playoff, which is scheduled to be played on July 7 in Iran.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 33

Polo on the Volcanoes The game is back in all its splendor on Mauna Kea

By Dan Harvey Pedrick

Although a relatively miniscule string of volcanic islands situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii is a land of giants. The largest of these islands is the easternmost Hawaii Island, and it comprises one of the greatest and most active volcano systems on Earth. When humans first trod its charred slopes (circa 190 to 1100 C.E. depending on whose theory you subscribe to) they quickly recognized it as the home of their goddess of fire—Pele—and learned on many occasions since to fear her temper. Kilauea Crater, (a.k.a. the Cauldron of Pele) adjacent the slopes of

A

Mauna Loa, has been erupting continuously since 1983. The often snowy peaks of Mauna Loa and the steeper and higher Mauna Kea both rise well over 13,000 feet above sea level.

Measured from their undersea base, the volcanoes tower over 50,000 feet above the Earth’s crust.

Not for nothing is Hawaii known as “The Big Island.”

Other giants include Kamehameha I, the Polynesian chief who, by means of his military and diplomatic skill united all of the Hawaiian Islands under his rule a few decades after another giant had

shown up—namely, British explorer James Cook.

Cook died on the island’s shore in 1779 in an unfortunate collision of cultures but still fathered a relatively friendly relationship with the British Empire that is reflected in the Hawaii state flag—the only one of the American federation that includes the Union Jack in its design. Hawaii ultimately became a U.S territory and later a state after a period of chaotic decline of the original Hawaiian monarchy and some halting attempts by various European powers to take over the islands. In 1893, American

loha is to learn what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable” —Queen Lili’uokalani

34 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Keith Matsui announced, played the National Anthem on his saxophone and led a prayer for the safety of all.

emigrant farmers acting independently effectively overthrew the Hawaiian government descended from Kamehameha the Great and steered the nation toward cession with the U.S soon after.

Another giant of navigation and discovery was George Vancouver, who had been Cook’s maritime protegé since the age of 14. Under his own command in the 1790s, Vancouver delivered the first cattle to The Big Island which soon proved the foundation of a huge ranching industry. In 1803, American trader Richard Cleveland brought the first horses as a gift to King Kamehameha I and more soon followed.

As Vancouver’s cattle went forth and multiplied, King Kamehameha recruited Spanish vaqueros from California to teach his people how to manage the beasts and the Hawaiian cowboy or paniolo (a linguistic corruption of español) was born.

As cattle begat horses, horses eventually begat polo when British naval officers of HMS Gannet challenged local residents to Hawaii’s first polo match played at Palama, on Oahu, in 1880. The seed was planted but it was six more years before adventurer Louis Von Tempsky organized a local match at Hawi on the Big Island on Christmas Day, 1886. He

reprised his production a year later to the day, on Maui. Soon matches and tournaments were being played in Honolulu’s Kapiolani Park and began to draw enthusiastic crowds. Von Tempsky, along with ranchers Walter Dillingham, Frank Baldwin, Arthur Rice, and others are credited with developing the King of Games in Hawaii with the first interisland tournament held in 1902.

The Mauna Kea Polo Club, not the first and probably not the last polo club on the Big Island, was conceived and founded in the mid 1970s by Waiki’i Ranch owner-developer Jerry Kremkow, Sandy and Dick Ednie, Corky Bryan

Lava glows at night as it pours into the sea.

(Parker Ranch cattle manager), Karen Martino, Carlos Rivas, Tommy Harris, and Gene Churchy among others. Sandy (née Folk) had been a teenaged groom on Oahu hot-walking horses for various Maui Polo Club players when they came over to Oahu and Kapiolani Park. Sandy was a schoolmate of Ronnie Tongg who became a top Hawaiian player with a career that spanned three decades. She recruited her future husband—Richard Ednie—to the game and taught him all she knew (which, by then, was a fair bit).

The group first played in an arena in Waikoloa Village, a developing resort community located on former Parker Ranch lands south of Kamuela. Later, it moved to the Parker Ranch racetrack, then to Kohala Ranch, and finally ending up at Waiki’i Ranch further up the slopes of Mauna Kea. During those two and half decades, the club saw many visitors from other islands and the mainland including Peter and Ben Baldwin, Hal Henderson, Ed Hedemann, Walt Dillingham, Fred Rice, Tommy Harris, Kimo Huddleston, and many more.

After a run of more than 25 years, the Mauna Kea Polo Club petered out with the last millenium, quieting down into a volcano-like period of dormancy. A polo drought of 10 years followed on the Big Island. Finally in 2011, local realtor POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 35

KRIS LOCKARD

Huggo’s On the Rocks and Lava Lava Beach Club met in the final of the season-ending USPA Players Cup.

Paula Beamer—with an anguished cry of “Lawa kêlâ!” (Hawaiian for “Enough, already!”) was seized with the urge to ignite a new eruption of polo enthusiasm. She found kindred spirits in the Ednie family as well as in a whole new generation of local riders and eager sponsors. By 2016, the membership included rejuvenated old-timers, ever present paniolos, dressage and trail riders seeking new thrills, and rank neophytes. The rolls soon reached an impressive 44 souls with more than half of those on the distaff side. Autumn weekends saw convoys of horse trailers once again making the ascent up to Waiki’i Ranch to participate in games, tournaments, and clinics taught by such well-known poloists as Wilbur O’Farrell, Robert Lyn-Kee Chow, Mark Becker, and Enrique Diaz. Happy Days of Big Island polo had returned.

The club hosts a three-month season, from October to December. The mild climate of Hawaii would support a longer season, even year-round. But less is more, 36 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

say the sages—and besides, the current host of the field decrees the three-month limit to accommodate other equestrian disciplines, including driving. Additional polo venues are being sought and will probably be found.

We arrived in Kamuela, the village in the heart of the Big Island’s historic Parker Ranch country, on the first of December. The next morning’s sunrise revealed a fresh topping of snow on Mauna Kea for which we Canadians were good-naturedly blamed. I resolved to get up there and keep a promise to my young son to have a snowball fight. We made it to the nearly 10,000-foot level but were prevented by rangers from going any further: too much snow!

Back down on the 4000-foot level with its breathtaking sunset views of the Pacific we found the re-graded and seeded field of glories past at Waiki’i Ranch. To the east, Mauna Kea towers far above, often hidden in the clouds. If not always seen, its heavy presence is ever felt

and is considered sacred by many native Hawaiians. Currently sleeping and usually capped with snow in winter, her nearby sister volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea are wide awake.

The polo season was drawing to a close with the final tournament scheduled for December 11—the USPA-sanctioned Players Cup. The weekend before saw the likewise USPA-sanctioned Amateur Cup, preceded by a novice game, which gave the many young riders a chance to have some fun on their horses before wrapping it up for the year. “Miss Purrcynth” organized the weekly novice chukker idea, which consists of half an hour of instruction at the walk and trot for beginning and novice riders, and/or green ponies. As skills improve participants move up to the Club Game levels of four 7½-minute chukkers divided into two divisions; the intermediate chukkers are trot and slow canter while the advanced intermediate level sees faster play. Umpires also coach both levels during play.

The season ended with the USPA Players Cup between Huggo’s On the Rocks’ George Hedemann, Kenny Shamel, Jay Lau, Stephanie Keily and Ashley Brooks and Lava Lava Beach Club’s Jed Ednie, Kaulike Rice, Tom Richmond, Lori Bergin and Erin Matsui.

This dedicated effort to promote local polo and expand the membership through continuing education, sportsmanship, support and community outreach is doubtless responsible for the club’s rapid growth of new and keen recruits. It also doesn’t hurt that the community has inherited an abiding equestrian tradition from the sprawling Parker Ranch, the historic roots of which go back two centuries to the days when Kamehameha I appointed a young American pioneer, John Palmer Parker, to bring Captain Vancouver’s burgeoning wild longhorn cattle herds under control.

An increasing number of players from teens to middle age continue to graduate from the club game level teaching platform to the main matches.

The most extraordinary aspect of that afternoon of polo was the fact that it poured rain for the entire time—but the play went on. It was wet but not cold, the horses did not slip, and the field did not cut up to any extent. The explanation for this, according to Waiki’i Ranch ownerdeveloper Jerry Kremkow, is found in the thick, matted kikuyu grass turf. It sucks up as much water as the clouds can throw at it sending it down into the porous volcanic soil underneath. Walk on it and it feels springy, yet it supports the horses, the ball, and even carriage wheels.

The Amateur Cup (Mauna Kea Beach

Hotel, in white, vs. Hapuna Beach Hotel, in blue) was a surprisingly hard fought game, which even the rain was unable to cool down. The clock ticked away through four chukkas of back and forth scoring marked by very spirited defense, at the end of which the score was tied 6all. A fifth chukker was possible and hastily organized.

An interesting umpire call occurred when, on a Penalty 4 shot awarded to the blue team, the hitter’s horse struck the ball with its hoof and sent it through the posts. It was called a goal, which left the game tied again at 8-all. Some discussion ensued with dissenters saying a horse may not kick a ball through for a goal on a penalty shot (although they agreed that in such circumstances a ball struck by a mallet could ricochet off any part of a horse for a goal). The umpire stuck to his guns but made a call to the USPA for clarification.

Meanwhile the rain was becoming oppressive and the pressure was on to bring the contest to a close with a shootout—which was won by the white team. When the call came back from the USPA, the umpire’s mistake was confirmed leaving the white team victorious in any case.

The weather was much improved by the following weekend and so had our appreciation for more of the awesome

natural phenomena and riveting history that characterizes The Big Island. We had driven slowly down the Kona Coast to pay our respects at Kealakekua Bay where Captain Cook breathed his last. An ancient obelisk erected in the time of Hawaiian King David Kalakaua (and occasionally spruced up by the Royal Navy) marks the spot. But visitors will need a ship to get there, or at least a kayak, as there is no road access.

We continued on south and then east and in a few lazy hours arrived at Ka Lae, the southernmost point in the United States where, as legend has it, the first human arrivals to these hitherto unspoiled islands made landfall. It is a lonesome and desolate spot: a desert of lava, the bane of sailors, and a mecca for dare-devils intent on teasing death by jumping off the cliffs. The dare-devils are mainly young men and women with no fear whatsoever of hurling themselves repeatedly from the edge, 40 feet down into the roiling sea.

We drove on, past a tree that Mark Twain had planted, and after a long climb finally arrived at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where the main attraction of the moment was the continuing 34year eruption of Kilauea Crater. We were kept at a distance by a platoon of rangers who explained that the smoke and vapors from the eruption could be fatal if POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 37

An ancient obelisk on the far end of Kealakekua Bay on the Kona Coast marks the spot where Captain Cook took his last breath. It can only be reached by boat as there is no road access.

inhaled. “Come back tonight,” said one.

“That’s when you can really see the glow of the lava. You could also drive down the mountain to Kalapana and see where it pours into the sea.”

That sounded like it was not to be missed so after checking into our B&B and a quick Thai dinner we headed down the mountain until we came to the end of the auto road. There we found a number of jerry-built kiosks with friendly entrepreneurs offering what was needed to make the last leg of the trip to that magic spot where hot lava meets cold ocean.

It was four more miles down a jetblack pumice gravel road in near total darkness—on a rattling bike that had seen better days. For $20 each we got that and a helmet with an LED lamp. At the end of the four miles we were advised to leave the bikes by the sign that says your life is in danger and climb over some very recent but hopefully cool and stable lava flows toward the sea—taking care not to stumble and break our legs or fall off the precipice. From there one of the great spectacles of the natural world could be seen up close and personal.

From our starting point we could see the cherry-red glow of the steam clouds rising up from the site. That and the LEDs on our helmets were about it for light, and off we went. We found all as described by our amiable outfitters and were soon making the last few steps to the edge. There were only a few others standing around in the infrared glare of the astonishing, thrilling, and terrifying 38 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

sight of thick streams of hot lava pouring into the surf, hissing like a thousand angry dragons and increasing the land area of the Big Island by the hour.

Stunned into silence we slowly withdrew to find our bikes and make the long pedal back.

It was near midnight by the time we returned to the aptly-named village of Volcano. We were exhausted but could not resist stopping by the Cauldron of Pele to pay our respects. It was good that we did. The goddess appeared at the stroke of midnight as we stood staring, awestruck, a quarter of a mile away.

Silent but overpowering, she was clearly able to destroy us and everything around us in a moment as she had done to an entire division of Kamehameha’s troops two centuries ago when in an apparently foul mood. She glanced at us for a moment and then disappeared into her fiery veils of smoke and heat. We crept away into the darkness, back to our beds, and prayed she would not follow us—at least not this time.

Pele’s mercy became even more apparent when a few weeks later we learned that the lava shelf we had occupied to view the ocean entry stream had—not for the first time—violently collapsed into the sea on New Year’s Eve, generating a tsunami. Fortunately no lives were lost on this occasion.

Via the east shore city of Hilo, place of ships, banyan trees, and torrential rains, we made it back to drier Kamuela in time

for the club Christmas party on Friday night, held in the splendid fieldside clubhouse that the Waiki’i Ranch Homeowners Association generously provides. Beautifully decorated for the season, tables were spread with the offerings of the members to each other in homey potluck style. Awards and recognition were given out to everyone, no one was forgotten, and the peaceful spirits of Christmas and Aloha blended together as one.

Saturday morning dawned clear and sunny with another fresh fall of snow on Mauna Kea. The USPA Player’s Cup was slated to end the 2016 season with a pair of teams sponsored by two popular Kona Coast entertainment spots: Huggo’s On the Rocks (George Hedemann, Kenny Shamel, Jay Lau, Stephanie Keily and Ashley Brooks in white jerseys); and Lava Lava Beach Club (Jed Ednie, Kaulike Rice, Tom Richmond, Lori Bergin and Erin Matsui in teal jerseys). These two well-matched teams, consisting of the best and best mounted players the club had to offer on that day, clashed in the December sunshine interrupted only by the occasional passing cloud (which is experienced at that location as a sort of dreamy London fog).

Umpires Ravic Huso, Robert Carlton, and Mark Becker kept order and peace.

The multi-talented Keith Matsui announced and provided the additional services of live music, playing the National Anthem on his saxophone, and led a prayer for the safety of all—which was granted.

Here even competing gods can work together in harmony.

At the end of it all—the smoke and the fire, the laughter and the tears (there were lots of kids around), the delicious food, the lingering thrill of the runs and the plays—were consumed and transformed into a lasting feeling of satisfaction, with the day, the season, and things in general. Hello, good-bye, love, peace, compassion, mercy, respect, forgiveness … you could easily throw in a whole lot more and no one would argue because Aloha is a very big tent, another giant, really—a way of being.

Lucky the man or woman born on these blessed isles. Aloha !

THIS INDEPENDENCE DAY

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POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 39

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BY ERNESTO RODRIGUEZ

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FROM THE HEART Palermo hosts polo for men, women and children all in one day PHOTOS BY SERGIO LLAMERA

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alermo experienced a full day of emotions on April 29, with a test match between a U.S. team and Argentina that paid homage to the late Sunny Hale. It was followed by the dispute of the Nations Cup in which Adolfito Cambiaso joined his nephew—closing a family issue—to beat Uruguay.

The almost mythical polo field in Palermo has experienced different scenarios in almost 89 years since it was inaugurated on October 27, 1928. It was the site of the first 40goal game in 1975; and saw historical duels like El Trébol vs. Venado Tuerto, Coronel Suárez vs. Santa Ana, La Espadaña vs. Chapaleufú or more recently, La Dolfina vs.

USA’s Julia Smith on a breakaway during the women’s match honoring the late Sunny Hale in Palermo

Ellerstina. And it has seen its share of emotion, as it did on that day in April when excellent plays were combined with strong emotions for an afternoon that will remain in the hearts of all that were present.

More than 3,000 people came to the polo field in the heart of Palermo known as the Cathedral on an unusual date for polo in Buenos Aires (the Open is disputed between November and December) to see Adolfo Cambiaso in action. Cambiaso led the Argentine team that faced Uruguay for the eighth edition of the Nations Cup, the high-handicap challenge organized by the Argentine Polo Association, similar to the British Coronation Cup. The visiting team was captained by

Argentina’s young Camilo Castagnola, one of Adolfo Cambiaso’s nephews, gets away from Uruguay’s Pelon Stirling in the Nations Cup final at Palermo. Argentina led 11-2 after four periods and went on to win 15-6.

40 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

In a day full of emotion, Argentina swept the Nations Cup activities winning the junior version, the women’s match and the Nations Cup. USA’s (bottom left) Kristy Outhier, Maureen Brennan, Erica Gandomcar-Sachs, Julia Smith and Tiffany Busch competed for the Sunny Hale Cup.

Argentina’s Paola Martínez avoids the hook of USA’s Tiffany Busch in the women’s match in Palermo. Argentina won 11-4 and 7-4 in the two-game set to take the Sunset ‘Sunny” Hale Cup.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 41

Argentina’s Adolfo Cambiaso, Camilo Castagnola, Juan Martín Zubía and Bartolito Castagnola won the Nations Cup.

another 10-goaler, David Stirling, who shared the La Dolfina team with Cambiaso to win three Triple Crowns.

Those who arrived early to the almost 15 prime acres located in the heart of Buenos Aires appreciated why the future of local polo is assured. A junior version of the tournament was played between four nations on Field No. 2. Argentina (Poroto Cambiaso, Juan Guerrero, Facundo Frayssinet, Felipe Dabas) defeated Chile (Leon Schwencke, Baltazar Bisquertt, Pedro Letelier, Clemente Silva) 9-4. In the subsidiary, Uruguay (Francisco Bayce, Benjamín Rielli, Juan A. González and Bautista Parodi) overcame Colombia (Martín de Bedout Graham, Eduardo Nieto Vargas, Diego Vivas Caicedo and Camilo Turriago Saldarriaga) 4-2.

Later, the ladies paid homage to Sunny Hale, a player who knew very well what it was like to play on the sacred lawns of Palermo. Field No. 2 saw a rematch between a 22-goal (ladies handicap) Argentine team (Mía Cambiaso, Milagros Fernández Araujo, Candelaria Fernández Araujo, Paola Martínez) and the 26-goal USA squad (Maureen Brennan, Julia Smith, Kristy Waters Outhier, Tiffany Busch). Both quartets had clashed 48 hours before on Field No. 1 for a game 42 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

won by the locals 11-4. The rematch was closer, but it again went to the home team

in a 7-4 contest for the Sunset “Sunny” Hale Cup. “It’s amazing to play with these girls.

They’re going at an amazing speed. I have to give a few shouts to guide them,” said Argentina’s captain Paola Martínez. On the American side, the experience had been much more emotional. Tiffany Busch admitted, “It was my first time in Palermo and I sensed it. In fact, in the first game, I looked out to the stadium and I felt the ground tremble because of the memories of Sunny. It was a bitter sweet moment because Sunny was a friend and a guide for all the women in polo, but we paid homage to her doing what she loved to do: play polo.”

The big event of the day was on Field 1—the Cathedral. On the one hand, the

Ten-goal Adolfo Cambiaso serves as water boy to his son Poroto during the competition. Cambiaso enjoyed watching his son play, as well as his daughter Mia, who played in the women’s match.

Argentine team contained a family soap opera: The relationship between Cambiaso and his brother-in-law Bartolomé Castagnola had not ended on good terms when the Back left the La Dolfina team in 2010. But a call from ‘Lolo’s’ eldest son brought together two families after several years of estrangement.

Finally, Cambiaso accepted the invitation to be the leader of the national team along with his two young nephews (Bartolito and Camilo) and another teenager who is coming up, Juan Martín Zubía, to complete a 24-goal quartet.

From the other side of the puddle—as is often said in relation to the Uruguayans and their location on the other side of the Rio de la Plata—the Celeste team, also 24 goals, was led by Pelón Stirling and included Mariano Álvarez, Juan Curbelo and Alejo Taranco, the latter two regular players in the tournaments organized by La Dolfina on its fields in Cañuelas.

The three under-20 Argentine players on the field put on quite a show. Without complications and ignoring that they were

A well-mounted 11-year-old Poroto Cambiaso helped Argentina take a 9-4 victory in the final of the junior version of the Nations Cup.

treading the revered lawn of the Cathedral with 3,000 pairs of eyes watching them (in addition to the thousands watching ESPN’s broadcast), the Castagnola brothers and Zubía exhibited their talent, taming the rival team with the serene support of Adolfito who left his usual protagonism to the kids. The Argentinian superiority was such that after 28 minutes of play the scoreboard showed an unexpected 11-2 score for the local crew.

In the last two episodes there was a reaction by the visitors that drew applause from the almost 500 Uruguayans populating the Dorrego grandstands.

Thus, the final figures were somewhat tighter: 15-6, allowing Cambiaso to maintain a perfect record of nine triumphs without defeat wearing the Argentine colors, besides enjoying an unforgetable afternoon.

“It was a day with many strong things. I saw Poroto playing with the young kids,

then watched Mía paying homage to Sunny, someone I loved very much and with whom I won the U.S. Open. And then I played again wearing the national colors alongside my nephews. I was not going to play this match, but I was convinced by Bartolito’s call. It was a very important time for the whole family. After the things that have happened, the separation with Lolo and the disengagement we have had, it was a good time for me to play at least once with my nephews. That’s why I’m very happy,” Cambiaso, the Argentine captain explained.

At the time of the prizes, in addition to the trophies for the three local teams, there were distinctions for the best horses presented in the different competitions: Abrojito Perla, played by Camilo Castagnola, was designated as the best equine of the Nations Cup; Dolfina Farolita, played by Mía Cambiaso, was the most outstanding of the women’s test match; while Marita, ridden by Felipe Dabas, was recognized among the mares that were used in the kids’ tournament.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 43

The second Rovinj Beach Polo Cup, a unique sports, tourist and social event in Croatia and the region, was held from May 18-21 on the Porton Biondi Beach in Rovinj, on the beautiful Istrian Peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The location allowed for a grand view of St. Euphemia Church and the 2nd Rovinj Beach Polo Cup town’s peninsula.

PHOTOS COURTESY ROVINJ BEACH POLO After the success of the first beach tournament in 2016, this year’s Rovinj Beach Polo Cup brought numerous new features. For the first time, citizens and guests of Rovinj followed the tournament matches—with an entertainment program during the breaks—from the spectator zone in the polo arena.

Last year saw four teams, while this year the number increased to six composed of players from all over the world including Brazil, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Argentina, Switzerland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

This year’s polo came with a rich entertainment program, particularly in

DESTINATION: CROATIA

The teams paraded through the historic city before making their way to the polo arena for the matches.

44 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

the evenings, when the main star was singer, Tony Hadley. Between matches, guests were entertained by musicians as well as a vaulting demonstration and Mirjam Haber and her beautiful white stallion Hierro Cen performing a Spanish horse dance routine with dancer Kristina Bingula.

The entire town celebrated with a number of restaurants offering special polo menus dedicated to the event.

The polo event kicked off with an invitation-only welcome party and team introduction for players and sponsors at sunset on the beautiful Mulini Beach on May 18.

A parade of the players was postponed until the following day due to bad weather, however the tournament’s official opening ceremony took place at the polo arena in the afternoon of May 19, followed by a short introduction to polo rules. Later, the teams squared off in the first preliminary matches.

Bentley (Marcus Schalldach, Uwe/Maximilian Zimmermann, Marcelo Caivano) got the best of Jana (Alexandra Bencikova, Ladislav Agardi, Comanche Gallardo) 10-9 in the first match. Miller (Sebastian Dawnay, Cedric Schweri,

Clicquot. Bentley and Jana tied 6-6 in the match for third place, while Adris edged Milano 10-8 in the match for fifth place.

After the prize-giving ceremony, players gathered at Hotel Monte Mulini for a farewell ceremony.

According to the president of the organizational committee of the Beach Polo Tournament, Uwe Zimmerman,

Players and guest enjoyed a white party and Tony Hadley concert at the Old Tobacco Factory.

Miller’s Matteo Beffa, Sebastian Dawnay and Cedric Schweri won the event.

Musicians, vaulters and Spanish horse dancers entertained the guests between games.

A black-tie gala was held at the 5-star Hotel Monte Mulini with great food, music and dancing.

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LCB STYLE, CAROLINE BRAMLETT

MORGAN STANLEY WINS 6-GOAL USPA MASTERS CUP

MVP Wood Bramlett, playing for Morgan Stanley, heads to goal, while teammate Bob Edmundson covers opponent Pedro Has in the Masters Cup in Point Clear, Alabama. Bramlett led his team with five goals.

M

organ Stanley got the 11-8 edge over Honahlee in the final of the 4- to 6-goal USPA Masters Cup at the Point Clear Polo Club in Point Clear, Alabama on May 28.

Morgan Stanley (Wood Bramlett, Bob Edmundson, Gonzalo Teves, Sain Joseph) struck first on a goal from Joseph, but Honahlee (Pedro Has, Carlos Martinez, Martin Estrada, Steve Tipler) got off to a great start, taking a 31 lead in the first chukker after a pair of

48 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

goals by Estrada and one by Tipler. Teves scored a lone goal in the second, while Honahlee was scoreless. Estrada struck again, scoring two more, but Teves and Edmundson answered to keep it close, 54, at the half.

Estrada sunk a Penalty 5 early in the fourth, but Teves answered with a field goal and Bramlett slammed home two in a row to take the lead, 7-6. Bramlett sunk a Penalty 3 early in the fifth, and Joseph followed with a Penalty 4

conversion to increase the lead to three.

Estrada got in the last word, cutting the deficit back to two going into the final chukker.

But, Bramlett wasn’t done, as he jumped on passes and shot to goal twice to take a four-goal lead. Martinez found the uprights for Honahlee but the damage was done, and Morgan Stanley took the trophies.

Bramlett was MVP, while Martin Estrada’s pretty grey mare Garva

R E P O R T

LCB STYLE, CAROLINE BRAMLETT

LCB STYLE, CAROLINE BRAMLETT

P O L O

Sally Mackey, center, presents trophies to Morgan Stanley’s Sain Joseph, Gonzalez Teves, Bob Edmundson and MVP Wood Bramlett.

LCB STYLE, CAROLINE BRAMLETT

LCB STYLE, CAROLINE BRAMLETT

Kathleen Edmundson presents trophies to Bobkat’s Bob Edmundson, Bonnie Corner, Hutch Radcliff and Herndon Radcliff.

Clearwater’s Mikhal Newberry, Bill Mackey, Gonzalo Teves and Chip Campbell won the 6-goal Constitution Cup in Point Clear.

donned the Best Playing Pony blanket.

In the consolation match, Arcola Ranch (Cathy Alba, Bill Mackey, Mario Maldonado, Juan Martinez-Baez) edged Clearwater (Hutch Radcliff, Bonnie Corner, Herndon Radcliff, Chip Campbell) 9-8.

To get to the final, Morgan Stanley edged Clearwater 6½-5 and Honahlee slipped past Arcola Ranch 7½-7.

Two weeks earlier, on Mother’s Day, Bobkat’s Bob Edmundson, Bonnie Corner, Hutch Radcliff and Herndon Radcliff plowed over Carson Hill’s Wood Bramlett, Cathy Alba, Mario Maldonado and Sain Joseph for the 4-goal Go Big or Go Home tournament.

Bobkat took the tournament title to heart when it dug the ball out of the pack and sent it between the posts four times in the first 14 minutes without allowing Carson Hill to reach the goal.

Clearwater’s Gonzalo Teves handles the bouncing ball before letting it fly while MVP Herndon Radcliff moves in to defend.

Hutch Radcliff scored early in the third before Wood Bramlett put Carson Hill on the board with a Penalty 2 conversion ending the half with Bobkat leading 5-1.

Hutch scored a lone goal in the fourth while Carson Hill missed an opportunity from the 40-yard line.

Joseph scored for Carson Hill in the fifth, which went unanswered. Joseph added another early in the sixth, but Bobkat buried the competition with three more to take the 9-3 victory.

In the consolation, Clearwater (Lilly Martiniere, Mikhal Newberry, Gonzalo Teves, Chip Campbell) defeated Wineberry (Bill Webb, Bill Mackey, Eden Gonzalez, Juan Martinez Baez) 95½. Gonzalo Teves led the scoring with four goals. To get to the final, Bobkat topped Wineberry 6-4, while Carson Hill edged Clearwater 5-4.

The season began with the 6-goal USPA Constitution Cup final on May 7.

Three teams competed in the tournament played over two days.

Clearwater (Mikhal Newberry, Bill Mackey, Gonzalo Teves, Chip Campbell) tied with Honahlee (Cathy Alba, Hutch Radcliff, Mario Maldonado, Herndon Radcliff) 3-3 in the first round.

Honahlee began with a one-goal handicap and Herndon Radcliff added to it. Clearwater answered with a Penalty 3 conversion by Campbell and a goal by Teves for a 2-2 tie. Mackey broke the tie in the second, but a lone goal by Maldonado tied it back up in the third, ending the round 3-3.

Clearwater stayed up to face Carson Hill (Wood Bramlett, Bill Webb, Juan Martinez-Baez). Teves struck first in an effort to counter the 1½-goal handicap but Martinez-Baez had the answer with

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Mokarow’s Finley Haislip, Todd Offen, Benjamin Panelo and Kevin Mokarow with Kristin Armbruster, center and Kristin Payne

a pair of goals. Teves knocked in a pair, while Carson Hill was held to a Penalty 3 conversion from Bramlett. Clearwater surged ahead in the final chukker with goals by Newberry, Teves and Campbell while holding Carson Hill to a goal from Bramlett for the narrow 6-5½ victory.

In the final round of the day, Martinez-Baez added a goal to Carson Hill’s half-goal handicap but Hutch Radcliff scored to keep it close. Hutch Radcliff went on a scoring spree with three in a row in the second to give Honahlee a 4-1½ lead. Bramlett split the uprights in the third, but Hutch Radcliff had the answer. Martinez-Baez added another but time ran out and Honahlee had the 5-3½ win.

In the final round robin the next day, Clearwater faced Honahlee in the first round. Carrying over the 3-3 score from the previous day, Cathy Alba struck first to break the tie. Gonzalo Teves responded but Mario Maldonado put Honahlee ahead 5-4. Clearwater owned the second chukker with a tally by Bill Mackey and a pair of goals by Chip Campbell for a 7-5 Clearwater lead.

Maldonado’s two goals in the third tied the score at 7-7, forcing a shootout to determine a winner. Clearwater outshot Honahlee to take the win.

Honahlee then faced Carson Hill, carrying over a 1½-goal advantage.

Herndon Radcliff added to that in the first while Carson Hill was scoreless.

Neither team could reach the goal in the

50 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Tiburon’s Max Beuck, Lucio Chavez, Collen Clark and Rob Stenzel won the Rosemary’s Cup at Willow Bend Polo Club in Texas.

second, but Honahlee jumped out front with three goals in the third before Bill Webb put Carson Hill on the board.

Time ran out and Honahlee had the 94½ advantage.

The final round had Clearwater with a half-goal advantage over Carson Hill.

Gonzalo Teves struck first but was countered by a Penalty 3 conversion from Wood Bramlett. Martinez-Baez gave Carson Hill the lead in the second but a Penalty 3 conversion from Campbell and goals from Bill Mackey and Teves put Clearwater back on top 10-7½. Mackey and Teves gave Carson Hill the one-two punch in the third. Sain Joseph struck for Carson Hill, but it was countered by a goal from Teves, giving Clearwater the 13-8½ victory. With two wins, Clearwater took the title.

Honahlee was runner-up and Carson Hill was third.

SOUTHWESTERN

MOKAROW FARMS ACES 8G CONGRESSIONAL CUP

Willow Bend Polo Club in Oak Point, Texas kicked off its spring season with 4- and 8-goal leagues during the month of May, taking full advantage of the cooler, drier temperatures with spectators enjoying the fieldside pavilion and Friday evening asados.

The 8-goal season began with the

USPA Congressional Cup, held over the first two weekends in May. Mokarow Farms took the victory after narrowly defeating Mayer Ranch 6-4 in a highly-contested Friday evening game. The teams were well matched, trading goals in each chukker until the fifth when Mokarow converted two unanswered goals to get the gamewinning edge.

In the consolation match between Lucchese and Palo Pinto/Tiburon, Palo Pinto/Tiburon took an early 2-0 lead in the first chukker, but Lucchese quickly responded with three goals in the second and continued to amass goals in the next three chukkers.

Meanwhile Palo Pinto/Tiburon had two quick goals again in the third, but couldn’t catch Lucchese before the final horn. Lucchese took the 6-4 victory.

Play continued over the next few weekends, concluding with the Rosemary Cup over Memorial Day weekend. Tiburon dominated Mayer Ranch in its first game and went on to beat Palo Pinto/Icon Global to take the title and shiny Silver goblets.

PEGASUS/PROPAGANDA

SHINES IN TWO 8-GOALS

Pegasus/Propaganda came away the winner in two spring 8-goal leagues at the Houston Polo Club in Houston, Texas.

First, on April 9,

R E P O R T

KAYLEE WROE

KAYLEE WROE

P O L O

Pegasus/Propaganda’s David Andras, Nick Cifuni, Mason Wroe and Paul Hobby won the 8-goal Cowboy and USPA Delegates Cups in Houston.

Pegasus/Propaganda edged Ghurka 87 to win the Cowboy Cup. Then, on May 2, it defeated BTA 2 7-5 to win the USPA Delegates Cup. For the Cowboy Cup, six teams battled to get to the final of the first tournament of the spring season. After plenty of close games, shootouts and a great pair of semifinals, the finalists were decided. Fox Benton’s Ghurka team faced off against David Andras and Paul Hobby’s Pegasus/Propaganda team. It was a rematch of the first game of the tournament when Pegasus/ Propaganda (Hobby, Andras, Nick Cifuni, Mason Wroe) won by four goals, leaving Ghurka (Benton, Drew Luplow, Bryan Middleton, Chris Nevins) hungry for redemption.

The first half of the game belonged to Pegasus/Propaganda, as Wroe and Cifuni kept a consistent and controlled pressure on Ghurka, going into halftime leading 4-2. However, halftime is just what Ghurka needed. Ghurka’s Middleton, eventual high-scorer of the game, scored three unanswered goals in the fourth chukker on the game’s Best Playing Pony Muneca. Ghurka kept its momentum in the fifth chukker, held its opponent scoreless and went into the last chukker leading 7-4.

At the start of the sixth chukker, Andras converted a Penalty 3, bringing Pegasus/Propaganda within two.

Andras and Cifuni quickly scored two more goals, tying the game with just

Sullivan’s Cody Ellis (replacing Mark Prinsloo), Trevor Niznik, Sarah Prinsloo and Joanie Jackson won the Lonestar and Players Cups.

minutes left. With a little over 30 seconds left in the game, Pegasus/Propaganda received a center hit, and as the first horn blew, Cifuni was running hard and fast towards the goal. He scored the game-winning goal with just seconds on the clock.

Days later, six teams divided into two brackets began the preliminary matches for the Delegates Cup. After weeks of playoff games, Pegasus/Propaganda (Paul Hobby, David Andras, Nick Cifuni, Mason Wroe) and BTA 2 (Chrys Beal, KC Krueger, Cody Ellis, Steve Krueger) met in the final on a cool and overcast morning on Isla Carroll’s Joe Barry field in Brookshire, Texas.

The boys from Pegasus/Propaganda jumped out to an early lead with steady defensive play from Wroe and beautiful runs to goal from Cifuni, as they held BTA 2 scoreless for the first two chukkers while racking up four goals of their own.

However, as the sun came out and the temperatures started to rise, so did BTA, notching two goals on the board from good team play between Jimmy Seward and KC Krueger. The fourth and fifth chukkers consisted of even fast play and BTA 2 won the sixth chukker, but the damage was done and the early lead from Pegasus/Propaganda proved to be enough to send it home with the USPA Delegates Cup trophies.

Mason Wroe was named MVP for his efforts and Nick Cifuni’s mare, 45, was

named Best Playing Pony.

In 4-goal action, Sullivan Group (Joanie Jackson, Sarah Prinsloo, Trevor Niznik, Cody Ellis) edged CW Petroleum/Bearsden (Chris Williams, Taylor Freeman, Bryan Lee, Cody Woodfin) 5-3 in the final of the Lone Star Cup on May 3. Six teams competed for the top prize.

In the final, Taylor Freeman struck first for CW, but Cody Ellis and Trevor Niznik answered for Sullivan to take the lead. Cody Woodfin tied it up early in the second chukker, but Ellis responded to take back the lead 3-2 at the half.

Niznik scored a lone goal in the third to put Sullivan up 4-2. In the last chukker, Ellis scored his third goal.

Chris Williams sunk a Penalty 3 to bring CW within two but the team ran out of time and the scrappy Sullivan Group had the 5-3 win.

The win also gave Sullivan Group a leg-up in the next tournament, as the Lone Star Cup final was also played as a preliminary match in the Players Cup tournament. After two weeks, Sullivan had earned its way into its second final.

This time it would face No Le Hace (George Georgiades, Joe Mack Stimmel, Nicolas Gomez, Carolyn Stimmel).

Sullivan Group got right to work, slamming in three unanswered goals to counter the half-goal handicap given to No Le Hace. Sullivan Group got on the board in the second, with each team member tallying, before Georgiades

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DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS

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DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS

P O L O

X marks the spot: Antelope’s Felipe Vercellino and U.S. Polo Assn.’s Patrick Uretz clamor for the ball in the final of the Nixon Memorial.

scored the first goal for No Le Hace.

Gomez traded gaols with Niznik in the third chukker, entering the last period with Sullivan Group’s score twice that of No Le Hace, 5-2½. Niznik and Ellis sandwiched goals around one from Gomez to increase their lead. Niznik added another to put the game out of reach. Gomez got the last word, but it wasn’t enough as Sullivan Group took the 8-4½ win.

PAC I F I C C OA S T

U.S. POLO ASSN. TAKES LISLE NIXON MEMORIAL

With a mixture of youth, talent and experience, the U.S. Polo Assn. team boasted an impressive undefeated record coming into the Summerland Winery Lisle Nixon Memorial final.

The tournament is the first of a four 12-goals in a series hosted by the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Carpinteria, California.

U.S. Polo Assn. featured a dynamic father-son duo, 5-goal Luis Escobar and his 1-goal son Nico Escobar. The Escobars were joined by Team USPA member Patrick Uretz and Santa Barbara native Matt Walker. The team matched up against Antelope (Santi Trotz, Felipe Vercellino, Jim Wright, Geoff Palmer) in the final. Antelope

52 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

U.S. Polo Assn.’s Matt Walker, Luis Escobar, Patrick Uretz and Nico Escobar won the Ramsey Asphalt Pope Challenge.

aced a penalty shootout to earn its spot in the final.

U.S Polo Assn. drew first blood, scoring two quick goals at the start of the first chukker. The fierce foursome took advantage of its offensive momentum, scoring four more goals before the second period ended.

Antelope fought to defend, but found itself trailing 10-3 at half.

Luis Escobar added two tallies to a goal from Walker in the fourth. A penalty by Wright and two goals from the field by Vercellino late in the fifth chukker gave Antelope the momentum.

Palmer took advantage of a foul called against the opponent, kicking off the sixth and final chukker with a goal from the penalty line. But U.S. Polo Assn. was not about to back down, pushing its lead to 17-10 as the final bell sounded.

Patrick Uretz was Most Valuable Player, while Country Girl, owned and played by Luis Escobar, was named Best Playing Pony.

U.S. Polo Assn. carried its momentum into the next 12-goal, the Ramsey Asphalt Pope Challenge. This time, the team met up against Klentner Ranch in the final.

U.S. Polo Assn. took the difficult road to the final, narrowly defeating Farmers & Merchants Bank in the third match of the qualifying round to stay

alive. Klentner Ranch defeated U.S. Polo Assn. and Antelope but fell short in its match against Farmers & Merchants Bank. In a three-way tie, U.S. Polo Assn., Klentner Ranch and Farmers & Merchants went to a penalty shootout to determine the two finalists. Farmers & Merchants was eliminated in the shootout, sending Klentner and U.S. Polo Assn. to the final.

The final was a family affair pitting father and son duos against each other: Luis and Nico Escobar for U.S. Polo Assn. and Justin and Jake Klentner for Klentner Ranch.

Luis Escobar struck first, but Jake and Justin Klentner answered back with goals of their own. The teams traded goals again leaving Klentner on top 3-2.

Defense was tight in the second and third chukkers. Nico Escobar and Patrick Uretz combined for three goals, but Bray scored a pair of end-toend goals to even the score at 5-5 at the halftime break.

In the fourth, a penalty conversion and a field goal from Bray gave Klentner the edge but Nico Escobar cut the deficit to one, 7-6.

The fifth chukker belonged to U.S. Polo Assn. as Nico Escobar, Uretz and Walker each tallied to jump ahead 9-7.

Klentner tried to rally in the sixth but was unable to dig itself out of the hole it was in. U.S. Polo Assn. took the game 12-8. Nico Escobar and Jesse Bray led

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DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS

P O L O

Farmers & Merchants Bank’s Dan Walker, Mariano Fassetta, MVP Leigh Brecheen and Felipe Viana won the Lucchese Vic Graber Cup.

their respective teams with five goals each. Patrick Uretz was named MVP and his horse Mufasa was honored as Best Playing Pony.

Farmers & Merchants Bank (Dan Walker, Mariano Fassetta, Felipe Viana, Leigh Brecheen) might have narrowly missed its chance to be in the final of the Pope Challenge, but it wasn’t taking any chances in the Lucchese Vic Graber Cup. It overcame Antelope in the semifinal to earn a spot in the final. It faced Klentner Ranch (Jake Klentner, Jesse Bray, Santi Wulff, Justin Klentner) that defeated Mokarow Farms in the other semifinal.

From the first throw in, the two teams battled for the ball, but it seemed each pass met an opposing player or a defensive mark for the first several minutes of play. Finally, Klentner Ranch split the uprights with a shot from Wulff.

Farmers & Merchants Bank took control of the offense in the second chukker. Viana and Fassetta took turns launching the ball to Walker, who scored once from the penalty line and twice from the field in quick succession. Jake Klentner fought to put another tally on the board, scoring the final goal of the chukker from the field to leave the score 3-2 in favor of Farmers & Merchants Bank.

Wulff tied up the score, 3-3, early in the third chukker from the penalty line,

City Fire’s Paige McCabe, Nick Johnson, Jaime Mirikitani and Frankie Bilbao won the 12-goal Salon Jaylee at The Villages.

but Fassetta and Walker each scored again to give F&MB a two-goal advantage at the half.

The fourth chukker began with a quick goal by Fassetta, pulling F&MB further ahead, 6-3. Klentner Ranch fought to reach the goal, but failed, sending several miscued shots over the end line. Wulff finally connected with his third goal of the day. Fassetta quickly answered back, giving F&MB a three-goal lead.

A scoreless fifth chukker saw the teams battle the length of the field, with five attempts going wide.

Bray came alive in the sixth, scoring two goals from the field and giving Klentner Ranch a fighting chance. With time running low, a field goal by Viana was matched by a penalty conversion by Wulff. With just a one goal difference, time ran out, giving Farmers & Merchants Bank the 8-7 victory.

Parca, owned by Santi Wulff, was awarded her third Best Playing Pony award of the year. Leigh Brecheen was named MVP. FLORIDA

CITY FIRE SIZZLES IN SEASON OPENER

The largest crowd in The Villages Polo Club history was treated to a fast-

paced and thrilling season opener on March 19 in The Villages, Florida.

Over 1,600 people witnessed City Fire shoot past UnitedHealthcare, 14-8, to take the 12-goal Salon Jaylee final.

Francisco Bilbao paced City Fire with seven goals, including two tallies in a crucial fifth chukker to seal the victory.

City Fire’s Jamie Mirikitani struck first just two minutes into the opening chukker. Two more goals from Bilbao sent City Fire off with a 3-1 lead through the first period of play.

A total of seven goals were tallied by the two teams in the second chukker, with City Fire holding a 6-5 lead at its conclusion.

Bilbao struck two more goals in the third, sandwiching the shot of the day from UnitedHealthcare’s Pelon Escapite, who scored on an 80-yard strike to give City Fire an 8-6 lead at the half.

A subdued fourth chukker saw UnitedHealthcare claw to within 8-7, before City Fire put to rest any hopes of a comeback with four scores in the fifth chukker of play, including the two crucial tallies from Bilbao.

Bilbao and Escapite tallied a goal in the sixth and last chukker of the contest, as the two No. 4s finished with seven goals apiece.

The following week, Alan Martinez led Fross & Fross to a 10-5 victory over

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CHUKKERTV

CHUKKERTV

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Fross & Fross’ Joe Watkins, Pedro Lara, Nico Talamoni and Alan Martinez won the Fross & Fross 12-goal.

UnitedHealthcare in the Fross & Fross 12-goal.

The opening chukker of action was a defensive struggle and a goal from Fross & Fross’ Nico Talamoni with just 52 seconds left stood as the match’s only tally through the first chukker.

Both Martinez and Talamoni added a goal in the second chukker, giving Fross & Fross a 3-0 lead through two periods of play.

UnitedHealthcare finally got on the board with back-to-back strikes from Brad Limehouse and Paige McCabe, just roughly 30 seconds apart, before Talamoni pushed the Fross & Fross lead back to 4-2 prior to halftime.

The low-scoring first half was a point of emphasis for Fross & Fross at halftime, as No. 1 Joe Watkins said the team made a few adjustments during the intermission to try and open up the flow of the game.

“We sat down and kind of had to reevaluate how we were playing,” Watkins said. “Alan [Martinez] made a couple good decisions that turned it around for us. One-hundred percent, Alan is the team captain for us, he shifted a few little things around and it shifted the tide of the game, for sure.”

Martinez had a spectacular secondhalf performance as he rattled off five consecutive goals, following a tally from UnitedHealthcare’s Nick Johnson to open the fourth chukker.

Martinez tallied two in the fourth

54 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

United Healthcare’s Joe Watkins, Pedro Lara, Nico Talamoni and Alan Martinez won The Villages Health 12-goal.

chukker, two more in the fifth—the lone goals of the period—and the first goal in the sixth and final chukker of play.

“It was a lot of fun,” Martinez said.

“The horses played well, the field was in great shape and the crowd was good. It turned into a nice open game for us, and that’s our strong suit.”

The winners donned United Healthcare jerseys the next week for The Villages Health 12-goal and they were equally successful after a late rally, and some heroics by Martinez.

The head of Alan Martinez’s mallet launched more than 60 feet into the air.

But as the last man-on-pony standing between the goal and the tying Citizens First tally, Martinez did anything and everything possible to preserve UnitedHealthcare’s 12-11 victory.

Facing a one-goal deficit with under 90 seconds to play, Citizens First’s Francisco Bilbao, who scored a gamehigh seven goals, picked up the ball nearly 200 yards away from paydirt and began a mad dash through traffic. With the clock winding down under a minute, Bilbao left possession behind for teammate Nick Johnson, who soared a pass upfield to spring the leading scorer on a line for the tying goal.

But Martinez met Bilbao at the ball’s arrival, and the two opposing mallets collided with Bilbao’s stick flexing and Martinez’s shattering.

“No comment,” Martinez said with a

grin, when asked about what went through his mind in the pivotal moment. “But no, that’s just part of the game. It’s funny the timing of that happening. I knew I couldn’t leave the team and go get another mallet, because I’m right in the middle of the play. But I just hoped maybe I could hook him or bump him, or just do anything I could to defend and help us hold on.”

Left virtually defenseless, the No. 3 for UnitedHealthcare positioned his horse in the way of Bilbao’s offensive attempt, stalling long enough for teammates to arrive and the match’s final horn to sound, negating a potential tying right-of-way penalty shot.

“I saw Alan [Martinez] breaking his stick, and I knew I had to get there,” UnitedHealthcare’s Nico Talamoni said.

“I told myself I have to arrive to that play to help him, and I tried to hit a shot away from Frankie [Bilbao], but I missed and nearly fell off. So then I just tried to stand in front of him, he hit the ball and it hit my horse, and that was it— that won it.”

The wild final moments were set in motion by a strong second-half comeback by UnitedHealthcare, who found itself down 8-4 just minutes after the half.

Three consecutive goals by UnitedHealthcare trimmed the lead down to 8-7, before two tallies from Bilbao gave Citizens First a 10-7 advantage midway through the fifth.

R E P O R T

CHUKKER TV

CHUKKER TV

P O L O

Ardens’ Dixon Stroud, Paige McCabe, Nick Johnson and Frankie Bilbao won the Citizens First and Galaxy Home Solutions 8-goals.

After playing up to the crowd amid a challenge from the club’s public address announcer, it was Talamoni who sparked the UnitedHealthcare rally with back-to-back scores with under two minutes to play in the fifth chukker to bring his unit back to within one goal.

The tying UnitedHealthcare tally was scored just a minute into the sixth before Talamoni and Martinez each scored to take a 12-10 lead with 3:20 left to play.

Bilbao scored his seventh and final goal of the afternoon with 2:30 to go, bringing Citizens First back to within one at 12-11 but the mad scramble at the end of the match sealed any hopes of a comeback, with Martinez’s soaring mallet head becoming an autographed souvenir after the match.

“We didn’t hit the ground running like we did last week,” Martinez said.

“They played well and complicated things for us. It was a matter of tightening things up and figuring out what we needed to do as the match went on. And honestly, at the end, we got a couple lucky breaks and made a few shots, and then we were saved by the bell.”

The 8-goal action began April 7-9 as Arden’s Jewelers took a 9-6 victory over Citizens First in the Citizens First Financial 8-goal.

The dynamic threesome of Paige McCabe, Nick Johnson and Francisco Bilbao—paired along with Dixon

Mclin Burnsed’s Trevor Baldwin, Lucas Escobar, Wes Finlayson and Kris Kampsen won the Properties of The Villages 8-goal.

Stroud—accounted for all nine goals in the weekend finale, with Bilbao pacing the familiar faces with five goals.

Citizens First jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage just a little over a minute into the match, as Horacio Onetto put a shot through the goal at 1:12 of the first chukker.

But Arden’s Jewelers would respond with five unanswered goals of its own to take a 5-1 lead through two chukkers of play, with Bilbao tallying three and Johnson adding two of his own.

Two tallies from Charly Cendoya helped Citizens cut the lead in half at 63, prior to halftime.

McCabe got into the action to open the second half of play, scoring on a breakaway halfway through the fourth chukker to give Arden’s a 7-3 lead.

The play of the match took place with just over a minute left in the fourth, as Cendoya tried to meticulously maneuver his pony around the horse of Bilbao en route to what would’ve been his third tally of the contest. However, Bilbao pressured aggressively to force the turnover and bring the crowd to its feet, as he rumbled 150 yards to the goal for his fifth tally of the game.

A goal from Johnson just after the 30-second horn in the fourth chukker all but sealed the match for Arden’s with a late three-goal rally by Citizens still leaving the team three goals short as time expired.

The same Arden’s lineup took the

Galaxy Home Solutions 8-goal 9-8 over a stunned City Fire the next week.

Bilbao blasted a Penalty 5 100 yards that was stopped just 10 feet short before Johnson streaked in front of the goal to hammer home the game-winner as the final horn sounded.

“I had to start from left-to-right so I wouldn’t cross his line, and got lucky the ball bounced to me,” Johnson said.

“I couldn’t hear [the horn] with the wind, so I was just playing until I heard the whistle. It was lucky, feeling lucky was definitely my emotion.”

The thrilling final moments came after a wild sixth chukker of play, as the two teams combined for six goals compared to just five total tallies in the first half of play.

As Arden’s took a 3-2 lead into the half, it was Bilbao who struck for two more goals to pace the team out to a 53 advantage through four chukkers.

City Fire rallied with four unanswered goals spanning into the early part of the sixth and last chukker, eventually taking a two-goal lead at 7-5.

After falling off his horse and appearing to injure his left leg, Bilbao remounted to score on two separate penalty shots—book-ending a goal from Johnson—to retake the lead for Arden’s, 8-7 with 2:45 left.

Just a minute later, City Fire’s Alan Martinez put home his sixth tally of the match to knot the game once again with 1:40 to go.

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ARI DELIN/CHUKKER TV

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ARI DELIN/CHUKKER TV

P O L O

Newport’s Gene Goldstein, Grant Ganzi, Julio Arellano and Pablo Dorignac won The Memorial Cup over Dutta Corp.

A scramble after a throw-in with under :20 seconds to play resulted in Bilbao’s heroics from the penalty line.

Play continued with 14-year-old Lucas Escobar dazzling the crowd on April 23 as the youngster’s eight goals propelled McLin Burnsed past Citizens First 13-8 in the Properties of The Villages 8-Goal Tournament finale.

After the teams started somewhat sluggish out of the gate resulting in a 21 Citizens First lead through the first seven minutes, it was Escobar who lit up the scoreboard in the second chukker.

The Wellington native scored three times in just a little over two minutes to help McLin Burnsed jump out to a 5-2 advantage after two chukkers all while riding Tordo, who was later named Best Playing Pony.

Escobar struck again just 19 seconds into the third chukker, before Francisco Bilbao tallied two to bring Citizens First back to within 6-4 at halftime.

The teams matched goals in the fourth, for an 8-6 score. It was in the fifth chukker of play that Bilbao got on a roll of his own, scoring once and directly assisting on another tally to bring Citizens First within one at 9-8 with 100 seconds to play in the period.

Escobar tallied yet another three goals in the sixth and final chukker of play to close the door on any comeback effort from Citizens First.

—Cody Hills

56 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Dutta Corp’s Carlitos Gracida puts the pressure on Newport’s Pablo Dorignac in the final of The Memorial at Grand Champions Polo Club.

NEWPORT VICTORIOUS IN THE MEMORIAL CUP In one of the most exciting finals of the spring season, Newport rallied for a stunning 18-16 upset victory over Dutta Corp to capture the seasonending Memorial Cup on May 28 at Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.

Trailing after four chukkers, Newport’s foursome of Gene Goldstein, Grant Ganzi, Pablo Dorignac and Julio Arellano outscored Dutta Corp (Carlitos Gracida, Timmy Dutta, Piki Diaz Alberdi, Tim Dutta), 7-2, in the last two chukkers.

The win avenged the previous weekend’s 11-7 Newport loss to Dutta Corp in the Polo Gear Challenge Cup final. It was also Newport’s first tournament win of the spring season.

“Dutta Corp was definitely the team of the spring and it made us raise our level to be able to come and play them and win,” said 8-goaler Julio Arellano. “Things went our way and I am very happy we could pull one out.”

The victory ended Dutta Corp’s hopes of becoming the first four-time tournament winner in the club’s spring season history.

Dutta Corp was the winningest team during the six-week season with three tournament titles and two

subsidiary tournament wins. Dutta Corp and Travieso are tied with three wins in a single season.

“This was a fun team,” said Newport’s Gene Goldstein. “It was the first time I got to play with Pablo. He put his head down and played really well. Grant had a great game, Julio played well. No one could beat the Duttas this season and we didn’t beat them until the last two minutes. It’s nice to win your last game of the season and great way to finish up.”

Lynn University freshman Grant Ganzi, who turned 19 on June 1, was named Most Valuable Player. The upand-coming player turned in one of his finest career performances with a game-high nine goals, including six penalty conversions.

“Grant was perfect six-for-six with his Penalty 2 shots, which is great and he scored some great goals dribbling them in between players,” Arellano said. “He was just at the right place.

He had a fabulous day.”

Ganzi scored four goals during Newport’s 7-2 run including a goal from the field to give his team a 17-16 lead with 2:58 left in the game.

Arellano’s Penalty 4 conversion iced the win.

“It was a great way to end the season,” Ganzi said. “We all fought really hard and all played really well as a team.”

R E P O R T

ARI DELIN/CHUKKER TV

ARI DELIN/CHUKKER TV

P O L O

Dutta Corp’s Tim Dutta, Timmy Dutta, Carlitos Gracida and Piki Diaz Alberdi won the Sun Cup and Polo Gear Challenge.

Diamante, a 6-year-old Chestnut mare ridden by Timmy Dutta in the second and fifth chukkers and bred by Carlitos Gracida, was selected Best Playing Pony.

In the subsidiary game, The Polo School (Jeff Desich, Lucas Lalor, Brandon Phillips, Guille Aguero) spoiled the spring debut of Intercontinental (Marc Ganzi, Alejandro Poma, Kris Kampsen, Jason Crowder) with an exciting 11-9 victory.

Earlier in the season, Dutta Corp took wins in the USPA Sun Cup and the Polo Gear Challenge.

The foursome of father-and-son Tim and Timmy Dutta, Piki Diaz Alberdi and Carlitos Gracida led from start-to-finish to defeat Deeridge (Pablo Dorignac, Grant Ganzi, Will Jacobs, Guille Aguero), 14-8, in the final of the USPA Sun Cup. Dutta Corp started off with a 2-0 lead on handicap and soon extended it to 4-1, 6-2 and 7-3 after three chukkers.

Deeridge could never get its offensive attack going in the second half.

Carlitos Gracida, the oldest son of Hall of Famer and former 10-goaler Carlos Gracida, was named Most Valuable Player. Gracida scored a team-high six goals over four chukkers and dominated the game.

Gracida’s sixth chukker horse, Vicki, a 6-year-old mare named after trainer and polo player Vicki Armour,

Audi’s Marc Ganzi, Pablo Dorignac, Lucas Lalor and Guille Aguero won the Spring Challenge over Newport.

was selected Best Playing Pony.

In the subsidiary round-robin, Sebucan (Alex Webb, Pablo Pulido, JJ Celis, Brandon Phillips) won the consolation title over Whitehall Ranch (Bill Lane, Jason Crowder, Lucas Lalor, Melissa Ganzi) and Audi (Marc Ganzi, Rich Desich, Kris Kampsen, Juancito Bollini).

The success story of Dutta Corp continued on May 21 in the championship final of the Polo Gear Challenge Cup. In only its second competitive year as a team, the 11-goal foursome of Carlitos Gracida, Timmy Dutta, Piki Diaz Alberdi and Tim Dutta knocked off Newport’s 16-goal team of Gene Goldstein, Marc Ganzi, Lucas Lalor and Julio Arellano, 11-7.

Dutta Corp started off with a fivegoal advantage on handicap and built on its lead by shutting out Newport in the second and third chukkers for an 8-1 halftime lead.

Newport finally found its offensive punch behind Arellano and Ganzi, taking advantage of penalties and scoring six goals in the last two chukkers but fell short. At one point, Dutta Corp led 11-3 in the fifth chukker.

Samba, an 8-year-old Argentine mare, bred by Alberdi and ridden by teenager Timmy Dutta, was selected Best Playing Pony.

In the subsidiary game, La Natividad (Melissa Ganzi, Grant Ganzi, Barto Castagnola, Mariano Uranga), won the round-robin against Polo Gear and Psycho Bunny, returning after a year’s absence.

Earlier in the season, on May 14, Audi Captured the Spring Challenge.

Marc Ganzi, Guille Aguero, Lucas Lalor and Pablo Dorignac defeated Newport (Gene Goldstein, Rich Desich, Julio Arellano, Juancito Bollini), 10-8, to win its first tournament of the spring season.

While Newport struggled with its offensive attack early in the game, Audi led 1-0, 3-2 and 5-2 after three chukkers. Arellano brought Newport within one goal, 5-4, with 4:25 left in the fourth chukker, but goals by Aguero and Ganzi extended Audi’s lead to 7-4 after four chukkers.

Newport could get no closer than two goals the remainder of the game.

Newport’s Rich Desich, playing above his handicap and one of this year’s most improved players during the winter and spring seasons, was named Most Valuable Player.

Previously, Desich, playing for Audi, was named MVP in the USPA Sun Cup subsidiary game.

Marc Ganzi’s second-chukker horse, Granma, an 8-year-old mare, was selected Best Playing Pony.

—Sharon Robb

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 57

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INTERCOLLEGIATES Outdoor polo tournament held until World War II

T

he Intercollegiate Polo Association was formed at a meeting held in the offices of the United States Polo Association on March 2, 1925. It was an important milestone for the sport as it established the game as a genuine college sport. Further, it set up a way to grow the sport and improve play and playing conditions around the country.

College polo, however, dates back to 1883, the year the Harvard University polo team was founded. The team won several outdoor regional championships until 1897 when Harvard resigned from the American Polo Association for unknown reasons. Princeton put together its first team in 1902, while Yale began in 1904. According to newspaper reports from the time, Princeton and Yale played in the first intercollegiate game in 1904.

College polo matches were played sporadically over the next two decades. Following the war, the revival of the game was aided through a coordination with the military training in colleges. Military programs, such as those at West Point, Pennsylvania Military College, the Virginia Military Institute and Norwich University participated with the Ivy polo teams in the 1920s.

John R. Townsend donated a trophy for indoor intercollegiate competition in 1922. With the exception of the war years of 1943-1946, the trophy has been played for continuously since then.

Outdoor intercollegiate competition was a different ball game. The military hosted the first outdoor national intercollegiate title on the parade grounds at Fort Hamilton in 1923, thanks to Maj. Gen. Robert Bullard. Bullard, then com-

58 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Maj. Gen. Robert Bullard

mander of the Second Corps Area with headquarters at New York’s Governor Island, donated a beautiful bronze trophy for the competition. The tournament was held there again in 1924, but when Maj. Gen. Bullard retired from active service, the annual college tournament was without a home.

Bullard was replaced by Maj. Gen. Charles Summerall. According to a February 8, 1925 article in the New York Times, “After investigating the condition of and growth of the tournament, [Summerall] has come to the realization that it has outgrown the facilities which the Second Corps Area is able to offer.” Summerall requested the USPA take over the tournament, and he found a sympathetic ear in the USPA chairman at the time, former Yale player Louis Stoddard.

The USPA boasts in its 1926 blue book, “the formation of the college association under the sponsorship of the United States Polo Association … marked the divorce of the game in the colleges from the status of being largely a military training matter and launched it definitely as a college sport.”

The desire to continue collegiate tournaments was the reason for the formation of the Intercollegiate Association, with the following charter members: Cornell University, Harvard University, Norwich University, Pennsylvania Military College, Princeton University, United States Military Academy, Virginia Military Institute and Yale University.

Princeton Polo Association’s Alvin Devereux, who encouraged the formation of the Intercollegiate Association and worked with the U.S. Polo Association to get it done, was named chairman of the executive committee and president. G. M. Carnochan was named secretary and treasurer and Frank S. O’Reilly, an officer of the USPA, was named assistant secretary and treasurer. At its first meeting, a constitution and by-laws were adopted and an executive committee appointed, with each of the charter members represented.

The third annual Intercollegiate Polo Tournament, the first under the auspices of the newly formed Intercollegiate Association, was held from June 13-20 on the great fields at the picturesque Westchester-Biltmore Country Club in Rye, New York. The field was a big improvement from the one at Fort Hamilton.

Under ideal weather conditions, the tournament was run without a hitch, with the polo powerhouses being identi-

DAILY PRINCETONIAN DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Players practice in front of the old Princeton stadium in 1924.

Above: The Arizona and Princeton teams line up to salute Gen. Robert Bullard before the final match of the National Championship Series in 1924.

Below: The Princeton Tigers’ C. Newbold drives the ball through the goal at the first outdoor intercollegiate tournament at Fort Hamilton in 1925.

DAILY PRINCETONIAN

fied early. In the first match the favored Yale University crushed Pennsylvania Military College 16-5 before the U.S. Military Academy shut out rival Virginia Military Institute 19-0. In the last preliminary match Harvard shut out a new Princeton line-up 14-0. U.S. Military Academy easily beat Norwich, which received a first-round bye, 17-1 in the first semi-final match.

The second match was the best of the series as Harvard topped Yale 6-4. The field was slightly damp from rain but it didn’t prevent hard riding and hard hitting from the outset. Harvard proved it could ride shoulder to shoulder with the highly-rated Yale team.

Harvard held a lead until the fifth when Yale tallied twice to tie the score at 5-5. The sixth period had spectators on their feet with no scoring until the last minute of play when Harvard stole the ball from a scrimmage and took three hits to find the goal.

The final had Harvard taking on U.S. Military Academy. West Point stayed within reach for the first half, but fell away rapidly as Harvard powered its way to an 8-3 victory.

The tournament proved to be the best yet. Despite collegiate polo never before played in the area, the event drew a big crowd. The field was in excellent condition and the U.S. Polo Association spared no effort to have things organized. All of the eight charter members, except Cornell, which had a school conflict, sent teams. The University of Arizona had hoped to send a team but in the end wasn’t able to bear the cost of doing so.

The Westchester Biltmore hosted the event for several more years. Ideal conditions brought out the largest audience to date in 1926, taxing stands and parking space around the field to capacity. Five teams competing represented the cream of college polo: Yale, Harvard, Princeton, the United States Military Academy and the Pennsylvania Military College.

The first three had already claimed an intercollegiate title. Defending champion Harvard sent an experienced team and

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 59

was established as the favorite. Yale, winner of the inaugural event, had a strong team and Princeton had won it in 1924.

West Point might have been a true contender if not for a tragic accident some time before the tournament began when Hamilton Smith Hawkins Jr. was fatally injured in a practice match.

In the first match, Harvard took on Princeton. Harvard, playing as a finetuned machine, swamped the Princeton team 11-2. Harvard received a secondround bye, so advanced to the final. Later that day, West Point defeated Pennsylvania Military College in a good game 8-4.

A few days later, Yale, which received a first-round bye, took on the West Pointers for the other final spot. Yale proved to be perhaps the smartest and cleverest college team yet, easily downing West Point 14-4.

Harvard was still the slight favorite to win, however Yale, faster, keener and full of fight, virtually swept Harvard off the field. Harvard got off to a good start, with three unanswered goals before Yale

Intercollegiate Champions in 1926, Yale’s (back row) coach Maj. Arnold, Simonds and manager Ross; (front row) Baldwin, Guest, Muir, Barrett and Olds

Harvard University won the Intercollegiate Polo Tournament in 1925. The team included Alexander Shaw, R.A. Pinkerton, W.H. White and Frank Stranahan.

60 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

took over late in the second period, allowing only one goal from Harvard the remainder of the game while piling on 11 goals.

Despite the lopsided score, the match was one of the fastest and best collegiate games to date. After the tournament, various college coaches and officers of the Intercollegiate Association chose an “AllCollege Four� including S.W. Van Meter from West Point; F.W.C. Guest of Yale; R.A. Pinkerton of Harvard; and W.K. Muir of Yale.

Several other college men showed interest in participating so more colleges were expected to join the tournament in the future. Enthusiasm from the current members of the association led to new fields and enlarged facilities. The W.B. Devereux Jr. Memorial Field was dedicated at Princeton, and the Phipps Field at Yale was opened for play, while the Pennsylvania Military College built a permanent grandstand around its field.

The fondest hopes of some of the

The bronze trophy donated by Maj. Gen. Robert Bullard in 1923 for intercollegiate competition.

In 1935, teams played for a different trophy. It is unclear what happened to the Bullard Trophy.

founders of Intercollegiate polo were realized when a young man who just graduated from college polo was chosen for the International Team of 1927, the highest honor the sport offers.

The 1927 Intercollegiate Polo Tournament was played for the first time in a league format rather than single elimination, ensuring four games for each of the five teams and no final. Yale, the defending champion, was favored to win due in large part to it having Winston Guest, the highest handicap college player, and the greatest combination of players ever to represent a college on the polo field.

Princeton has a strong team centered around Arthur Borde, but Harvard suffered the loss of its starting player, R.A.

Pinkerton to injuries earlier in the season, and G. Irving for its last game. Pennsylvania Military College lost both of its star forwards to injuries. West Point was an unknown quantity with a new combination of players.

After all the matches were played, Yale took the victory with the only undefeated record. Princeton was second with its only loss to Yale. Harvard was third, United States Military Academy was fourth and Pennsylvania Military College was in last place. The All-College team included: Princeton’s Arthur Borden, Yale’s F.W.C. Guest and C.R. Barrett, and Harvard’s Forrester Clark.

Yale went on to dominate over the next 13 years, winning six more times.

Harvard counted four wins, West Point two and Princeton one. The competition was held at Biltmore until 1928 after which it was awarded to the Philadelphia Country Club. From then on, it was awarded to a different club each year until 1935 when it was held at Governors Island in New York for three consecutive years.

Also, in 1935, teams from the West competed and the winners were awarded the Governor Morris Carnochan Trophy rather than the Bullard Trophy. It is unclear what happened to the Bullard Trophy. Instead, from 1936-1940, the teams played for the new Gerry Intercollegiate Cup. After the tournament, at a meeting of the Intercollegiate Polo Association, tentative plans were made to have east and west divisions of the intercollegiate tournament. By 1938, that became a reality when the east played at Burnt Mills in New Jersey, while a western division competed at the Uplifters Polo Club in Santa Monica, California. No western division was played again, however a team from Arizona participated in the intercollegiate tournament held at Harvard’s W. Cameron Forbes field in Massachusetts in 1940.

Like most polo the world over, intercollegiate polo collapsed as World War II began. After the war, the adoption of mechanized cavalry meant university ROTC programs no longer had reason to support polo training, and the severe shortage of players, horses, funds and open space caused outdoor polo to become all but inaccessible to universities.

On the other hand, indoor collegiate polo picked up immediately after the war, with the Townsend Cup resuming by 1947. Its place in the USPA, and polo as a whole, would be cemented by the merger of the Indoor Polo Association with the USPA, made complete by 1954.

Along with the indoor association’s member schools, the USPA also inherited its championship trophies, including the Townsend Cup and the Sherman Memorial.

POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 61

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J U N E 3 - J U LY 8 Summer League (4) Southampton, Watermill, N.Y. J U N E 16 - J U L Y 2 USPA Officers Cup (8) Mashomack, Pine Plains, N.Y.

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J U N E 2 3 - J U LY 2 Independence Day League (4-6) Willow Bend, Little Elm, TX J U N E 2 5 - J U L Y 16 Silver Cup (20) Greenwich, Greenwich, CT J U N E 2 5 - J U LY 2 3 New York Cup (8) Southampton, Watermill, N.Y. J U N E 2 6 - J U LY 2 3 Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup (20-22) Cowdray, Midhurst, England J U N E 2 7 - J U LY 2 Summer Camp, Session 2 Central Coast, Los Osos, CA J U N E 2 8 - J U LY 9 Harrison Cup (4-8) Myopia, South Hamilton, MA J U N E 3 0 - J U LY 2 McHugh Tournament (4) Brandywine, Toughkenamon, PA J U LY 1 4th of July Tournament Des Moines, Norwalk, IA Polo Classic Denver, Sedalia, CO

National Youth Tournament Series qualifiers are being held across the country this month.

J U LY 2 Sage Brush Open Bucky King Memorial Powder Horn Blastoff Big Horn, Sheridan, WY

J U LY 7 - 9 ChukkerTV Challenge Cup Aspen Valley, Carbondale, Co Celebrate Saratoga Tournament Saratoga, Greenfield Center, N.Y.

Independence Cup Aspen Valley, Carbondale, CO

Women’s WCT (10-12) Maryland, Jarrettsville, MD

Winkelman Cup Skaneateles, Skaneateles, N.Y.

Weekend 4 Goal Lexington, Lexington, KY

J U L Y 2 - 16 Midstates Circuit Officers Cup (4-8) Lexington, Lexington, KY

J U LY 7 - 3 0 USPA Eduardo Moore Invitational (8) Mashomack, Pine Plains, N.Y.

J U LY 3 - 8 USPA Max Berger Cup (4) Tinicum Park, Erwinna, PA

J U LY 8 NYTS South Bay, Gilroy, CA NYTS St. Louis, Chesterfield, MO

J U LY 1 - 2 Independence Cup Seneca, Poolesville, MD

J U LY 4 - 2 2 The Indian Empire Shield (15-18) Guards, Surrey, U.K.

J U LY 1 - 3 Holly Ward Memorial (6) Sugarbush, North Ferrisburg, VT

J U LY 5 - 8 Gallatin Ranch Cup Flying H, Big Horn, WY

J U LY 1 - 4 4th of July tournament Sugarbush, North Ferrisburg, VT

J U LY 5 - 9 USPA Amateur Cup Honolulu, Waimanalo, HI

J U LY 1 - 9 JB Cross Cup Calgary, Alberta, Canada

J U LY 6 - 7 NYTS Youth Clinic South Bay, Gilroy, CA

J U LY 8 - 15 Summer League (0-2) Seneca, Poolesville, MD

J U LY 1 - S E P T E M B E R 2 Low Goal Challenge Southampton, Watermill, N.Y.

J U LY 7 Summer League (4) Southampton, Watermill, N.Y.

J U LY 9 Malcolm Wallop Cup Big Horn, Sheridan, WY

62 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

Burger King Juniors Int’l Polo St. Ann, Drax Hall, Jamaica J U LY 8 - 9 Polo Canada Tournament Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada Governor’s Cup (1, 4, 6) Seattle, Enumclaw, WA

MARKETPLACE J U L Y 1 0 - 14 Summer Camp for Kids Seneca, Poolesville, MD J U L Y 11 - 16 Circuit Sportsmanship Cup (0-4) Hawaii, Waialua, HI Summer Camp, Session 3 Central Coast, Los Osos, CA J U LY 12 - 15 Cloud Peak Cup Flying H, Big Horn, WY J U L Y 1 2 - 16 Midstates Circuit Masters Cup (0-4) Bliss, Columbus, GA Eastern Circuit Players Cup (0-4) Congressional, Rockville, MD J U LY 12 - 2 3 USPA Chairman’s Cup (8-12) Myopia, South Hamilton, MA J U L Y 1 3 - 16 USPA Constitution Cup (2-4) Acoaxet, Tiverton, RI USPA Constitution Cup (0-6) Des Moines, Norwalk, IA USPA Constitution Cup Maryland, Jarrettsville, MD

J U L Y 14 - 16 SPA Anniversary Tournament Saratoga, Greenfield Center, N.Y. Craig Sakin Memorial Aspen Valley, Carbondale, CO Hall of Fame Cup Skaneateles, Skaneateles, N.Y. PTF Seniors Tournament Blackberry, Batavia, IL J U L Y 14 - 2 3 J.C. Palmer Memorial Calgary, Alberta, Canada J U LY 15 NYTS Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, CA LUND Benefit Sugarbush, North Ferrisburg, VT BV Invitational Fun Day St. Ann, Drax Hall, Jamaica Pacific Polo Tour Hollywood Cup Will Rogers, Pacific Palisades, CA J U L Y 1 5 - 16 USPA/PTF Senior’s Tournament Blackberry, Batavia, IL NYTS Gardnertown, Newburgh, N.Y.

J U L Y 14 USPA Congressional Cup (4-6) St. Louis, Chesterfield, MO

J U LY 15 - AU G U S T 5 Hamptons League (6) Southampton, Watermill, N.Y.

DEBRA NAPP

Hall of Fame Challenge Cup Skaneateles, Skaneateles, N.Y.

The U.S. Open Arena Polo Championships will once again be held at Country Farms in Medford, New York.

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J U L Y 16 Eaton’s Cup WYO Rodeo Cup Big Horn, Sheridan, WY Polo for the Cure Toronto, Gormley, Canada J U L Y 16 - 3 0 USPA Congressional Cup (8) Lexington, Lexington, KY J U L Y 17 - 2 2 USPA Arby Dobb Cup (4) Tinicum Park, Erwinna, PA J U L Y 17 - 2 9 U.S. Open Arena Polo Championships Country Farms, Medford, N.Y. J U LY 18 - 2 2 Family Tournament-low goal (4) St. Ann, Drax Hall, Jamaica J U LY 18 - 2 3 Circuit Governor’s Cup (0-4) Hawaii, Waialua, HI Summer Camp, Session 4 Central Coast, Los Osos, CA J U LY 18 - AU G U S T 5 Harrison Cup (12-15) Cowdray, Midhurst, England J U L Y 19 NYTS Toronto, Markham, Ontario, Canada NYTS Southampton, Water Mill, N.Y. J U L Y 19 - 2 2 Oliver Wallop Cup Flying H, Big Horn, WY J U LY 2 0 - 3 0 Monte Argentario Gold Cup (6-10) Argentario, Grosseto, Italy J U LY 2 2 Hot Summer Nights Tournament South Bay, Gilroy, CA J U L Y 21 Orthwein Cup (4-6) St. Louis, Chesterfield, MO Ronny Maher Memorial Maryland, Jarrettsville, MD

64 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N

J U L Y 21 - 2 2 USPA Arena Tournament (2-4) Brandywine, Toughkenamon, PA

J U LY 2 7 - 2 9 Family Tournament-high-goal (10) St. Ann, Drax Hall, Jamaica

J U L Y 21 - 2 3 Basalt Handicap Aspen Valley, Carbondale, CO

J U LY 2 8 - 3 0 Women’s Tournament Brandywine, Toughkenamon, PA

Veuve Clicquot Challenge Saratoga, Greenfield Center, N.Y.

Emma Challenge Aspen Valley, Carbondale, CO

Weekend 2 Goal Lexington, Lexington, KY

Junior Tournament Argentario, Grosseto, Italy

J U LY 2 2 - 2 3 NYTS Chesapeake Cup Congressional, Rockville, MD NYTS Blackberry, Batavia, IL NYTS Seneca, Poolesville, MD HYT Polo Challenge Will Rogers, Pacific Palisades, CA J U LY 2 3 Morton Buildings CHAPS Benefit Big Horn, Sheridan, WY J U LY 2 3 - AU G U S T 13 USPA Club Championship (10) Southampton, Watermill, N.Y. J U LY 2 4 - AU G U S T 6 Challenge Cup (15-18) Holden White Cup (4-8) Cowdray, Midhurst, England J U LY 2 5 - 3 0 Intra-Circuit Tournament (8-12) Hawaii, Waialua, HI J U LY 2 5 - AU G U S T 6 USPA National Arena Handicap Aspen Valley, Carbondale, CO J U LY 2 6 - 2 9 Bradford Brinton Memorial Cup Flying H, Big Horn, WY

WCT Qualifier (8-12) Brandywine, Toughkenamon, PA Umpire Clinic South Bay, Gilroy, CA Hull Cup Calgary, Alberta, Canada The Mid-Summer Celebration Saratoga, Greenfield Center, N.Y. J U LY 2 8 - AU G U S T 6 America Cup (16-20) Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, CA J U LY 2 9 - 3 0 Circuit Women’s Challenge (0-4) Blackberry, Batavia, IL Cornona Cup Seneca, Poolesville, MD J U LY 3 0 Goose Creek Cup Flying H, Big Horn, WY NYTS Will Rogers, Pacific Palisades, CA NYTS Paul Nicholson Memorial Big Horn, Sheridan, WY Team USPA vs. South America Myopia, South Hamilton, MA USPA Women’s Challenge Cup Honolulu, Waimanalo, HI

J U LY 2 6 - 3 0 Circuit Women’s Challenge Honolulu, Waimanalo, HI

Polo for Preemies Skaneateles, Skaneateles, N.Y.

J U LY 2 7 USPA Officers Cup (4-6) St. Louis, Chesterfield, MO

Note: All dates are subject to change. “USPA” refers to tournaments sponsored or sanctioned by the United States Polo Association.

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Matteo Beffa) got its first win with an 11-3 drubbing of D1 Milano (Michele Cattadori, Susanne Rosenkranz, Santiago Schweitzer), while Veuve Clicquot (Frank Kirschke, Philipp Zimmerman, Agustin Kronhaus) downed Adris (Gabriel Eckenstein, Clare McNamara, Casimir Gross) 11-5.

Marc Holms from the U.K. served as umpire and Jan Erik Franck announced the matches.

That night players attended a black tie gala dinner at the 5-star Hotel Monte Mulini where they enjoyed a delicious gourmet dinner prepared by chef Andy Gaskin, music and dancing while catching up with friends, new and old.

The next day, the teams paraded through the historic city before making their way to the polo arena to continue the preliminary games. Miller edged D1 Milano 9-5; Veuve Clicquot beat Bentley 10-7; and Jana defeated Adris 13-10.

Later, players enjoyed a dinner party, with everyone dressed in simple white, and a concert by former Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley at the Old Tobacco Factory in downtown Rovinj.

On the final day, Miller took the top prize with an 8-6 win over Veuve POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N 45