Pony Power

However talented their riders, it’s the horses that make the difference in polo. Argentine 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso, widely considered the world’s best player, identifi es the ponies bringing victory to high-goal teams in England this season

pony power

In Formula One racing, the teams with the right tyres on their cars are the ones that win the race. In polo, the teams that have the right ponies under their players are those that mount the winners’ podium. It’s a sport in which 70 per cent or more of winning or losing is down to how well a player is mounted. You need the right ponies not just for the star players, but for every member on the team, and enough mounts to last through two and sometimes three high-goal tournaments in just a couple of months or so. at is a lot of high-pressure polo for the horses. e two top pony strings in England this season were probably equal to those being played in the big tournaments in Argentina, The author at Dubai including the Argentine Open, or in the US team’s Berkshire Open in Florida. One was that of my team, stables with champion Small Person, about to load the pony up for a well-deserved rest in pastures after victory in two major tournaments. HERBERT SPENCER Dubai, patroned by Al Albwardy. We entered three high-goal tournaments and won the two most important: the Queens Cup at Guards and the British Open for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup at Cowdray Park.

e other outstanding string was that of Urs Schwarzenbach’s Black Bears, who were fi nalists in those two contests and winners of the Warwickshire Cup at Cirencester Park. For both Dubai and Black Bears, it was the right ponies – and enough of them – that got both through the league matches and into the fi nals.

Stefano Marsaglia’s Azzurra team, who beat us in the Gold Cup last year, also had a strong string this year that enabled them to win the Prince of Wales Trophy at the Royal County of Berkshire, fi rst high-goal tournament of the season. Azzurra had the third best string in England this season. ere were some really outstanding ponies. It is diffi cult to single out one as the best of the season, but I would perhaps choose Presumida from the Black Bears string, played by Javier Novilla Astrada in the fi fth chukka of the Gold Cup fi nal. is 16-year-old grey mare, an American oroughbred, originally came from 10-goaler Carlos Gracida and was one of 18 ponies that the Black Bears patron bought from Hubert Perrodo, whose team won the Queens Cup last year. e Black Bears string was greatly strengthened by this purchase, and the team played fi ve or six of their new mounts in all their important matches. As second best I would choose Small Person, a oroughbred New Zealand mare, 10-year-old dark bay about 15 hands, that I have played for the past two seasons in England. She has everything. She quite deservedly won Best Playing Pony in the Queens Cup this year, a true champion. She has everything.

After I was brought down by a foul and broke my wrist in the fourth chukka of the Gold Cup semi-fi nal, Small Person went on to do well in the fi nal, ridden by my substitute, Lucas Monteverde. Although one might think that ponies should be matched to individual players, or to the positions they play, this really isn’t true. A good horse is a good horse, a champion is a champion, and can be ridden by any good player to great eff ect. Either of the Novilla Astrada brothers could ride Small Person and score goals. ird on my list would be Mujeramante, also from our Dubai string and ridden by me. She is another American oroughbred, a dark bay mare about 15 hands high, and is one of my favourite mounts. Black Bear’s oroughbred grey mare Shimmer, ridden by Javier Novilla Astrada, is another outstanding pony. Owned by Urs, Shimmer had 14 starts in races in New Zealand and was a six-furlong winner before being trained as a polo pony by Tony Devcich, one of the leading players there. ere are of course many other excellent mounts I could mention, like my teammate Piki Diaz Alberdi’s Indiana that won Best Playing Pony in the Gold Cup. e overall quality of high-goal ponies in England this season was higher than I can ever remember. Javier has suggested that ponies have to be more well-rounded in English high goal than in, say, the big Florida tournaments. ere is more contact, more close-in action in England than in America, where Bermuda grass grounds in consistently good weather produce a more open and racing game. Its an interesting question: are diff erent types of ponies required in diff erent countries?

Well, I would be delighted if I could play my English string in every big high-goal tournament, including the Argentine and US Opens. For now, however, Small Person, Mujeramante and the others are having a welldeserved rest in English pastures. ■

Above: Black Bears’ Javier Novilla Astrada aboard Presumida, chosen by author as best from the English season.

Right: Shimmer, from the same team’s string.

Top right: Andrew Seavill with Small Person as a two-year-old before polo training.

English polo player and trainer Andrew Seavill agrees with Adolfo Cambiaso’s choice of the season’s best ponies. He found 2005 champions Small Person and Indiana through the unusual expedient of placing an advertisement in a daily newspaper.

‘I placed wanted ads in the racing section of the New Zealand Herald, asking for unbroken two-year-old Thoroughbreds,’ Seavill said, ‘and then travelled all over the North Island looking at the horses. Small Person and Indiana were in the fi rst bunch I bought.’ He brought the horses back to England and made them into polo ponies.

‘Even after they’ve been taught the game, you can’t put young horses into high-goal polo straightaway,’ Seavill says. ‘It takes patience, however great a pony you think you’ve got.’ He believes the average high-goal pony only reaches its prime at age 10 and the great ones are usually between 10 and 16 years.

‘A really famous, stand-out pony, like Chesney in the Nineties, only comes along every generation or so,’ Seavill said. ‘Small Person is still developing and could be in that class one day.’

It was Seavill who also brought Reeba to England. He originally purchased this Thoroughbred in New Zealand for a client here. Reeba, played by 10-goaler Bautista Heguy of Azzurra, was named Best Playing Pony in the Prince of Wales Trophy tournament fi nal this season. New Zealand Thoroughbreds also won best pony in the Warwickshire Cup and Coronation Cup – a clean sweep for Kiwi mounts.