The Action

It was time for the sons of the fathers to grab the limelight during the English high-goal season. And they did not disappoint, reports Herbert Spencer

What do a twenty-something Swiss businessman, Australia’s wealthiest man, a teenage Bedouin from the deserts of Arabia and a young chap from the English shires have in common?

They are all part of a younger breed of amateur players who stamped their skills on England’s green and glorious polo grounds during a bumper high-goal season in this 50th anniversary year of the Cowdray Park Gold Cup. Well-known names like Schwarzenbach, Packer, Albwardy and Hanbury were already etched on many an English trophy, but now was the time for their sons to shine in a sport that has traditionally passed the torch from one generation to the next.

The English high-goal season has long been the most cosmopolitan in the world. Most of the team patrons in American high goal are US citizens, and it is Argentine professionals who put together the top teams in Argentina. By contrast, the high-goal scene in England is like a United Nations of polo. Of the 20 teams competing in the British Open Championship this year, 15 were fielded by patrons from overseas, and over the past two decades only two Opens have been won by an English-patroned team.

It was 20 years ago that Switzerland’s Urs Schwarzenbach brought Black Bears over from St Moritz and built the team into one of the most powerful in England. Today, Urs is the longest-serving of all the high-goal patrons playing here. Over the years, Black Bears have won the British Open twice (six times in the final), the Warwickshire Cup a record six times and the Queen’s Cup twice.

Black Bears were again a strong favourite for the Queen’s Cup this year when, in the last league match, Urs went down and suffered a concussion and broken ribs. A phone call to Zurich brought 24-yearold Guy Schwarzenbach winging his way over to take his father’s place in the team for the rest of the season.

This was Guy’s first season of high-goal polo, and it was a debut to make his father proud. Unusually for an amateur, he scored in every one of Black Bears’ matches, his tally including key goals in the semi-finals and final of the British Open. His performance in the Queen’s, Warwickshire and Gold Cup tournaments prompted Hurlingham to name him Best Amateur Player for this issue [see page 5]. At season’s end, the handicap committee of the Hurlingham Polo Association recommended that he be elevated from 0-goal to 1-goal for next year.

‘Guy was a ringer at 0 and he’ll be a ringer at 1 if he goes on like this,’ commented one observer.

(Previous page, from left) Cartier managing director Arnaud Bamberger and a casually attired Prince Harry present the Coronation Cup to Luke Tomlinson, in his first year as captain of the England team

1 Black Bears’ Guy Schwarzenbach gives chase as Jamie Packer lofts the ball for Ellerston during the Gold Cup final. 2 Eduardo Novillo Astrada has won the US and British Opens in 2006. 3 Lovelocks’ Charlie Hanbury, son of HPA chairman Christopher, in his first year of high goal. 4 Tariq Albwardy accepts the Queen’s Cup from Her Majesty and Arnaud Bamberger. 5 Dubai’s George Meyrick vies with Gonzalito Pieres (Broncos) during the Queen’s Cup finals

Opposing Guy in the British Open final was his old friend James Packer from Australia, another son of a famous foreign patron. His father, the late Kerry Packer, burst on the English high-goal scene in 1990 with the best grounds in the country at Stedham near Cowdray Park, superb ponies from his embryo-transfer breeding operation at Ellerston in Australia and powerhouse teams – Ellerston White with him and Ellerston Black with son Jamie. Between them the Ellerston teams won three British Opens, four Queen’s Cups, three Warwickshire Cups and The Prince of Wales Trophy.

Then six years ago the Packers left England, but maintained their involvement in polo with establishments in Australia and Argentina. James Packer’s return this year was big news, although his Ellerston team only competed in the Gold Cup. At 39, Packer is the oldest as well as the most experienced of this season’s new crop of amateur team patrons.

‘He did extremely well considering he had not even ridden for three months since the polo season in Australia,’ said Packer’s coach, Roberto Gonzalez, who played with the patron in Ellerston Black’s 1994 Gold Cup win. ‘I’m sure he’ll be back next year more fit and with more polo under his belt.’

The Bedouin boy from the desert is Tariq Albwardy. Ten years ago, his father, Ali Albwardy, came over from the United Arab Emirates to establish an English base in Berkshire and build up his high-goal team, Dubai. The team eventually centred on 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso and can now

boast the best pony string in England. Ali won the Gold Cup in 2001 and the Queen’s Cup in ’03 and ’05.

Two years ago, in the British Open, Ali gave his place on the team to his son Tariq , then only aged 15. The youngster was keen but looked out of his depth. Last year, however, Tariq played for Dubai again and, just short of his 17th birthday, became the youngest player ever to win the Gold Cup. Then this year he won both the Queen’s Cup and the Prince of Wales Trophy.

And the young man from the English shires? That is 20-year-old Charlie Hanbury, son of HPA chairman Christopher Hanbury. Christopher played on his Gloucestershirebased Lovelocks team for 20 years, during which it won numerous low- and mediumgoal trophies, and the high-goal Warwickshire Cup. Three years ago he retired from competition, gave his place on the team to Charlie and this year entered Lovelocks in the Queen’s, Warwickshire and Gold Cups.

‘This was Charlie’s first season in high goal,’ said Christopher Hanbury, now happy to sit it out as non-playing patron of Lovelocks. ‘And he did well, scoring some fine goals for the team. He is improving all the time and will lead Lovelocks again next season. I’m also thinking of letting my son George, who is 18, play for Lovelocks in the Warwickshire.’

It was not only the amateurs that were part of the generation game in 2006. More than a decade ago, Gonzalo Pieres, then a 10-goal professional, was a key to the successes of Kerry Packer’s Ellerston White team. This year it was ‘Gonzo’s sons, Gonzalito and Facundo, both pros in their early 20s, who starred with James Packer’s new Ellerston squad.

Also of significance this season were the key roles played by lower-handicapped pros who so effectively backed up their higherrated team mates. Contributions by players such as Black Bears’ Lucas James (handicap 4, up to 5 mid-season) and Dubai’s George Meyrick (2, up to 3) sometimes made the real difference in matches won by their teams.

At the end of the 2006 high-goal season, the HPA’s Handicap Committee made its recommendations for changes in ratings for next year, to be confirmed by the Stewards in November and to take effect from January 1 2007. A trend was immediately discernable: a dozen or more 10s, 9s and 8s came down a notch – almost as many as the 7s, 6s and 5s that went up.

Facundo Pieres was the only player slated to be raised to 10, with 10-goalers Nachi and Marcos Heguy and Augustin Merlos dropping to 9. The veteran Gracida brothers, Memo and Carlos, were dropped from 9 to 8, although they remain 9 and 10 respectively in America. Among those recommended to go up from 6 to 7 were Mark Tomlinson, Alejandro Novilla Astrada, Gaston Moore and Ignacio Toccalino.

HPA handicaps at the upper end of the scale, where they affect the nuclei of highgoal teams, are in many cases adrift from those awarded in Argentina and the USA, and tend to be lower. Anomalies abound, and one might be tempted to think that the HPA handicappers are tougher. But to each his own in a sport that, unlike most, does not have consistent international ratings or rankings for its players.

1 Eduardo Novillo Astrada (Black Bears) goes to the whip, closely watched by Ellerston’s Gonzalito Pieres (left), during the Gold Cup finals on Lawns II at Cowdray Park

Tap, tap. Who’s there? Polo pros. Polo pros who? Polo pros who slow up the world’s fastest ball game by tapping the ball at a walk, creating scrums and depriving fans of the exciting spectacle of magnificent thoroughbreds thundering down the ground and players smacking the ball a hundred yards to score in an open-running game.

A tendency to create such game-slowing scrums, long complained about but with little done by officials to prevent them, was the only thing that marred an otherwise perfect polo day when Black Bears met Ellerston in the final of the British Open for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup on the 50th anniversary of one of the sport’s most coveted trophies.

Excitement was high at Cowdray Park Polo Club among the 15,000 spectators gathered for the final, 5,000 of whom had watched the high-goal season’s best polo in the semi-finals three days earlier. Twenty teams had entered the 22-goal tournament, and there were close matches throughout, many won by a single goal, sometimes in extra time. In the semis, Ali Albwardy’s Dubai, last year’s champions, went out to James Packer’s Ellerston 13-12 in extra time. Adrian Kirby’s Atlantic, with an increasingly strong pony string thanks to mounts provided by the MacDonoughs, provided another nailbiting semi against powerhouse Black Bears, who prevailed 11-10 when Guy Schwarzenbach scored on a run from almost midfield just seconds before the final bell.

So the scene was set for what could be the final of all finals between Black Bears and Ellerston. The two teams appeared evenly matched in pony power. It was a credit to Ellerston’s breeding programme in Australia that its ponies were in fine shape, despite having come from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern just a month or so earlier; the equine equivalent of jet lag sets in not the next day but some weeks later.

Ellerston, based a few miles from Cowdray Park at the Packers’ former grounds, were the ‘home team’ favourites, with much of the crowd behind them. It was reminiscent of the 1995 final, when Ellerston White beat Black Bears. James Packer rode on to the ground looking uncannily like his father had in that match, as Kerry Packer’s widow, Ros, remarked before the game.

There were some brilliant runs by Gonzalito and Facundo Pieres, who hold the maximum 10-goal handicap in Argentina but whose HPA handicaps were only 9 for the Gold Cup. Black Bears’ 9-goal brothers, Eduardo and Javier Novilla Astrada, also had their moments of glory. But it was Guy Schwarzenbach who caught everyone’s eye, including that of Gonzalo Pieres, onc-time stalwart of Kerry Packer’s team and father of the stars of present-day Ellerston.

‘Gonzalito hit a fantastic under-the-neck shot to score,’ he said, ‘then straightaway comes Guy, a 0-goal amateur, and makes the same shot. Amazing!’ It was one of Guy’s goals that tied up the game in the last chukka and allowed Javier Novilla Astrada to make it 9-8 and secure the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the team.

But with those tap-tap scrums that slowed the game it was not the fast-flowing final fans like to see. The HPA has a ‘onetap’ rule that allows a player to tap the ball only once at a walk while being challenged by an opponent, then he must leave it, accelerate or hit it away. The association’s chief umpire and referee of the match, Robert Graham, admitted there was at least one occasion when the whistle should have blown. ‘There is too much of this,’ he said. ‘We need to dosomething drastic.’ But what?

‘We have the same problem in the States, though it’s not quite as bad as it is here,’ said veteran Mexican-American pro Memo Gracida after the final. ‘In Argentina, if a player performed like this, trying to keep possession by tapping the ball around, an opponent would swoop in and steal the ball and maybe also the tapper’s stick and whip as well.’ A tendency to tap the ball and create game-slowing scrums was the only thing that marred an otherwise perfect polo day when Black Bears met Ellerston in the final of the British Open

2 Gonzalito Pieres (left) attempts to hook Lucas James. 3 (from left) Javier Novillo Astrada, Francesca, Guy and Urs Schwarzenbach, Eduardo Novillo Astrada and Lucas James on the podium at Cowdray Park. 4 Lawns II plays host to a record crowd DVD ACTION

‘I was looking for a book to read during those first chukkas,’ said Mimi Gracida after the Cartier Queen’s Cup final between reigning champions Dubai and the Marquis of Milford Haven’s Broncos at Guards Polo Club. It was a pertinent comment.

An embarrassing own-goal by Broncos’ Gonzalito Pieres was just about the most exciting thing produced by the first four chukkas – unless one counts Dubai’s Pikki Diaz-Alberdi lying prostrate with pain, paramedics in attendance, after he was struck in the cheek by the ball.

Then, in the fifth and sixth chukkas, any of the 7,000 spectators who might have been dozing were awakened by more inspired play from both teams. It became a see-saw battle between Broncos’ Pieres brothers and Dubai’s formidable duo of Adolfo Cambiaso and Piki Diaz Alberdi, and it produced one of the greatest runs of the whole season.

Broncos had taken their attack to within yards of the Dubai goal when Cambiaso seemed to appear out of nowhere, snatched the ball and accelerated away like a rocket to take it the full length of the field and score. The pony that carried Canbiaso on that brilliant run, the Argentine mare Faltambido, received the Best Playing Pony blanket from the Queen and its rider the Most Valuable Player award.

And it was to 17-year-old Tariq Albwardy, son of patron Ali and Number 1 for Dubai, that Her Majesty presented her cup after the team squeezed by Broncos 12-11 to notch up its third victory in the tournament.

1 George Meyrick hooks Facundo Pieres during the Queen’s Cup finals. 2 The two best players in the world today (and both playing at Number 2) – Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Pieres – before the start of the final

Urs Schwarzenbach was on his first day out at polo after his accident in the Queen’s Cup, and he sat by Black Bears’ team tent at Cirencester Park Polo Club watching his squad, which included his son Guy, fight Martyn Ratcliff’s Oaklands Park for the Warwickshire Cup. If Black Bears were victorious, it would be a perfect get-well gift for the ailing patron: three Warwickshires in a row, making a total of seven.

But it was not to be, although the game could have gone either way, especially in the second half. The amateurs on the teams played their parts: Black Bears’ Schwarzenbach scored what he later said was his favourite goal of the season with an under-the-neck shot, and Oaklands Park patron Ratcliff knocked in a crucial equaliser in the last chukka before colliding with the goalpost.

It was left to Oakland Park’s Glen Gilmore to score the winning goal and give the team its unexpected 14-13 win over Black Bears on their home ground.

It was the largest turnout in years to compete for the Warwickshire Cup, one of England’s oldest and most impressive trophies dating back to the 19th century. Both title holders Black Bears and Oaklands Park came through the league matches to the final with a no-loss record and an equal goal difference, at 11, over their early opponents. But Black Bears has one of the strongest pony strings in England, as the home team they had the crowd’s backing and they were the clear favourites to capture the venerable cup again.

The Prince of Wales Trophy at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club is first on the ‘big four’ fixtures list every year. Unseasonably heavy rains in May played havoc with the schedule, however, so the tournament’s conclusion had to be postponed to a date when the two finalists, Dubai and Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor, were available to play. By then Dubai had already won the Queen’s Cup.

For the Prince of Wales showdown, with the British Open starting, Dubai changed its line-up. It gave Piki Diaz-Alberdi and George Meyrick a rest, replacing them with Ignacio Toccalino and All-England player Johnny Good to play with Adolfo Cambiaso and Tariq Albwardy.

There was little that Emlor, led by Chilean Gabriel Donoso, could do to stop Cambiaso, who partnered well with the under-handicapped Toccalino, and McCarthy’s squad were lucky to lose by only half a point, 12 to 111/2, to mighty Dubai.

3 A groom nuzzles the muzzle of a well-loved pony. 4 Martyn Ratcliff controls the ball on the nearside with Guy Schwarzenbach on his hip. 5 Tariq Albwardy accepts the Prince of Wales Trophy from Greta Morrison

Talandracas and Loro Piana met in the final of the Spanish Gold Cup in Sotogrande this year. Both were previous winners, and both had already clashed in the preceding month’s UK Open

The annual migration of high-goal team patrons and professional players from England to Spain’s Costa del Sol is as dependable as the flight of birds heading south from the British Isles to winter in Iberia or Africa.

After the British Open in July, the next big pro-am prize on the international polo circuit is the Gold Cup at Santa Maria Polo Club in the Spanish resort of Sotogrande in August.

This year, the happiest migrant of all was amateur Alfio Marchini, playing off 2-goals in Spain, whose Loro Piana team has been competing around the high-goal circuit in England, Argentina and the USA for several years without success. In Spain, however, it was a different story: Loro Piana captured its second Gold Cup in four seasons of play, establishing Marchini as the reigning king of polo at Sotogrande. The tall, handsome Italian beamed as the Duchess of York handed him the trophy before some 4,000 spectators on Santa Maria’s Rio 1 ground.

Both the finalists had played in the British Open the month before, and both were past Gold Cup winners at Sotogrande – Loro Piano in 2004 and Frenchman Edouard Carmignac’s Talandracas in 2001. Loro Piana’s 11-10 victory over Talandracas this year was due largely to the outstanding performance of 9-goaler Juan Martin Nero, who had also played for Marchini in the British Open. His run to goal from almost midfield in the last seconds to clinch the match thrilled the crowd and made some wonder whether he might become the world’s next 10-goaler.

There were a dozen or more professional players from English high goal on the 11 teams playing in the 20-goal Sotogrande tournament, among them Eduardo and Javier Novilla Astrada and Lucas James from British Open champions Black Bears; Piki DiazAlberdi; Lolo Castagnola; Pablo MacDonough; and, of course, Nero. Also competing were English pros Luke Tomlinson, who played for Talandracas, and George Merrick.

Young Charlie Hanbury from Lovelocks also joined the migration south, if only by accident. In the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup, one of the players on Stefannia Annunziata’s La Mimosa team broke ribs during the quarter-final, which meant she had to change her line-up, with the reshuffle requiring a 1-goal substitute. La Mimosa’s 10-goaler Castagnola, who will be playing for Lovelocks in England next season, recommended Hanbury, who flew down on his first visit to Sotogrande. The team lost its semi-final to Marchini’s Loro Piana, but it was Hanbury who scored La Mimosa’s only two field goals in the match.

POLOLINE

In front of a record crowd, local hopes were high when underdogs England met New Zealand in the final at Windsor. But what would Her Majesty have said about the state of the ground?

There is no polo scene like it anywhere in the world. Every year, the Cartier International, flagship event of the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA), explodes upon a quiet corner of the royal park just down the road from Windsor Castle, and 2006 was the biggest year ever. A total of 25,000 people came through the gates, Prince Harry played in a morning match, thousands lunched in marquees and stayed on to party until after midnight. And in the main feature, England’s national team fought yet again for its place in the sun of international polo.

For years, the England team has been struggling in a polo world dominated by Argentina and with powerhouse opponents from other countries such as the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. England’s record has not been impressive: of 33 Coronation Cup encounters, and two in which the famous old Westchester Cup was the prize, the home team had won only 13.

Hopes were high when, two years ago, the team finally got Audi funding for a manager, coaches, trainers, money for the players’ ponies and a squad system that currently has 17 players available. Yet England was beaten by Chile in 2004 and Australia in 2005. So would things go better for the team in 2006, playing against New Zealand?

It was a hot, sunny day at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, and everything seemed perfect for the 36th running of the HPA’s International Day, known as the Cartier International since the jewellers took over sponsorship in 1984. Only one thing was wrong: the Queen’s Ground at Guards was in a shocking state for such an important international, leaving players trying to control a ball that often bounced crazily on an uneven playing surface. At a post-match press conference, both Henry Brett of England and Cody Forsyth of New Zealand remarked on the poor quality of the ground. ‘It affected play for both teams,’ said Brett. ‘Once, the ball even bounced backwards on me,’ complained Kiwi Tommy Wilson.

Luke Tomlinson was England’s new Coronation Cup captain, taking over from Henry Brett, who seemed far more comfortable, confident and steady without the responsibility. Tomlinson shifted to Back because he was not fully fit after suffering a hairline fracture to his pelvis just a few weeks prior and because he was not riding his own ponies. James Beim, making his Coronation Cup debut and benefiting from the loan of ponies from the great Ellerston string, was considered best for the No 1 slot. So Brett was returned to the No 3 position he had occupied in some past years, with

1 England captain Luke Tomlinson (right) backs the ball to Henry Brett as New Zealand’s Simon Keyte (centre) looks on. 2 The hunt comes to Cartier. 3 The eyes have it as Maoris perform a haka before the match. 4 Where there’s polo there’s brass. 5 Actress Mischa Barton, cutting a sartorial swathe DVD ACTION

Mark Tomlinson at No 2. Such musical chairs was nothing unusual: under its new squad system, England has changed line-ups a dozen times for tests here and abroad.

Pony power was pretty much equal, with perhaps a small edge to the Kiwis; a large proportion of mounts for both teams were on loan, generously donated by high-goal patrons and pros. New Zealand captain John Paul Clarkin was the highest-handicapped player in the match and survived a badly bruised elbow to perform well, but it was the Kiwi 7-goaler Tommy Wilson who scored most goals for the visitors.

England, a 26-goal team, started with two points on the scoreboard to reflect the higher handicap of 28-goal New Zealand, and with the scoring tied up at 7-7, it was only this that gave the home team its 9-7 victory. There were occasional touches of brilliance by both sides, but the match lacked the excitement of last year’s encounter with Australia, when England pushed the match into a nail-biting extra chukka before losing 8-7 to the visitors.

Of course, the place to be during the day, for champagne, luncheon, tea and socialising, was the Cartier marquee. With interior design by Allegra Hicks, even the marquee’s loos were luxurious. The almost 600 guests of host Arnaud Bamberger, Cartier’s managing director, included celebrities from the world of stage, film, TV and fashion. Among others were prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova; actors John Cusack, Hugh Dancy and Mischa Barton; authors Jilly Cooper and Frederick Forsyth; TV presenters Jenny Bond and Michael Buerk; and Burberry designer Christopher Bailey.

Composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and his polo-playing wife also lunched with Cartier. ‘This is our first time on the posh side,’ said Lady Lloyd Webber. ‘Last year we were with the grooms. We’re here mainly for our kids, who are riding with the Pony Club players in the opening parade.’

The parade before the Coronation Cup was a grand show as befitted the occasion. With the Queen away in Scotland celebrating her 80th birthday, Prince Harry deputised for his grandmother to present the Coronation Cup to England skipper Tomlinson. Cartier’s Pegasus trophy for Most Valuable Player was awarded to Brett, and the Best Playing Pony prize went to Glitter, one of his mounts.

For some, the day was far from over. More than 6,000 revellers were at Guards until after midnight to rave at the Kidd-Smyle Polo Players Marquee and Chinawhite’s ‘Rock the Polo’ tent. The former scored by featuring James Morrison, whose debut album Undiscovered hit No 1 in the charts the following week, but Chinawhite topped the royal stakes by attracting Prince Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy to its marquee.

1 England’s Malcolm Borwick in full flight against South Africa at Cowdray Park. 2 South African captain Buster Mackenzie

After a mismatched Evolution Test against Argentina, England were delighted to snatch victory from South Africa in a fast-flowing game

England’s victory over New Zealand was a welcome result after its crushing 10-4 defeat by Argentina in the Evolution Test at Beaufort Polo Club. To be fair to England, the Evolution Test was the most ill-conceived and mismatched test the team has ever had to play.

It was as if the rules had been thrown away with regards to fielding teams of roughly comparable handicaps, playing the test open or on handicap. And the handicap rating of one player – Piki Diaz Alberdi – was even listed with his Argentine handicap of 8 goals rather than his HPA rating of 9.

Argentina was down as a 30-goal team, including 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso, while England could only muster a 24-goal side, being without its two highest rated players, 7-goalers Luke Tomlinson (injured) and Henry Brett (unavailable) . The test was meant to be played on handicap, like the Coronation Cup and all of England’s other tests here and abroad, which would have given England extra points on the scoreboard to reduce the odds.

The Argentines, however, insisted that the test be played open, and with so much advance promotion focusing on the participation of Cambiaso, the world’s best player, the visitors got their way. Outclassed England played with determination, but the one-sided score line was a foregone conclusion. It was more an exhibition than a test match in the truest sense of the phrase.

The England vs South Africa test match at Cowdray Park Polo Club at the end of August was a much more equitable affair than the mismatched Argentine event at Beaufort, despite the visitors being without their highest handicapped player, Sugar Erskine, who was tied up playing the Pacific Coast Open. To bring the team aggregates closer together, England stood down Henry Brett, leaving the home side at 23 goals. South Africa took the field at 20 goals, and with the match played on handicap rather than open, they got 3 points on the scoreboard before play began.

It was good, fast-flowing polo from start to finish, with England coming out on top 11-9. It might have been different had South Africa not missed five of their six penalty shots. Unusually, almost all of the total points scored in the match were field goals.

England’s 5-goaler Tom Morley made his debut at this international level, as did South Africa’s Ignacio de Plessis, at age 18 the youngest competitor on the ground and winner of the Most Valuable Player award.

High goal may have its high-handicap overseas players and glittering prizes, but for many the pro-am level, which accounts for the vast majority of tournaments and one-day events, is where the real excitement is found

Polo was booming in Britain this season, not only at the headline-grabbing top end of the sport but also at the lower levels of the game. And, for home-grown players especially, this is where pro-am polo comes into its own. For the fans in the stands, some medium-goal games produced more exciting action than some high-goal matches dominated by higher-handicapped professionals from overseas.

View polo as a pyramid, the final few highly-polished blocks at its pinnacle being high goal with its international superstars, world-class ponies and headline-grabbing events. Now look at the broad base of the monument, the solid building blocks that represent more than 95 per cent of the sport, the foundation without which the pinnacle could not exist.

Of some 3,000 players in the country, only 100 or so ever compete at the top end of the game, and most of these are visitors from overseas. Of more than 500 tournaments and one-day events, only 20 are classed as high goal. So the pyramid is built largely of mediumgoal and low-goal polo, where tournaments attract as many as 30 or more teams.

Significantly, there has not been a single new high-goal polo centre established in this country for the past 20 years, and the ‘big four’ clubs – Cowdray Park, Guards, Cirencester, Royal County of Berkshire — still dominate. By contrast, the number of clubs playing only at lower levels in that period has more than doubled, from 26 in 1990 to 58 in 2006.

At the pinnacle of the polo pyramid, with only a few major tournaments up for grabs, it is easy to identify the high-goal teams that excel during a season. At lower levels of play, with many more tournaments involved, it is a difficult exercise to single out the best, but the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA) does have a points-based national championships for its coveted Victor Ludorum awards. This year, teams earned points according to how they performed, win or lose, in 22 tournaments at seven clubs.

The 15-goal Victor Ludorum went to Belgian Isabelle Hayden’s Groeninghe for the second year running, reconfirming ‘Isi’ as the undisputed queen of medium goal. Her biggest win was the 15-goal Harrison Cup at Cowdray Park. The tournament, which celebrates its 60th anniversary next year, drew 16 teams playing matches at the Cirencester Park, Beaufort and Coworth Park clubs, with the deciding games at Cowdray Park. The Harrison final turned out to be ladies’ day, with Groeninghe pitted against Claire Tomlinson’s Los Locos. Claire, the only woman ever to achieve a 5-goal handicap but now playing off 1, had her daughter Emma and two All-England players, her son Mark and Nacho Gonzalez, playing for Los Locos. Isabelle also had two internationals, Australia’s Glen Gilmore and New Zealand’s Simon Keyte, plus young Max Charlton. Groeninghe had an edge because Hayden, Gilmore and Keyte have been playing together for years, and this counted in the team’s 9-8 win over Los Locos.

At the medium-goal level, the most popular tournament is the 15-goal Credit Suisse Royal Windsor at Guards, inaugurated the year the club was founded, in 1955. This year there were 26 teams in contention, playing league matches at Guards and Cowdray Park. Christopher Hanbury’s Lovelocks, with his son Charlie playing, lorded it over Paul Main’s Bateleur 7-5 to take the trophy from the hands of Princess Michael of Kent. Lovelocks also took the 2006 Victor Ludorum for 18-goal, this being the HPA’s lower tier of high goal.

The biggest long-established tournament in England was Guards’ 8-goal Meyado Archie David Cup, with 32 entries. Teams played qualifiers at Guards, Cirencester Park, Kirtlington and Fifield to determine the best 8 to go into deciders at the host club. Here Hani Hassan’s Solajan El Hassan team triumphed over James Scott Hopkins’ Irongate 7-6. But it was Irongate who took the HPA’s 8-goal Victor Ludorum for 2006.

Lower levels of the sport at the broad base of the polo pyramid are far more English in character than high goal, where the large majority of team patrons and their professionals come from overseas. HPA tournament rules restrict the number of foreign players on medium-goal and low-goal teams, and most teams at these levels have at least two – and sometimes three or even four – professionals in their line-ups.

3 Jose Donoso of Bateleur in the final of the Credit Suisse Royal Windsor at Guards. 4 Bateleur’s Ignacio Toccalino (left) chases Lovelocks’ Will Lucas, who won his eighth Royal Windsor 5 A mounted regiment adds a touch of pomp to proceedings at Guards Club

It’s hard not to be attracted by Mexico’s beautiful Pacific coast. And the polo isn’t bad either, reports Marella Oppenheim

To reach the sandy cove of Playa Rosa, in Careyes, on Mexico’s Pacific Costa Allegre, you walk down a stony path that winds its way under the Casitas de las Flores, the little houses where many of the polo players stay during the 8-12 goal tournaments. The bay is encircled by rocks of deep, earthy red and, as you approach, the scene unfolds: a smattering of motorboats anchored near the shore; captains and crew enjoying fresh grilled fish and margaritas among a constant coming and going of chit-chatting ladies in elegant swimsuits discoursing on the events of the night before; laughing children running free between booted polo players.

All this goes to make up the community of Playa Rosa, a short 10-minute jeep ride away from the Careyes Polo Club and some 80 minutes from the international airport of Manzanillo. The club was founded in 1989 by Giorgio Brignone, son of Gianfranco Brignone, the eccentric and genial architect of the Careyes resort. Reminiscent of country-club polo, his set-up inspires and brings together some top players from across the world to compete in friendly, well balanced low- to medium-goal polo, with cups hosted by guests of Careyes or on occasion by brands such as Cartier, Moët & Chandon, Bombardier, Pfeizer and Bank Hofmann.

The club features two regular-sized Bermuda fields, lying between rainforest jungle and expanses of white, sandy beaches, with a third one planned for next year on the dunes themselves. It has more than 50 ponies at its disposal for rent.

Don’t expect wide-brimmed hats and high heels, but be prepared for the local villagers’ ‘12-piece brass band’, whooping and clanging carnival tones at the end of each chukka. Waves of ‘ola’ flow through the relaxed public seated in the stands. For information about future tournaments, visit: www.mexicopolo.com

Duende emerged triumphant at the culmination of this hard-fought and sometimes controversial third leg of the Triple Crown of Polo, reports Sarah Eakin

Agustin Merlos had a mischievous glint in his eye – one consenting nod to team mate Paco de Narvaez and they made a stealthy, synchronized move to the drinks cooler, lifted it and upended the ice cold contents onto their coach. The ESPN cameras were rolling and coach ‘Boomer’ – no stranger to the media having been an Olympic volleyball player in his time – had his first polo victory shower on TV.

Boomer had earned the gesture of endearment from his players after his role in coaching Duende to its second Pacific Coast Open victory in a row and to the winner’s podium of the third leg of the Triple Crown of Polo with a 13-11 defeat of Windsor Capital at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club.

The joyous post-match celebrations came after an intense final game and a controversial tournament conclusion. ‘Duende’, a name translating into ‘Elf’ or ‘Goblin’, patron Mike Hakan told reporters he takes it in its spiritual sense to mean ‘being in the zone’. According to Windsor’s coach Steve Crowder, he found his way there in the finals. ‘Big Mike Hakan probably ran more than anyone on the team,’ he said. ‘He did a very good job.’

What was not so ‘in the zone’ was the confusion over semi-final slots that threw organisers a curve ball. Jimmy Choo led the table after league play, but beneath them was an unprecedented five-way tie for the remaining three semi-final slots. Audi was initially announced as semi-finalist, but an appeal from Pat Nesbitt’s Windsor Capital, supported by the USPA’s tie-breaker procedure, drove Audi out of contention and put Windsor on the starting grid.

Windsor came through the semis to face Duende in a rematch of the 2005 final. While Boomer’s coaching style, adapted from volleyball experience, reflected a game of statistics and percentages, and while the league placings were a mathematical conundrum, on the field the game ran largely on emotions –and these were often high.

As Hall and Erskine rode out on the field for the first chukker, the Windsor fans were on point with their encouragement. ‘Keep it real,’ came the cry.

After a jarring start to the game, volatility spilt over in the second chukker to send Erskine and de Narvaez to the sin bin.

‘There was tremendous pressure on these guys,’ said Hakan after the game. ‘They went to the edge of composure and came back. It was WWF [World Wrestling Federation] out there at times.’

Crowder, never one to mince his words, wrote in a post-game blog: ‘It was the same

horrible game as expected. Duende slows it to a crawl and draws fouls and it seems to work well… When the combo of Duende was not rollin’ in divots they were usually scoring penalty shots.’

Agustin Merlos, who scored nine of Duende’s total in their 13-11 victory to earn himself the most valuable player award for the second year running, had come to the field with a major gap in his armoury. A shoulder injury that had left his best horse Kenya’s fitness questionable in the build-up to the finals kept her out of the running on the big day. ‘She’s the best horse I have ever had,’ he said, anxiously watching her trot up two days before the finals. Sunday came and she still wasn’t right. ‘I went to the barn, said thank you and patted her and told her she would not be playing today,’ he said. ‘It was a really tough decision.’

Two understudies in his string filled her shoes, playing two chukkers each – and both rose to the occasion, much to the delight of Merlos. De Narvaez’ horse Galleta took centre stage, playing in five of the six chukkers for a brief spell each time, her amazing game performance earning the accolade of Best Playing Pony.

On the other end of the field the horse story of the day was one of tragedy. Jeff Hall lost a horse, Susie, in the final. ‘That was very sad,’ said Hakan. ‘It was the only bad accident all season.’

After what Crowder described as a ‘subdued halftime’ for Windsor, the players regrouped and came back on, but it was not long before a hip injury that had kept Nesbitt off the field in league play flared up, prompting the call-up for 18-year-old Juan ‘Jo’ Gonzalez, who was waiting in the wings. After a tumultuous game, Windsor was able to close the gap to a goal before Duende pulled out a final two-goal margin of victory.

To the backdrop of the stunning Santa Ynez mountain foothills on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, the winners were swept up in silver Lexus convertibles and driven to the winners’ podium and the award of the Tiffany trophy for the Triple Crown of Polo. Merlos struck a pose in a lilac jacket designed by New York’s Alan Flusser and awarded, Masters-style, to winners of each leg of the Triple Crown of Polo. Starting with the first leg in Sarasota early in the year, moving to Las Colinas, Dallas and concluding in Santa Barbara, the events of this new polo series are recorded and aired domestically on ESPN and worldwide through ESPN International in a major move to expose polo to more sports fans around the globe.

In an interview with ESPN. Merlos, complete with aviator shades and looking distinctly Al Pacino-like, told the story of his father (Cacho Merlos – a former nine goal player) , who started his polo career as a groom. ‘They were really poor,’ Merlos said of his parents. ‘They had nothing. He [my father] had to work a whole week to play one chukka.’ As Merlos thumbed the lapels of his Triple Crown of Polo jacket and then draped himself with relief over the historic Pacific Coast Open trophy, the significance of the win was evident. Last year he won it as a nine-goal player. This year he came back and won it as a ten. He knew it would make his father proud.

1 The Pacific Coast Open trophy awaits the victors. 2 Luis Escobar of Antilope (Long Beach) in full cry. 3 Adam Snow swaps horseback for surfboard. 4 A ready supply of mallets is always on hand. 5 Paco de Narvaez and Agustin Merlos congratulate each other on Duende’s victory.

1 Paco de Narvaez surges forward for Orchard Hill in the US Open finals at Palm Beach. 2 Hector Galindo in white tries to hook Eduardo Novillo Astrada. 3 Victors Las Monjitas on the podium: (from left) Camillo Bautista, Adam Snow, Eduardo and Ignacio Novilla Astrada. 4 Rocio de Narvaez (right), wife of Paco, gets a better view.

Top-seeded Las Monjitas enjoyed an emphatic victory at the Stanford US Open Polo Championship, reports Sarah Eakin

Amid the handful of spectators coveting their seats in the shade of the fieldside pavilion, an elderly woman paced the veranda and wrung her hands. ‘I can’t bear to watch,’ she said. ‘How can we win if they keep blowing the whistle?’

The subjective sentiments of a player’s grandmother, perhaps? No, rather the impassioned plea of a polo fan or, to be precise, a ‘Gracida fanatic’. Betty Vulcano is one of Florida’s many residents from the north. When she retired to Wellington, she discovered polo. At 78 years old, she’s been watching every game the Gracidas have played for 15 years. That day, her team, Mokarow Farms, lining up Carlos and Memo Gracida, was in trouble in the semi-finals of the US Open at the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPCPB).

Florida high goal sees the convergence of the world’s leading players into a few square miles of real estate called Wellington, at the heart of which sits IPCPB, founded by Texas polo patron John Goodman. The club hosts a full winter season, starting with the 22-goal Joe Barry Memorial and the Ylvisaker Cup, in addition to a trio of 26-goal tournaments: the single-elimination Hall of Fame Cup; the CV Whitney Memorial; and America’s leading tournament, the Open, this year contested by 13 teams.

The Open had its share of drama in victory and defeat, as well as a touch of humour – witness Bendabout’s Gillian Johnston and two friends sporting nuns’ habits at the finals to honour a bet with Las Monjitas, Spanish for ‘Little Nuns’. Adam Snow, Eduardo and Nacho Novillo Astrada and the Las Monjitas patron, 49-year-old Columbian Camilo Bautista, came through some dust-ups to reach the final against Steve Van Andel’s Orchard Hill. The semifinal encounter with Mokarow Farms saw a 13-minute delay after patron Kevin Mokarow collided with team-mates in a penaltypeppered game. After a particularly mercurial moment, 16-time US Open winner Memo Gracida was sat down by the umpires for unsportsmanlike conduct in the fifth chukka.

The finals had no such drama. Las Monjitas’ team play and orchestration was as smooth and accurate as the skydivers that landed on the No 1 Stanford Field at halftime. It was a fitting prelude to the final victory. Bautista, in his ninth year of polo and first US Open final, credited his team’s presence to intervention from the heavens. ‘I think we are God’s team, “The Nuns”. I think it’s fantastic to be in the final. We’re going to fight for it,’ he said.

By the second chukka the bout was all but over. Las Monjitas had an 8-1 lead and Orchard Hill were reeling. The game concluded 12-6. Orchard Hill was not ready for the onslaught. ‘As a team, if you look at their games, they don’t score that many goals,’ said Jeff Hall prior to the final. ‘I don’t think they’ll want to run with us, and they’ll want to slow it down.’ Unfortunately for Orchard Hill, Eduardo Novillo Astrada had other ideas. ‘I saw all the teams underestimated Orchard Hill,’ he said. ‘They were playing hard right from the beginning, and that’s how they were winning. We gave them a little bit more of the same style, only better.’

While the Open proved to be Las Monjitas’ day, the Palm Beach season at IPCPB brought glory to more than one team. The opening tournament belonged to Catamount, featuring America’s home-grown 8-goal player Hall, who was on the winning team for the opening 22-goal Joe Barry Memorial Trophy.

Scott Devon’s Catamount team, coached by Julian Hipwood, achieved the unattainable by defeating Adolfo Cambiaso, playing for New Bridge-La Dolfina, in the semis. For New Bridge patron Russ McCall it was a hiccup on the way to what turned out to be a dream season – or half-season – at IPCPB, winning the second 22-goal tournament, the Ylvisaker Cup, and the first 26-goal Hall of Fame Cup in an unbeaten run of 10 games.

Cambiaso was gone long before the Open started. After winning the 26-goal Hall of Fame Trophy with New Bridge, this time defeating Goodman’s Isla Carroll by a convincing score of 13-5, Cambiaso packed and left for Argentina. His departure left an obvious void, but did it create a Cambiaso and a non-Cambiaso season? ‘You can’t really say that…,’ said Hall. ‘I’m not trying to take anything away from Cambiaso or New Bridge for winning in the 26, but most pros and teams come with two strings, one for 22 and one for 26. So they were finishing out their season and they knew they had one tournament left and wanted to win. They were doubling their horses, and their horses were fit, having played the 22. A lot of other teams were just starting on their new horses.’

Las Monjitas were primed and ready when the Open came around, dominating the opening phase of league play to finish top of the tables. They took on ERG in the quarterfinals and then Mokarow Farms in the semis. New ‘experimental’ rules implemented by IPCPB and approved by the USPA allowed for the substitution of amateur players by preapproved substitutes. Mokarow Farms played their joker in their opening US Open game, bringing on 15-year-old Carlitos Gracida as a vetted substitute for Kevin Mokarow, who suffered throughout the Open with a groin injury, prompting Carlitos to take the field at some point during each of his games.

Orchard Hill took out title holders White Birch in another stilted semi-final game that took two hours and saw White Birch’s sometimes volatile star player, Mariano

Aguerre, off his horse several times. Orchard Hill went on to claim a place in the top two with a win over Pony Express.

IPCPB showed American flair with the presentation of the Sunday games, including a final that saw a 7,800-strong crowd. T-shirts in ‘bombs’ were fired into the grandstand by tennis players and entertainers on stilts. Harley Davidsons rocked the sidelines and Easter was celebrated with a vast Easter Egg Hunt – children converging on the field to collect from a sea of ‘candy’-filled eggs. For Betty Vulcano, there’s always the lottery. Perhaps if she got lucky and won the Florida lottery, she might sponsor a full team of Gracidas in next year’s Open? ‘I would,’ she declared. ‘That would be awesome.’

Eduardo Novillo Astrada’s polo dreams had all but come true, meanwhile. ‘It feels incredible,’ he said. ‘I have now won all three major tournaments: the Argentine Open, USPA Gold Cup and US Open. Maybe now I can get to 10 goals.’ Snow –whose day was topped off with the Best Playing Pony award for his mare Amy – has already climbed on and off the 10-goal pedestal. He was happy to have won, regardless of handicap. Snow was raised to10 goals after his US Open win with Coca-Cola in 2002. Last October he was dropped back to nine. ‘I’d rather be nine goals and be on a winning team like this than be 10 goals and lose,’ he said. And I don’t mind being called a little nun.’ US Open winner Adam Snow selects three of the best ponies of the season Mambo: A 10-year-old black gelding bought by Adolfo Cambiaso from Santi Trotz, Mambo was the stand-out in the first three tournaments. An American thoroughbred, he was bought off the track in Palm Springs as a ‘skinny, sunburnt 3-year-old with a club foot’. When Santi let me practise him three summers ago, I remember a great mouth and speed, but at the time I didn’t think I liked geldings and didn’t pursue it. Little did I know... Califa: A nine-year-old gelding owned by Peter Brant and played by Mariano Aguerre, Califa has balance, bump, lateral and a mouth that lets him stop to zero. He has endurance and he gives his jockey confidence. This winter, Califa made a play in the sixth chukka to come from behind to stop a Bendabout breakaway and allow Mariano to turn the ball and go forward. So I know he’s still on form. Amy: I had no idea that my team, Las Monjitas, would make it to the finals of the Open, but we did – and we won. And my horse Amy received the Harman Trophy for Best Playing Pony. Until now, nobody had noticed her much: she’s 13, a plain-Jane bay with a slightly long back and largish head. But for the last two years I’ve considered her my best horse. She was bred in Kansas and purchased and trained as a three-year-old by Mimie Percival, from whom I bought her in Aiken when she was nine.