Polo’s International Circuit One often hears of the “polo circuit” and the migration of players from one country to another for the “next season”. The idea is good to a point, but its exclusivity is limited to a handful of the game’s top players. It’s understood that the international high-goal polo season takes place at the International Polo club in Wellington, Florida. Ever since Bill Ylvisaker powered the development of Wellington and Palm Beach Polo & Country Club in the late 1970s, the top players in the game showed up in South Florida for four months of 20 to 26-goal competition before moving on to the next gathering. Billed as the “polo capital of North America”, the International Polo Club attracts a cast of international players that annually include every 10-goal player in the game (save 2014 which found Pelon Stirling without a job in Florida and playing in 16-goal tournaments in Dubai). Hosting the C. V. Whitney Cup, the USPA Piaget Open and the Maserati United States Open, the International Polo Club boasts the second highest level of polo in the world (after Argentina), and attracts the cream of the polo-laying crop to include Adolfo Cambiaso, Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Juan Martin Nero, Pablo MacDonough, Sapo Caset, Mariano Aguerre, Sebastian Merlos, Agustin Merlos, Santiago Chavanne, Polito Pieres, Hilario Ulloa, Rodrigo Andrade, Nico Pieres, Paco de Narvaez, Joao Ganon, Gonzalo Del Tour, Magoo Laprida and any number of Astrada brothers along with a host of lesser-rated professionals. Following the US high-goal season at the International Polo Club many of the top players in the game can be found on England’s top venues, The Guards Polo Club and Cowdray Park Polo Club, home of the 22-goal Queen’s Cup and the Gold Cup for the British Open, respectively. This is where the “circuit” takes on a new identity. Although many of the top players are the same, the supporting cast is decidedly different. Just as there are few, if any, Brits playing high-goal polo in Florida today, there is a decidedly scarcity of Americans in England (the exception this year being 8-goaler Nic Roldan). England has a tradition of polo that envelops every country in the old British Empire and every country in which their troops have set foot in and introduced the horse and mallet game. While attracting players from throughout Europe as well, England’s Hurlingham Polo Association, the United Kingdom’s governing body of the sport, has worked hard to protect and preserve the tradition of the game in their country. Players like the Tomlinson brothers (Luke and Mark), James Beim, Malcolm Borwick, George Meyrick, Tom Morley, Jack Richardson, James Harper, Max Charlton, Max Routledge, Richard Le Poer and others have been shepherded thr0ugh the ranks and given international competition opportunities as they were being groomed to take their place in the upper ranks of the British polo scene, but the Argentine aces are ever present. Lyndon Lea’s Zacara team swept the high-goal season last year with Argentine 10-goaler Facundo Pieres and Brazilian 8-goaler Rodrigo Andrade joined by Englishman Matt Perry. Adolfo Cambiaso has become a fixture with Ali Albwardy’s Dubai polo team and fellow-ten-goalers Pelon Stirling, Juan Martin Nero and Pablo MacDonough are annual participants. Throw in Magoo Laprida, Inaki Laprida, Pite Merlos, and you’ve covered the players coming in from Florida while a group of Argentine pros foreign to US play but who have hooked on to the English tournaments include Juan Gris Zavaleta, Santiago Stirling, Juan Ambroggio, Matias Torres Zavaleta, Pablo Llorente, Facundo Sola, Salvador Ulloa, Diego Cavanagh, Alejandro Muzzio, Guillermo Willington, and Guillermo Terrera comprise the second tier professionals that are distinctly on the British scene. Following the high-goal play in England, a smaller handful of these players will join teams at Sotogrande’s Santa Maria Polo Club to compete for the 22-goal Bronze, Silver and Gold Cups. Once again the supporting cast of players has a Spanish tint to them, but relies on players from Argentina and England-as well as Spain itself—to fill out the rosters. The final stop on the circuit leads back to Argentina where the highest level of polo in the world is played. This is where truly open polo takes place featuring 39-goal and 40-goal teams; showcasing every 10-goal polo players in the game today and featuring up and coming stars in the qualifier for the Hurlingham Open and the Argentine Open in Palermo. The opening leg of the Argentine Triple Crown of Polo, the Tortugas Open, is restricted to the top six rated teams in the country. There it is, in a nutshell, quietly omitting the 20-goal tournaments at the Santa Barbara Polo Club (CA) the Bridgehampton Polo Club (NY) and Wellington’s Grand Champions Polo Club (FL) in favor of longer seasons of high-goal play. Upon completion of the Argentine fall season, it’s off to Florida where it starts all over again. #IPCsundayPolo
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 00:31:42 +0000
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