hurlinghampolo.com
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Left
: The Hurlingham
ground, 1930.
Below
:
King Alfonso of Spain
congratulates the Ashton
brothers at Hurlingham
that had succeeded against every setback.
The brothers returned to London in 1937
to win the Hurlingham Championship Cup.
The trophy holds pride of place at Markdale
as an enduring tribute to the remarkable
achievements of the ‘Four Horsemen’.
The story of the Ashton brothers’ epic trip was
made into a documentary,
The Four Horsemen
,
directed by Peter Davies. It won Best International
Equestrian Documentary at the NYC Equus
Film Festival in November 2016
field, while being marked by his opponent
Balding who was trying to hook him. At the
time, Balding was considered one of the best
players in the world, and so Dad was
particularly proud he and Checkers were
able to fend off such an esteemed player. The
scores were soon level, but in the last chukka
the Hurricanes hit two goals to nil and won.
It was one of the most exciting matches ever
played at the grounds. Afterwards, King
Alfonso of Spain told my grandfather he was
commissioning a cup to congratulate him and
his sons on their huge undertaking.
After a joyful season immersed in the
polo and rarefied social life of the English
season, the time came to sell the horses. But
disaster struck: the stock market crashed.
Buyers disappeared, and quality horses were
selling for the price of meat.
Out of the blue, the Americans rang and
encouraged them to cross the Atlantic with
their 25 horses. They were sure they could
sell the ponies well there, but no expenses
were offered. Once again, they were rolling
the dice with potential disaster staring them
in the face. Naturally, they took the gamble.
After an eight-day trip, they finally
reached the stables on Long Island. The city
was waiting for them.
The New York Times
stated that ‘what was probably the greatest
polo family in the world’ had arrived.
The Ashtons became a part of the
American polo world, which included such
names as Tommy Hitchcock – the illustrious
polo player who inspired F Scott Fitzgerald’s
Tom Buchanan in
The Great Gatsby
. The
Ashton brothers won five of their seven
matches in the US and made lifelong friends.
The end-of-season horse auction was
a resounding success, grossing US$77,600:
equivalent to more than US$1 million today.
Fluctuating markets then saw the pound
halve in value against the dollar, leaving
them in a position to buy three significant
properties back home. My grandfather saw
his dream of each son owning a property
come true. It was a fitting end to an epic trip
K I N G A L F O N S O O F S P A I N
C OMM I S S I O N E D A C U P T O
C O N G R AT U L AT E T H E B O Y S
O N T H E I R U N D E R TA K I N G
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA , ASHTON FAMILY
