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throughout the polo world, not least by her
close friend Cambiaso who, in 2015, invited
Hale to Argentina to play polo with his
daughter, Mia. When asked why he asked
her to come he responded, ‘Mia loves to play
polo and loves horses and I wanted her to get
the opportunity to play polo with the best
woman polo player that ever played.’
Hale’s passion and diligence prevailed on
and off the field, and she wrote five books:
Let’s Talk Polo, Let’s Talk About Your Handicap:
How to Improve Your Handicap in the Sport
of Polo, Let’s Talk Polo Ponies, I Want to be
a Champion
and
How to Gain Confidence as
a Rider
. At the time of her death she was
working on her sixth,
Conquering the Dream
,
her story about how she achieved the
impossible in the male-dominated game.
More recently, Hale had been appearing
as a motivational speaker, spreading her
optimism and can-do attitude throughout
the sports and corporate world.
Sunny Hale died on 26 February in
Norman, Oklahoma due to complications
from breast cancer. She was 48.
‘Her last words that day were asking
me to promise to protect the integrity of
the WCT and the American Polo Horse
Association,’ says Smicklas.
Following the final of the 2017 US Open
Championship, Hale was posthumously
awarded the Woman Player of the Year
award, which Joanne Smicklas accepted
on her behalf. Cambiaso announced from
the trophy platform – after winning his
eighth US Open title and leading Bob
Jornayvaz’s Valiente team to a sweep of
the 26-goal season – that he was dedicating
the game to Hale. ‘We were friends,’ says
Cambiaso. ‘We would sit and talk for hours
at a time: 90 per cent of the time it was
about horses and 10 per cent of the time
it was about polo.’
Hale may be gone, but she will never
be forgotten. She left an indelible mark
on the polo scene and a lasting impression
on anyone who had the pleasure to meet her.
Left:
Hale for Makarow
Farms.
Below, from left
:
Hale, Mattias Magarini,
Adolfo Cambiaso,
Russ McCall
H A L E W I L L N O T B E F O R G O T T E N .
S H E L E F T A N I N D E L I B L E M A R K
O N T H E P O L O S C E N E
DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS.COM
