Along the Sideboards
By Alex Webbe
October 12, 2009
By Alex Webbe
With the 20-goal polo season winding down in Aiken, the season is just beginning at The Villages and Grand Champions Polo Club in Florida. The Villages is moving forward without the management assistance from Gracida International as it gallops into its 11th season while the Grand Champions third fall season gets underway in Wellington.
Aiken will be featuring the semifinals of the 2009 USPA Silver Cup this week. Bendabout secured itself a spot in the semifinals with a win over Monty Waterbury Cup winner Barrington, while Maureen Brennan’s Goose Creek team will try to make its way through the semifinals for a shot at the trophy this year.
The combination of Tommy Biddle and Julio Arellano has made a big impact on the 20-goal Aiken season, helping carry Barrington to the Monty Waterbury Cup Championship and racking up six consecutive victories before falling to Bendabout on Sunday.
It’s no small wonder that with residents like Owen Rinehart, Adam Snow, Matias Magrini, Tommy Biddle, Julio Arellano and Tiger Kneece that this South Carolina polo retreat continues to field top competition.
The Hobe Sound Polo Club will be making a play for some polo action of its own this year as Phil Heatley has agreed to help supervise the Outback Polo Club’s relocation to the infant club.
“I’m not going to be managing the club,” said Heatley, “I’m just going to assist the current manager (Vincent Mesker) with the Outback League.”
The Outback Polo League offered two flights of competition in the Wellington area for years, with players commuting just minutes to the fields. The enthusiasm of the Outback loyalists will be taxed by the hour-plus commute to the Hobe Sound facility, and the success of the program is still to be determined.
Efforts to promote polo at the Sunlight Ranch in Martin County seemed to have stalled. Under the direction of Marcelo Cabeza, the facility is staging arena polo in a square arena while its two fields sit idle.
Steve Orthwein’s Port Mayaca Polo club is geared up for a full season that will get off the ground with three times a week practices set to begin in November. Under the direction of club manager Laura Linfoot, its annual Holiday Family Tournament is scheduled for December 29-January 3.
The exact structure of the medium-goal polo offered by the International Polo Club has yet to be offered, but it appears that the structure that has been designed to replace the void created by the loss of the Outback Polo League, will be managed by Haley Bryan.