Guards Polo Club announces new Polo Manager
Guards Polo Club is delighted to announce that Antony Fanshawe has been appointed Polo Manager from the start of the 2015 season. This former high-goal player, who has competed in some of the sport’s biggest tournaments – including the Queen’s Cup and Gold Cup – overcame stiff opposition to be awarded this coveted role.
Neil Hobday, chairman of the selection committee, made the announcement, saying: “We are delighted that Antony will be joining the team here at Smith’s Lawn in 2015 – our 60th year of first class sport. He is a consummate horseman with an impeccable polo CV. This includes playing for some of the Club’s biggest teams, such as Dubai, Labegorce and Royal Pahang. However he is equally familiar with the lower handicapped tournaments and so is ideally place to enhance all levels of polo – be they juniors, ladies, military or amateur. In addition, his experience of the game across the globe will be invaluable as we expand our renowned international polo series.
“The Chairman, the Board and my team look forward to welcoming Antony, his wife Georgia and their family to Smith’s Lawn next season. Although he will not need much introduction as he played here for many years.”
Antony is equally delighted with his new role. “This really is the number one job in polo and to take up the reins at such an auspicious time for the Club is incredible. I have played many times at Smith’s Lawn throughout my career at all levels and cannot wait to be involved in the day-to-day management of so many world class fixtures and grounds. This year is my 30th anniversary of playing polo and there could not be a more fitting way for me to celebrate such an anniversary than by becoming Polo Manager at Smith’s Lawn.”
Antony has an impressive equine pedigree – his grandfather was an Olympic three-day eventer, winning bronze in the 1936 Berlin Games, his father a renowned Master of Foxhounds and older brother James a Group One-winning trainer in Newmarket. Antony though is the first of his family to make his mark in polo – initially playing while working for the Vestey family and their Foxcote/Stowell Park teams in both England and Brazil. This was followed by a stint with Hector Barrantes in Argentina, producing horses for Espadana – now known as the mighty Ellerston!
High-goal beckoned in the early 1990s when playing with John Manconi’s Alfa Romeo and Alcatel teams. A move to Prince Abdullah’s Royal Pahang saw Antony add his name to the Alfred Dunhill trophy in 1994 – the subsidiary of The Queen’s Cup. The following year he was back with Alcatel and also playing for Labegorce, playing in the final stages of the UK’s key tournaments – The Prince of Wales, The Queen’s Cup and The Gold Cup. After reaching the semis of the Gold Cup with Dubai in 1996 Antony saw his handicap rise to five goals.
When a broken hand curtailed his high-goal career, Antony focused more on producing high-goal ponies, working closely with Bautista Heguy. In 2011 he was also named England team coach in the Federation of International Polo 14-goal World Championships in Argentina. He continued to reap polo success around the world, including winning the Club’s Duke of Wellington Trophy, the French Gold Cup in Deauville and the Copa Presidente in Palermo, Argentina.
Clearly with such a polo CV, Antony Fanshawe is the ideal player to take Guards Polo Club into a new era of sporting excellence.