Its the 134th Kentucky Derby it is this all about the horse. In Polo many ask “How important is the horse.” Well lets see . . . some say 75% of the game if the horse. I am not sure, but a great player on a weak horse is just a player. A great player may be able to do a lot more than most people, but a player is not going to stand out for sure unless he is out of control.
When I first came to polo in the 70’s it was more about the horse. The public knew many of the horses, which you don’t see as often today. I remember in Milwaukee, when working for Tommy Wayman, people say “hey, who is Arden View.” Argen View was a very good brown mare he had. Benny Guitere had a very good black mare, I cannot remember her name, but I will always remember her determination. At that time people always worried about what chukkers they would play them so they could do something. Harold Barry had Bonnie, Joe Barry had Moonshine and I am pretty sure John T. Oxley had Squealer. Del Carroll had a big chestnut named Magazin. Then there was a big run of big name horses for a few years. Delta Dawn, Roy Barry, Sweetbe belonged to someone in Dallas and was a big name. Robin Uihlein had a horse named Brother, who was a bad a**. JB had Alabama, a big gray. Charles Smith had a Nebraska and Wayman had a superstar named Little Loude. In the early 80’s there were more big horses than players. Wayman had – Sweet William and Down Payment. Bart Evans had Kate, Chicaboom, Chinate, and Cool breeze. Memo had MR. Polo and Kaliman. John T. had some big guns who carried Gonzalo Pieres to the top. Gonzalo on Burrito was something to see unless you were playing against him. Here was a horse off the ranch in Pawhuska and David Wigdahl bought and finished him. He was a good horse, but under Gonzalo he became a Ferrari and then he became a Superstar. No whip, no spurs, just a blur until the flagman waved. John T. had some great ones then in the form of Wee legend, Slappy, Cata and Joy. Then Owen Rinehart was on his way to 10 with Angie and Hill Country. Carlos Gracida had a couple fantastic little mares Oca and a bay mare (I forgot her name). Jake Sieber had Goose, Jack O. had Count and Ronnie D. Mike Carney had a quarter horse, the best one I’ve seen in polo, named Shorty. Most of these horses even made it into the 90’s. Then names started to become less known outside the field. Names like Beetle Juice, V8, Sasha and La Luna. Joey Casey had a giant chestnut named Shogun. There were just so many and now the only horse name you hear outside the field is BPP (Best Playing Pony) for a game, but when there are bad horses, all you hear is all the complaining. Right now it is coming from Mexico City about the horses being used in the FIP World Cup.
First of all, its hard to find great polo horse. Second, to give them to a pilot (player) who will need more is just not in an owners quest. Out of all the World Cup Tournament, I believe none will ever match the quality of horses used in the FIP World Cup hosted in Australia. They had no real bad horses or the pride to mount the teams was something much different. They horses used in the Australia World Cup were machines compared to other FIP World Cup Tournaments. It is the horse that makes the difference in polo. No matter what, today’s winner will be famous forever at the Kentucky Derby. No one will remember one horse at the World Cup, which seems so sad. The polo horses get so little press in the polo community today. So lets hear about your horses! Post it here on PoloZONE on the message board or email me your stories and I can post them scrowder@poloconnect.com.