By Alex Webbe
There was a time in the late 1940s and early 1950s when high-goal arena polo was played in Miami’s Orange Bowl by players the like of Michael Phipps, Stewart Iglehart, Cecil Smith, George Oliver and others. With the addition of a lighted arena at Wellington’s Greenview Cove, Palm Beach Polo and Hunt Club in Wellington is offering a series of Friday night matches that will feature arena polo’s latest 10-goaler, Tommy Biddle and a host of high-goal players.
On Friday evening, January 20th the evening will begin with a 7pm women’s game that will feature Port Mayaca (Lauren Biddle, Mili Galindo and Connell Erb) and Palm Beach Polo (Tara Lordi, Jennifer Williams and a TBA) in four chukkers of competition.
Following the women’s contest, a 17-goal arena match will feature some of polo’s biggest names as Broward Yachts, represented by Mike Azzaro (9), Carlos Galindo (6) and Peter Von Gontard (2T), take on America’s newest arena 10-goaler, Tommy Biddle who will be joined on the Palm Beach Polo team by Brad Blake (5) and Tom Blake (2) in a regulation four chukker arena match.
Biddle was elevated to 10-goal status in January after leading a US team to a handy win over a visiting English team in the highly-prized John R. Townsend International Challenge Cup, becoming only the fourth player in arena polo history to attain that plateau.