The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
Santa Barbara Polo took a huge positive step to a new world museing “the future to gaze thoughtfully” and they did just that by selecting JOHN MUSE to head the ship to bring SB Polo back to the new world. SB Polo has been trailing the world lately. Summer clubs around the world like Soto Grande and British Polo explode we have gone the other way. Santa Barbara is down to three teams and fixing a fourth last season. This makes no sense as we have excellent weather and a location close to whatever you want. From the Pacific Ocean to Hollywood and Rodeo Drive or the mountains … it ‘s all within an hour of here.
This move must be a positive one as not in several decades has the Club leadership left home. I see this as an excellent move towards the future . John Muse is a citizen of Texas with Worldwide connections and plays most everywhere in the World yet has a home here in the area. We have some of the biggest Patrons in the game near here, yet fail to attract them to the local Polo. Lyndon Lea, Scott Wood, Ben Soleimoni and Andy Busch as well as Tom Barrack are all local, but only Wood is involved. We lost a few of our Patrons due to age and injuries … Nesbitt, Palmer, Holden and Haken and replaced none really, so that is where we are.
This move to put John in charge is the next move in what has been a new wave of thought over the last month or two led mainly by Leigh Brecheen and Dawn Jones. Both were also new moves to the Board and have already made a big splash with adding the extended League. There are more Polo Players here in Nov. than August and all playing on one field. On Nov. 22 2014 they had 27 players + coaching league. Now this is a step in the right direction. With John at the helm and these Ladies + a couple others, the sound of thundering hooves might be back and that would be fantastic.
It is a bit odd, but Texans have actually made Polo in America a big time event. IPC in FL saved a dieing program in 2002 when John Goodman built it to replace Palm Beach Polo. It became the center of Polo worldwide in the Winter. Maybe John Muse can do the same for SB. We now have more fields and venues than ever before, just no polo players.
High-goal polo has been lowered from 20- to 16-goals which makes it a little less expensive and maybe a little less threatening to new people. Although, in my mind, the better the polo the safer it is as more people on the field are aware of others. Either way, this is a building block for SBPC to return to one of the places to be come in the Summer time … because it is .
There is a brand new motto for Santa Barbara (( WELCOME BACK – WE WANT YOU TO BE PART OF THE NEW AND FABULOUS PACIFIC COAST EXPERIENCE!))
Around the world of Polo it is big in Buenos Aires as the Grandaddy of them all is underway. The Argentine Open at Palermo is being played now and the North American Team Alegria of Mannix land in Calgary is still in the race to make there second straight final.
Graham Bray tellls me things are looking good for the Desert season and there is no doubt the nicest Polo club in the world … Empire Polo is looking super and moving forward with a huge venue for 2015 as the Lions of AH3 continue to roar. So look for a fabulous Winter in desert land. California POLO is BACK.
see ya