For years George Alexander served as the Circuit Governor of the Central Circuit of the United States Polo Association as we watched the level of play slowly erode and important club after important club shut down. He managed to place himself on committee after committee with no positive discernable results as polo attempted to move [...]

I may be naïve in assuming that the USPA is being operated professionally, but I can’t help but wonder why the “new leadership” has made no major moves since assuming their offices. It may be difficult for them to grasp the concept that against all logic and every concept of democracy, the Association’s Constitution Committee [...]

I’m tired or reading about how much the PTF does for polo, about how many kids are learning the game and about how its clinics are reaching across the nation (Hawaii included) with one of the largest polo facilities in the country is in trouble. We seem to have “experts” at the helm when it [...]

One of the smartest decisions in polo was made when the Argentine Polo Association elevated Juan Martin Nero to 10-goals. Forget the fact that he was named MVP of the Argentine Open or that his Ellerstina team won for the first time against the 40-goal La Dolfina machine. You just have to understand how badly [...]

Reflecting on the performances of the two finalists in this year’s dramatic Argentine Open Championship, one can only imagine the potential for next year’s campaign. Last year Ellerstina lost in overtime to the 40-goal LaDolfina powerhouse. This year LaDolfina lost to a young and improving 39-goal Ellerstina team in overtime. The horses, the players, the [...]

Evidently three’s a charm for Ellerstina as it scored its first Argentine Open win over the Dominating Adolfo Cambiaso and his 40-goal LaDolfina team in their third final showdown. It was considered a shootout between the older, established LaDolfina team and the young upstarts on Ellerstina. The finals fielded a perfect 40-goal team against a [...]

I understand that it takes time to reshape an association that has lost its luster. Sometimes the new administration has to review the officers, committee heads and structure of the volunteer corps itself. What I don’t understand is how the United States Polo Association can, in good conscience, support the establishment of the Constitution Committee, [...]

As silly as that might sound, it appears that the powers that be in England are beginning to rethink the concept of featuring English-born Argentinean Eduardo Novillo Astrada on its 2009 Westchester Cup team.  The competition between the United States and Great Britain is over 122 years old, and is on the schedule for February [...]

As the final selections are being made for the British polo team that will travel to the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida to face off against the best in the USA in the one hundred and twenty-three year old Westchester Cup we learn that 9-goaler Eduardo Novillo Astrada is an odds on favorite to [...]

We are all aware of the aristocracy of the Argentine Open, or Abierto, but how much of it is earned and how much inherited?  Names like Heguy, Astrada, Pieres, Merlos and others go back a generation or more, but are they trying to keep outsiders from breaking onto the hallowed fields of the world’s highest [...]

The Westchester Cup is apparently a go as whatever difficulties were initially faced have been resolved.  USPA Chairman Tom Biddle and Executive Director Peter Rizzo have weighed in on the international competition and have offered their expertise and support in the staging of the February 21 Westchester Cup. IPC owner John Goodman has donated his [...]

We’ve just finished the opening round of the Argentine Open witnessing some surprises and some disappointments. While La Dolfina easily took car of El Paraiso, 18-9, in the opening match of the 2008 Argentine Open, it will be facing its first real test of the tournament on Saturday when it meets Chapa II, the upset [...]

In the midst of all of this economic uncertainly the health of polo in Argentina seems like it couldn’t be any better.  It continues to maintain its position as the undisputed polo champion of the world, and there is an effort to create an international high-goal (30-goals and above) polo tour.   The New York-based entity [...]

Unless you’re asleep at the wheel you are aware that a number of the top Argentine polo players will not be playing in America this coming season, and the reason may be simple greed. For the last few years Adolfo Cambiaso, the Pieres brothers, the Astradas, the MacDonoughs and the Merlos boys were charging exorbitant [...]

Forget the fact that the last time the United States competed in the Westchester Cup was in 1997 and fielded the lowest-rated player in the history of the cup (John Goodman, 1-goal) in a single game losing effort.  Forget the fact that there were no pictures of the teams in the Blue Book; no coverage [...]