• Home
  • Posts
  • Greenwich polo kicks off season in fine style at Conyers

Greenwich polo kicks off season in fine style at Conyers

polocoyners1-6-12
Greenwich polo kicked off its 34th season Sunday. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Greenwich polo kicked off its 34th season Sunday. (John Ferris Robben photo)

By Liz Leamy
Sports Correspondent

On Sunday, the Greenwich international high-goal polo season kicked off its 34th season in fantastic fashion.

More than 2,000 spectators watched some of the sport’s finest players and ponies face off against one other in hopes of qualifying for the Monty Waterbury Cup finals to be held on June 21.

This United States Polo Association-sanctioned event featured a host of world-class players, including Mariano Aguerre and Hilario Ulloa, both ranked at nine goals (out of maximum 10), and Peter Brant and Peter Orthwein, Greenwich-based team patrons and business moguls whose two squads, White Birch and Airstream, respectively, battled it out in a fierce duel, with the former defeating the latter, 10-7.

“It was great to be out there, everyone played well,” said Aguerre, who is ranked among the ten best players worldwide and has helped Brant lead the White Birch brigade for more than two decades now. “It’s a great sport and fantastic to play in such a unique environment.”

From the outset Aguerre, along with the other players, staged a high-powered match as they flew around on the vast outdoor grass arena, approximately three football fields long, hitting the ball back and forth to one another at speeds of up to 35 miles an hour.

“The match was intense,” said Galina Bacon, a Greenwich resident who was making her third visit to Conyers Farm. “It’s a different type of game and the players seem to add more to what they do every time I watch them.”

The players, in turn, attributed the quality of their playing to the Conyers Farm environment and community.

“I feel comfortable here,” said Aguerre, who scored the majority of his team’s 10 goals. “White Birch is part of my family.”

Ulloa, 29, agreed that Conyers Farm is an extraordinary high-goal polo destination. “The Greenwich countryside is amazing and it’s a great place to be with your friends and family,” he said. “I love playing here.”

Hole in the Wall a Hit

Meanwhile, along the sidelines, good charity work was going on. More than 275 people attended a luncheon to help support the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a non-profit organization founded by Paul Newman in 1988 that is dedicated to providing healing for seriously ill children and their families throughout the Northeast at a pastoral 344-acre Ashford, Conn. locale.

Greenwich polo kicked off its 34th season Sunday. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Greenwich polo kicked off its 34th season Sunday. (John Ferris Robben photo)

This year’s 14th annual Hole in the Wall Camp charity polo event featured a luncheon as well as a silent auction in order to help raise funds for the renowned organization, which takes its name from the Western outlaw gang in Newman’s classic film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Newman, who was a Westport resident, died in 2008.

“This is a great event for us every year. We have an amazing group of supporters,” said Betsy Stearkin, communications manager of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, based in New Haven. “It’s terrific to get outside in such a beautiful environment with so many wonderful people. It’s really special.”

Secret to Success at Conyers

According to many Greenwich Polo Club players, organizers and game makers, much of the success of this unique organization, established in 1981 by Peter Brant, is due to the quality of the crowd that shows up every year.

White Birch players Aguerre and Ulloa remarked on how the crowd—loyal and respectful—is such a big part of why Conyers Farm has become such an extraordinary high-goal polo destination.

“Many people who live around this area seem to have been coming for a long time,” said Ulloa, who has been playing for White Birch for four years. “They are a very loyal crowd who seem to really enjoy watching the game and for me, that is much of the reason why this is such a great place to play.”

At the same time, the Conyers Farm crowd can generally be counted on for staging a memorable fashion show along the sidelines each week, one that often rivals the excitement and energy of the matches themselves.

On any given Sunday, women can be seen wearing flowy, bright sundresses, wide-brimmed hats and pretty scarves, while men are dressed in sophisticated navy-blue blazers with oxford or polo shirts and khakis.

Collectively, the crowd, along with the usual parade of beautiful dogs, is much of what helps designate Greenwich Polo as such a one-of-a-kind summer experience.

“The quality and standard of everything here is incredible across the board,” Galina Bacon said. “It really gives you such a wonderful feeling to be here.”

Related Posts
Loading...