On Saturday ten of us took the hour and and a half ride outside of London to the town of Midhurst for the St. Regis International, England vs. South America, polo match at the Cowdray Park Polo Club.
Tailgating field-side was the order of the day, and the weather cooperated nicely, which is a small feat in England.
With a long and illustrious history, Cowdray Park is recognised as the home of British Polo. Viscount Cowdray's estate situated in the beautiful South Downs has hosted Polo for 100 years, with the first tournaments being recorded in 1910. Today over 450 matches are played each season, with the highlights being the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open Championships, the St.Regis International Test Match, and the Jaeger-LeCoultre tournament series.
I managed to chat with South American polo player and model for Polo Ralph Lauren, Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, before the match. He's dreamy. Sigh.
The setting was just beautiful ...
Polo ponies await on the side of the field to be subbed into the match ...
Nacho riding in to switch horses ...
His son, Hilario, was on hand to help dad out:
Dara and I met a friendly retired polo horse:
It was a great day full of fresh air, champagne bubbles, sunshine, good friends and a lot of horsing around.
No comments:
Post a Comment