Colts Polo (Singapore) paid a visit to Kuala Lumpur Academy of Polo last weekend. Her Excellency Sandra Jensen Landi, Martin Landi and Kate Burke were led by their CI Patricio Furlong, to play in a 4-chukka match.
They were given the pick of the horses on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, the game was started at 3:00 PM. Kate chose Coyo. Sandra liked Gatillo, while Martin eventually settled for Picaflor.
For KL Academy of Polo, Emily Cheah at #1 had Angel, Muhd Kayser Khan had Gausteo, and Julian Lancia played Josefa. Patricio and I pottered around at the back, but really didn’t play. I was on Datuk Kannan’s Capo, while Patricio was on Ilolay (Lola).
With home advantage and knowing our horses better, KLAP started the better of the two teams. Emily was on fire, notching three quick goals. Kayser got another for KLAP, before Colts got going. They had two good attacks before the end of the first chukka.
We were lucky to get a chukka in, before lightning and rain ended play. It continued raining through the night and the next day, such that the field was closed and the game called off with KL Academy of Polo leading 4-0 at that stage. Unfortunately, the undercard game could not be played, with the field getting inundated with 75 mm of rain.
As the Polo Club had a booking for a dance that night, we are all adjourned to dinner at the Shiso, at MiCasa All Suite Hotel, where everyone stayed. It was a very pleasant dinner for 25 of us. Highlight of the evening was Emily Cheah’s a capella performance of ‘Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina.’
Thanks to Datuk Kannan for the video.
Suckers for punishment, KL Academy of Polo also had an ISKL Girl Scouts intro to horses event that Sunday morning. We were up bright and early, running Pony Club intro riding and events, before hosting the Colts on Sunday morning.
There was no chance of playing on the field on Sunday morning, so we played Cushion Polo instead. Other than Julian, none of the others had ever played this version of polo. Cushion involves a lot of contact, riding off, changes of direction, stopping and turning, and even team strategy. It’s a great training game for riding and other elements of polo, without the mallet.
Colts loved the game. Martin Landi was a revelation in Cushion Polo. He scored many goals and even sacrificed a goal to pick Emily Cheah up when she looked like she was going to come off Angel’s neck. For that, Martin earned MVP honours for the weekend.
It was a great weekend. We made many new friends, a close bond between polo players. We were invited for a return match in Colts Arena, a game that we are unfamiliar with, and no doubt a game that Colts will school us in, to get their revenge! As Sir Winston Churchill said, ‘A polo handicap is your passport to the world,’ so it is a matter of setting dates to see and play with our new friends in Singapore.
KL Academy of Polo could not have done it without the help of many people. I’d like to thank George Gill for his wonderful photos, Datuk Kannan for his video, photos from Dato’ Zaff, Iskandar Alam and KC Woon, Natasha Mustapha and a host of others who shared images and videos of the weekend on social media. The Kuala Lumpur Polo Club for their support, grounds and office staff who helped.
My thanks also to all the KL Academy of Polo players who played and the many who came for the afternoon and dinner to support us, and those who played in the Cushion Polo. My thanks also, to Natasha and Zack from my team at Zack’s Tack, Gabrielle Tiong, Coaches Chris Ladbrook, Ali Akbar, Beverly Whittel and Negin Barhardar , and all the grooms and not forgetting the horses, at KL Academy of Polo.
It was so much fun. Let’s do this again!
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