'It's great to have got the young players engaged, it’s really important'

National Racehorse Week has plenty of focus on the versatility of the thoroughbred and the idea was very much put into action in an event at Beenhams Farm, near Maidenhead.

A field of 40 horses, the majority of whom appeared on the track, gathered for a competition earlier this week supported by the Retraining of Racehorses charity as polo ponies in training.

They were divided into age groups between three and six years old and marked on turnout and conformation, before being given 90 seconds to demonstrate the short, sharp movements associated with playing competitive polo, with and without their rider using the ball, in front of a judging panel.

They included several racing professionals with a polo background, such as pre-trainer Jamie Peel, a sponsor through his Gow Equine along with Ainsley Saddlery, whose founder Ross Ainsley is a major producer of retrained racehorses in New Zealand.

The competition had suffered a cancellation at its original venue and leading British player Jack Richardson, a keen ambassador for the potential of ex-racehorses in his sport, took over the organisation at very short notice. His efforts came much to the approval of RoR chief executive Di Arbuthnot.

She said: "We’ve been doing it in the past but Jack has got everyone to get behind it and it's great to have got the young players engaged. It’s really important.

Richard Tyrone on his four-year-old filly River with class sponsor Billy Jackson-Stops

"It was [British great] Henry Brett’s idea in the beginning that you brought them here, they did this, and you had a marketplace with people looking to buy them, and if I could get their support we would put more funding into it through sponsorship. They can turn them around quite quickly and they can make good money.

"Our general membership wouldn’t normally be taking most of these horses, they’re mainly small, sharp fillies, and ideally they want them a bit older anyway, so polo has been the perfect fit for us."

Lila Pearson, a player and breeder who is the vice-president of Cowdray Park Polo Club, has a handful of thoroughbreds in her squad of ponies and has particularly high hopes for Our Secret, a daughter of Fountain Of Youth who was bought privately having never made the racecourse.

She won the three-year-old class ahead of Twilight Minstrel, a filly by Twilight Son now with professional player Ben Eeley who has come a long way since two moderate runs for Paul Midgley in April 2021.

Likewise the Epaulette filly River, who fell through racing’s net when making €1,200 at Goffs last year. She is with Ireland team captain Richard Tyrone, who rode her to take the four-year-old class.

"You’re always looking for a natural horse," he said. "As a thoroughbred, she’s not a great type as she’s short in the back, short pasterns, her neck isn’t too long, but she floats over the ground and is making a good start for polo."

Although Tyrone breeds regular polo ponies on his farm in County Waterford, he often adds ex-racehorses into his system.

Event organiser Jack Richardson with Chiarodiluna and class sponsor Emma MacRae of Moigne Combe Stud

"The best polo ponies in the world are thoroughbreds," he continued. "It’s just that a smaller percentage of them make it to the very top as they don’t all have the temperament that is bred into the traditional type.

"It’s a big part of my business. I might buy ten every year and the key is to learn quickly if they are suitable, otherwise you can find them something to do in another area."

Among other sponsors were Justin and Emma MacRae, whose Moigne Combe Stud in Dorset is diversifying from polo into thoroughbreds and is consigning for the first time at Goffs UK and Tattersalls this year.

Fittingly, they were to present a prize to Richardson, whose 13-race maiden, the Kyllachy mare Chiarodiluna, is regarded as a gilded prospect for polo and did not disappoint when dominating the five-year-old class.

Although most trainers and studs do not exactly want to trumpet that their horses can make polo ponies, the MacRaes’ instinct to promote sustainability is one which is touched upon by Alan Kent, a decorated player in the 1980s who established a good relationship with the likes of Tim Easterby to find young prospects. His representative by Camacho, Lady Endeavour, won the six-year-old class.

"There were very few of us doing it at the start, it wasn’t expensive but it was very cheap to import ready-made horses," said Kent. "I’d done some point-to-pointing and have always loved the thoroughbred, to me it is amazing because it can do most things in the horse world.

"It may not be the top dressage horse or the top showjumper but they compete at good levels in all the equine sports.

"There’s always an opening for them, it’s finding them. Years ago they used to disappear but now they’re not, which is great. It has become very expensive to import horses from Argentina and for the younger generation playing, it’s not as expensive, they’re making their own horses and it’s good to see.

"It’s a win-win for the failed racehorse really. They’re not all great polo ponies but, like in racing, you have different grades and they can fit in and do it for ten, 15 years."

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