...and what could still be improved?


• There was little emphasis on the horses during the games, and some ponies spent as long as 12 hours a day in the pony lines or by the lorries, where there was only partial shade.


• While it was fun that the big-hitting Andrea Vianini, who is Jodie Kidd’s new flame, played against his buddy Jack Kidd in the final, Vianini was the worst offender in terms of producing the kind of “panto” showmanship that turned polo people off the concept last year. After a minor fall on the Friday, Vianini was attended to – with his top off – by paramedics before


getting straight back on his horse and firing home a penalty.


• At times the event still puts too much emphasis on the audience, particularly when players were relentlessly cajoled by the otherwise excellent commentators into playing shots one suspects they wouldn’t otherwise have chosen.


• It was something of a nonsense that 2009’s all-British Team London “defended” the title this time around as Team New York. Surely it was an opportunity to inject continuity into proceedings, which would help those


coming to the game for the first or second time to pick a side to support. Indeed, it was a shame none of the players in the final were of the nationality of the city they represented.


• Off the field, the main public polo bar was not sufficiently staffed (it could take up to two chukkas to get a drink) and the generous number of loos were all concentrated in one place, so the conveniences weren’t quite as convenient as they might have been. This also might have contributed to the disappointing fact that the stands often looked rather empty.


www.polotimes.co.uk July 2010 43


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