110 SIDELINES APRIL 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 112
Arena Polo has brought along a
bunch of young stars. In May 2011
Twilight Polo opened the season
with a hotly contested 7 pm match
between the locally based Riverside
Polo - Wyatt Harlow and brothers
Tyler and Austin Burdick - versus
Work To Ride - Brandon Rease,
brothers Daymar and Kareem
Rosser - from West Philadelphia.
The match ended in a 10-7 win for
Work To Ride. In 2011 WTR made
history by being the frst all African
American team to win the National
Interscholastic Championship.
All photos by Lauren R. Giannini, unless noted
friends bring picnics and sit along the berm. Last year attendance
grew by 25% and on the frst night in May we hit a record of more
than 3,000 spectators.”
Twilight Polo’s games start in the cool of the evening as the sun
sinks lower in the western sky, eventually disappearing behind
the horizon that includes Wildcat Mountain. About 10 years ago,
the decision was made to move Twilight Polo to Saturday night,
because spectators driving from northern Virginia and D.C. got
stuck in the Friday evening rush hour that often brought westbound
traffc on Route 66 to a halt.
Professional player John Gobin (currently 5 grass, 6 arena)
played high goal polo for eight years starting in 1992 when he was
handpicked by the USPA to play for the US in the Westchester
Cup. He remembers a crowd of 30,000 people and meeting HRH
the Queen of England and Prince Charles. John, 22, scored the
winning goal in double over-time. He still considers winning the
Westchester Cup the biggest game of his life.
Six years ago John took over as general manager of Great
The view from the top of the berm early in the evening before the matches begin: people are still arriving and setting up their picnics.
Meadow Polo and has helped introduce a number of innovations.
“We wanted more families at Twilight Polo every weekend, not just
two or three times a season,” said John. “I’m a family man. My wife
Kathleen is our vet the majority of the nights, and we have one kid
who rides ponies and does hunter-jumper stuff. I love being a dad
and a husband. I started the tug-of-war in the arena at halftime
and all the kids love it. Then we send the kids on a race around
the arena, helping the parents who want to have their kids slow
down and settle at their picnics while they watch the last match.
We have Polo Bear, and last year we introduced Lucy, a miniature
horse. We brought her into the arena so kids could pet her.”
There are other reasons why Twilight Polo has grown in popularity:
new players come into the game via the Great Meadow Polo
School and other area schools. There are often ‘student’ chukkers
at 6 pm, followed by the frst match at 7 and then the feature at
8 o’clock. New players get their friends out to cheer for them and
then everyone stays to enjoy the rest of the matches.