Aiken Polo Pony Race

When riders lined their horses up for the Post Trophy, the second annual Aiken Polo Pony race at the Aiken Trials, pretty much everyone knew there was one horse to beat. That horse, Eli Yale, was a 7-year-old Thoroughbred gelding who started his career on the racetrack before moving on to polo. In 2009, he took the inaugural Aiken Polo Pony race easily, setting a track record of 17 seconds for the 300-yard distance. His chief advantage then was that he got away so fast from the standing start that no other horse came near him. This year, he would be challenged by two of the same horses from 2009, along with three newcomers.

The polo pony race was the fourth on the card, scheduled to run between the three races for 2-year-olds and the two longer races for older horses. The sprint was 300 yards, the length of a polo field, with the start at the head of the stretch. The starter, Peter Krebs, lined the horses up, and then dropped his red flag. This time there would be no advantage for Eli Yale: the four horses on the inside of the track broke together and started their dash to the finish line. The two horses on the outside were caught a bit flat-footed, but were soon in on the chase.

It took only a few strides for Eli Yale to take the lead once again. Aztec, the second place finisher in 2009, was hot on his heels for the first half of the race, but by the time they went under the wire, it was Eli Yale all the way. He won by four lengths, bettering his 2009 time by 2.75 seconds. This lowered the track record to 14.25 seconds, and made the polo pony race, yard-for-yard, the fastest of the day.

Eli Yale is owned, trained and ridden by Pam Gleason, who plays polo at the Aiken Polo Club.

“In last year’s race, I just let him run,” says Pam. “This year, I wanted to see how fast he could go, so I asked him a little bit. He gave me a lot.”

Aztec, owned by The Aiken Horse, LLC, trained by Gary Knoll and ridden by Theresa King, was second. Third was Concepcion, owned, trained and ridden by Christine Cato. Tom Uskup, who came to the race dressed as the Easter Bunny, was fourth on a very good natured horse named Cederic. Party Til Dawn, ridden by Elissa Fridley and Callie ridden by Courtney Schwegler rounded out the field. Both horses are owned by David Smith.

The Aiken Polo Pony race was sponsored by The Aiken Horse.

Aiken's Snow Storm

Snowbirds Get Snow

Ask horse people who came to Aiken from the North why they are here, and most of them will reply “to get away from the snow,” or some variation of that statement. That’s why it was a bit ironic that many horse people in the community were so excited when snow was predicted for the evening of Friday, February 12.

Of course, snow is not entirely unheard of in Aiken. Every few winters there will be snow in the forecast, and sometimes there are even a few flakes, or a cool dusting that throws the local forecasters into a tizzy. Usually, however, the snow never comes, or if it does, it’s hardly enough to whiten the sidewalk.

The winter of 2010, however, was a winter for snow everywhere. There were feet of it in North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and all points north. When the snow started to fall in Aiken on Friday night, it was real snow, with big, determined flakes. It was clearly going to stick.

By the next morning, there were about five fresh white inches in downtown Aiken, and farms in the Wagener area recorded as much as seven or eight inches. There was so much snow that they had to postpone the classes at the Progressive Show Jumping horse show at Highfields Farm in Aiken, as well as the Saturday divisions of the United States Eventing Association horse trials at Pine Top Farm in Thompson, Ga.

Saturday morning, the earth was white, the sun was bright, the air was warm, and pretty much everyone in the county took a snow day. Children, adults and animals alike played in the snow. People took pictures, threw snowballs, made snowmen, and commented, over and again, on how beautiful it all was. Numerous websites of local stables now feature photographs of their barns and paddocks covered in snow. Perhaps their owners were so carried away with the novelty, they forgot that a snow-covered barn is hardly a way to advertise Aiken as a great place to ride in the winter.

Of course, snow in Aiken is different from snow in most other places. For one thing, no one had to worry much about digging themselves out. As the day wore on, the sun grew stronger, and the snow started to disappear. By the late afternoon, it was mostly gone, lingering a little longer under the trees, like a reverse shadow. On Sunday, the snow was just a memory. And like so many things you see only briefly, it certainly was beautiful.

Aiken’s Triple Crown

If it’s spring, that means it’s time for the Aiken Triple Crown, the three-weekend-long celebration of horse sports that includes The Aiken Trials, The Aiken Steeplechase and the USC Aiken Pacers and Polo match. These three events are among the biggest spectator sports on Aiken’s equestrian calendar. The spring steeplechase is undoubtedly the largest draw, bringing in as many as 20,000 spectators to Ford Conger Field for a day of racing and socializing in the sun. Steeplechase weekend (March 19-20) always includes a gala party under the trackside tent the night before the races. This year, the party is called “The Great Gatsby,” and will feature music by Too Much Sylvia. Proceeds benefit Public Education Partners. Contact the Aiken Steeplechase office for reservations to the party or for tickets to the races. (803.648.9641.) Or visit the website for more information. www.aikensteeplechase.com

The first weekend of the Aiken Triple Crown is the Aiken Trials, a day of racing for fledgling race horses at the Aiken Training Track. The trials have been an annual tradition in Aiken since 1942, providing young horses the opportunity to experience a real race in front of a crowd before they head out to the parimutuel tracks.

This year, the Aiken Trials will take place on Saturday, March 13. The day will feature six races, four of them for 2-year-old maidens, and one, the Cup of Aiken, for older horses that have already won a race. One race (probably the third) will be the polo pony race sponsored by The Aiken Horse. Last year was the first time that the polo pony race was held at the Trials, and it was a big success. There were six entries, all proven polo ponies ridden by actual polo players. The horses raced 300 yards (the length of a polo field) from a standing start. The winner, Eli Yale, set a track record of 17 seconds. Eli is a former racehorse and the grandson of the great Storm Cat, but his Trials win was the first of his career. He is expected to return to defend his title.

Polo players who have a fast horse should start getting ready now. All horses in the race must be playing ponies, and all riders must be polo players. If you are interested in racing, send an email to editor@theaikenhorse.com, or give us a call at 803.643.9960.

If you would like to watch the races, gates open at 10:30. The events start off with the Aiken Driving Society carriage parade at 1 pm, followed by the first race. The races are usually over by around 4:30. Tickets may be purchased in advance at various locations, including Boots, Bridles and Britches and Aiken Saddlery. If you buy in advance, tickets are $10. They’re $15 on the day of the races.

Other events surrounding the Aiken Trials include Breakfast at the Gallops, a popular morning program that will take place at the Training Track on Thursday, March 11, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. This will be a fundraiser for the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and will feature local trainers who will discuss horses and horse training. Tickets are limited, and this is often a sold out event. Finally, on March 14, the racehorse Quality Road will be honored as the Aiken Trained Horse of the Year at 12:30 pm in the courtyard of the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in Hopeland Gardens. For more information, visit the Aiken Training Track website: www.theaikentrainingtrack.com or the Hall of Fame website (www.aikenracinghalloffame.com) or call 803.642.7650.

The final leg of the Triple Crown, the USC Aiken Pacers and Polo Match, is the first official polo event of the spring season. It will take place on Powderhouse Field on Saturday, March 27. This match usually pits a Burger King team against a Biddle Realty team, and is one of the best attended polo contests in Aiken. The game is a benefit for the University of South Carolina Pacers baseball team. In addition to horse polo, it will also showcase a bicycle polo exhibition, put on by Boxwood Bicycle Polo Club.

Celebrating Aiken

In case you haven’t heard, the city of Aiken was founded in 1835, so this year, it is turning 175, quite a respectable age. To commemorate the occasion, the city is having a yearlong party called “Celebrate Aiken!” The festivities began on January 9 with a kick-off party called “Sights, Sounds and Tastes of 1835,” an event designed to educate people about the early history of the city. The party took over the downtown area around the Alley, and included such nineteenth century attractions as a flea circus, clogging (a popular folk dance style of the period) and a washboard band. There were also numerous historical interpreters dressed in 1835-era clothing who showed what it was like to live and work in Aiken 175 years ago.
The first quarter of the year is dedicated to “Horses, Health and History,” and includes some specifically equestrian events. The first was the dedication of a historic water trough at Banksia, the grand Winter Colony home that now houses the Aiken County Historical Museum. The cement trough, which had been languishing unused behind the Aiken County courthouse, was moved to the bottom of South Boundary Avenue, near the entrance to the Hitchcock Woods. Its original location was at the corner of Richland Avenue and Laurens Street, where it was a public water supply for people who rode or drove their horses into the city.
County workers took about two weeks to move the trough, refurbish it and install it in its new location. It now provides fresh, potable water for horses that have come from an outing in the woods. The county also installed a drinking fountain for people, and there are plans to fit the trough with a heater so that the water doesn’t freeze in the winter.
On Saturday morning, January 23, the water trough was officially dedicated to the memory of Summer Squall, the great racehorse owned by Dogwood Stable, who died in 2009. Over 100 people came to the dedication, which took place after a meeting of the Aiken Hounds and before a hunt breakfast at Banksia. Numerous people arrived dressed in period costume, including Aiken’s mayor, Fred Cavanaugh. The Henrys, a father and son bluegrass duo, provided musical entertainment.
Other Celebrate Aiken! festivities on tap for the first quarter of the year include a tea party at the Green Boundary Club on February 18. This party, which costs $10 and will have two seatings, encourages “period hats and gloves,” and is already sold out. On February 27, there will be a walking tour of downtown Aiken that starts at Aiken Prep. Then, on March 7, there will be a program at Rye Patch called Aiken’s Horse Heroes. This event will feature speakers and presentations about a selection of the racehorses that are members of Aiken’s Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame.
For more information about Celebrate Aiken! go to the website: www.celebrateaiken.com

Friends of the Animal Shelter

In 2009, a group of animal lovers got together to form Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS) a nonprofit volunteer organization with the mission of improving conditions at the Aiken County Animal Shelter and increasing the number of animals adopted. Aiken actually has two shelters on Wire Road. The Aiken SPCA is generally for animals rescued within city limits. The county shelter next door is for animals from outside the city. The Aiken SPCA is a non-profit organization with strong community support, dedicated volunteers and an excellent record of placing adoptable animals in loving homes. The county shelter has a larger volume of animals coming through its doors and has, in the past, been less fortunate in finding all of its adoptable pets new owners.

FOTAS volunteers, many of them in the horse community, have been holding fundraisers for the shelter and organizing various events to help upgrade the facility, attract more volunteers, and get more animals adopted. Volunteers are always in great demand. They are needed to do any number of different things, from walking dogs and grooming cats to working in the office, answering the phone and helping with education and community outreach.

Starting on Valentines Day, February 14, FOTAS will have its own website. The site will feature a list of adoptable animals. It will also have a community message board, an events calendar and information about sponsorship and volunteer opportunities.

For more information, call 803.642.1537 or email info@fotasaiken.org.

Georgia Racing?

Can you imagine going to watch horse races at Augusta Downs? The members of the Georgia-South Carolina Horse Racing Committee can, and they do. In fact, this year, it looks as if they might be a step closer to realizing their horse-racing dreams. The group, which is based in Augusta, has been working for about 18 years to get parimutuel betting and horse racing legalized in the state. The main obstacle is a provision in the Georgia constitution that prohibits any type of gaming except for the state lottery. On Tuesday, January 26, Representative Henry Geisinger (R) introduced HR 1177 into the Georgia House of Representatives, a bill that would remove the block on gaming in the state. Since allowing gambling would alter the state constitution, changing the law requires passage by two thirds of the lawmakers as well as the approval of the voters in the November elections.

Arthur Anderson, who works with the Georgia-South Carolina horse racing group, says that members were surprised and pleased that the bill entered the house with 50 co-sponsors, which would seem to be a good sign. According to Anderson, the main reason that Georgia lawmakers might be eager to legalize horse racing is economic.

“Georgia is looking at tax deficits of two billion dollars over the next few years,” he says. “Representative Geisinger chaired a committee in October that showed how much money horse racing could generate for the state. Our concept is to earmark those funds for education.”

Anderson says that the horse racing group would like to see four parimutuel tracks in Georgia, one near Augusta, one near Perry, one near Atlanta and a fourth somewhere in the western part of the state. If horse racing is legalized, there is already a consortium with a reported $50 million ready to start building tracks, barns and hotels.

The news that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the leader of Dubai, has purchased land in Aiken for a Thoroughbred training facility has certainly raised consciousness about the desirability of the area for racehorses. Arthur Anderson says that the horse racing lobby group would like to use this as a starting point for horse racing talks in South Carolina.

“We’ll start in Aiken, then go to Camden, then to Charleston,” he says.

Bruce McGhee, who owns McGhee’s Mile, the historic mile track for Standardbreds on Banks Mill Road, has been a part of the Georgia-South Carolina Horse Racing Committee for about a year. He is excited about the prospect of legalized racing in Georgia because he believes it would revitalize the area’s economy. He also thinks that horse racing would be a great thing for the community as a whole.

“Anyone who denies the magnificence of a racehorse doesn’t understand what racing is about,’ he says.

For more information about the Georgia-South Carolina Horse Racing Committee, go to the website www.gaschrc.org.

USEF Training Sessions

The upper level eventers will be back in Aiken this winter to train at Three Runs Plantation. The United States Equestrian Federation has announced that riders vying for a spot on the U.S. eventing team will be in Aiken for five separate training sessions, three in February (Feb. 7-8, 15-16 and 22-24) and two in March (Mar. 11-12, and 15-17.) Captain Mark Phillips, who is the chef d’équipe of the U.S. team, will be on hand. He will be assisted this year by Katie Monahan Prudent and Oded Shimoni. Katie Prudent, who won team gold at the World Showjumping Championship in 1986, is one of the most accomplished show jumper riders anywhere. Oded Shimoni is among the most respected names in international dressage. A native of Israel, he is a veteran of two World Equestrian Games and two European Championships.

This is the second year that Three Runs Plantation has been selected as the location for the high performance sessions. Three Runs, a 2,400-acre equestrian residential community, has top quality dressage and show jumping areas that are ideal for the sessions. They are particularly convenient for spectators because the Three Runs clubhouse faces the rings, so if it is cold or windy, spectators can still watch in comfort. During the final session in mid-March,Wayne Raiford, the owner and developer of Three Runs, will hold a private fundraiser for the U.S. Equestrian Team.

The training sessions are open to the public, and members of the equestrian community are encouraged to come out and watch the elite riders train. This year, the sessions are for “A” and “B” listed riders only, meaning riders that are serious contenders for a spot on the U.S. Team that will compete at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Riders on the list include quite a few who already make Aiken their winter home: Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Will Coleman, Stephen Bradley, Jan Byyny, Sinead Halpin. It will be a great opportunity to see some of the best get even better.

For more information, contact Laurie Garner at 704.770.0748 or garnermarketing@aol.com.

Foxhunting Frenzy

The weather up north has been frightful this year, so it’s little wonder that large numbers of foxhunters have decided to take an Aiken vacation this February. Every year, Whiskey Road Foxhounds’ Hunt Week welcomes scores of horses and riders from Virginia, Maryland, New York, Toronto and other points north for a generous seven days of sport. Hunt week has had a smaller following over the past few years, because of the weak economy and the high price of gas. But this year, according to Gail Flintom who is in charge of the event, the numbers promise to be huge.

“It will be more like the Hunt Weeks of a few years ago,” she says. “We’ll probably have fields of over 100 riders. We’ll divide those into three flights, first flight, second flight and hilltoppers.”

Hunt Week runs from February 3 through 11 and will include five days of live hunting, as well as the opportunity to go out with the Aiken Hounds drag hunt on Saturday morning, February 6. The largest field will be on Sunday, February 7, when the hunt meets at Sage Valley, where there has been some good sport already this season thanks to the large population of coyotes, foxes and bobcats there. This meet will be followed by a hunt breakfast at Sage Valley Hunt Club.

The social calendar begins with a welcoming reception at the Aiken County Historical Museum on Wednesday, February 3. Other events include the Friday night Hunt Ball at Woodside Plantation, the Monday night Hitchcock Woods benefit gala, a cocktail party given by Equine Divine and numerous other parties, hunt teas and hunt breakfasts. When the traveling foxhunters return home, they will probably need some time to rest up from their vacation.

Young Players, High Hopes

Those with an interest in the future of polo often wonder out loud where we will get our next generation of great players. Polo is a difficult sport to play well, and an expensive one, since to improve one generally needs to play with and against better players, riding high quality horses. Unless you are a young person whose father or mother happens to be a high goal player, coaching is often hard to come by.

With these things in mind, the United States Polo Association instituted a new program this year called Team USA. Young people between the ages of 19 and 25 were invited to apply for the program. Twenty-four successful applicants will attend a three-day training and evaluation event in Wellington, Florida from February 13-15. Of the original 24 players, six to eight will be selected to enter an internship with a top-ranked polo professional. The idea is to give talented young players the chance to improve, with the goal of creating more homegrown high goal players.

Of the 24 players selected for the program, six have an Aiken connection. Cristina Fernandez, who just graduated from the University of Virginia where she was the captain of the national championship women’s intercollegiate team, lives and plays in Aiken. Taylor Freeman, who is known for his incredible stickwork in both horse and bicycle polo, is also an Aiken resident. Two brothers chosen for the program, Carlos and Nicolai Galindo, have recently bought property in the county and put up a barn. Jacob Brown, who played here in the Ford Trucks Arena Polo Championship last spring, can occasionally be found playing on Aiken fields with his father Scott and his sister Martha. Finally, Nick Snow, a recent Harvard graduate and an accomplished all-around athlete, is the younger brother of Adam Snow, one of Aiken’s highest rated and most illustrious players.

If the players chosen for Team USA are the future of American polo, then Aiken will clearly continue to play an important role.

Snow Polo

Polo is normally a warm weather sport, played under sunny skies anywhere the grass in green and the field is smooth. But there is also another type of polo that is gaining in popularity: snow polo. Snow polo was first played in the mid 1980s on a frozen lake in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where the annual Polo World Cup on Snow now attracts several 10-goal players every year.

The snow polo rules resemble the rules for arena polo and the players (three to a side) use an inflated bright orange ball to provide a contrast to the white snow. The horses wear high traction snow shoes, and the snow is compacted to make a fast playing surface. The American center for snow polo is Aspen, Colo., the site last December of the tenth annual Piaget Polo on the Snow USPA World Snow Polo Championship.

For the second year in a row, the Crestview Genetics Polo Team, which is based in Aiken, went out for the event. The team, made up of Alan Martinez, John Eicher and Alan Meeker, won the tournament last year. They couldn’t repeat that feat this year, in what is becoming an increasingly high goal tournament with an international flair. The honors went to the Audi team of Melissa Ganzi, Juan Bollini and Kris Kampsen. Perhaps next year, Crestview will return with the trophy