members of the AACCP. Visits from the Association began, together with on-going advisory services. In due course we stated adding other bloodlines from AACCP auctions: Los Machitos; Ellerstina; Novillo Astrada; La Dolfina. Not long went by and we began to see the results. Many foals with good genetics( offspring of Open players that had received prizes on the field), we set aside as stallions, and they ended up playing the Open, as in the case of Polo Tiro Fijo, under Nachi Heguy; Chapaleufú el Poncho, under Mike Azzaro for Chapa II; Chapaleufú Mediterráneo( was taken to the UK after having played the HG in Argentina, and played the British Open).
When we asked if we could hold the first PA Exhibition( 2013) up North, the immediate answer was“ Yes, let’ s do it”! It was our privilege to host APH who gave us a talk and Pepe Heguy who mounted the horses of the final to define which would be Female Grand Champion.
Once again the AACCP was giving us their support, with luxury judges such as Santiago, Marcos Adorno and Ariel Bonilla, who joined us again the following year, and the presence of AP and Pepe Heguy.
For some time now we had decided to start off a Second Stage, supported by the AACCP: we had already incorporated a genetic base, and now we needed to TRAIN the staff that make up that chain that leads towards making a polo pony( tamers; grooms; pilots).
We started off training our tamers( Luis De Bari was very influential in this sense). The Association then brought over a course for grooms for the first time, which was a success, and this year it will bring Federico Oyuela so as to improve the courses for farriers that we have been holding.
This year— in which the club of which I am President, the Tucumán Polo Club, is celebrating its 100th. Anniversary— we held an exhibition match, thanks to Eduardo NA and the AAJP, with the participation of Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Pieres, one week after they had played the US OPEN final against each other … The gratifying part about all this, aside from the fact that we had the two best players in the WORLD, was to be able to mount them and the rest of the players( Eduardo NA, Tito Ruiz) in a 26-goal practice match with 90 % of Polo Argentino horses bred here in the North … 16 years after having begun working on this breeding project we were able to treat ourselves to this … I have no words …
I cannot but acknowledge what Alberto Pedro Heguy( Ruso, Nachi and Tomás) did for me by opening their homes to me and even to my children. No words can sufficiently thank them; I learned a lot of what I know; Alberto P is someone I admire both for his skill with horses as for his quality as a person. At his home in La Pampa he has managed to build much more than successful bloodstock; together with Silvia he has raised a great family.
I wish to thank Pepe, who is a great friend and thanks to him I have been able to create the base for my bloodstock; he was crucial to my growth and learning; a crack breeder; exquisite with horses; someone with a special sensitivity when choosing horses; great horse-management … He allowed me to take whatever I liked from his breed up North, and he made this extensive to several breeders from Tucumán.
Someone who was key during the whole of this process was Santiago Ballester, whom if I had to define him in one word, that would be“ Unconditional” with breeders. Whatever we asked him for, he’ d say yes, and would personally see to it and follow-up on
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