Tangentially related - Sylvester Stallone was once a very accomplished polo player. I was shocked to see that in his documentary (I’m a fan). He gave it up because of his dad.
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I took part in a polo clinic with my ex hunter/dressage horse. It was actually very funny and my horse and I provided a lot of laughs for the on lookers. He could back up like a hurricane every time I swung the mallot (sorry about the spelling) and whenever the ball? can’t remember the technical term) came our way all four legs came off the ground.
However he did look smashing as my students dressed him up with lime green polo bandages and matching tail wrap.
Needless to say our polo career was brief.
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Yeah, that would be much more fun than a bunch of rich wankers (to borrow British slang).
Seriously? I always pegged him as an urban guy. Where in the heck did he grow up?
Good question, now that you say it. He was urban, inner city etc. If I remember it correctly. I don’t know if they said where polo came from. He was well ranked I think.
I watched a couple of episodes and was disappointed by how little actual polo is shown! And when they do film it, they use mostly long shots that make it look like a video game. There’s a lot of whining and complaining by some of the players which I basically fast forwarded through. I wanted to know a lot more about the horses, the training, the care . . .
In my mind, the series missed the mark. It’s not relatable enough to people who aren’t already equestrians and there isn’t enough about the horses for those of us who are.
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Polo is notorious for being a poor transcribe to the TV screen.
Here is the final game if you want to watch it in its entirety, as it was filmed for livestreaming.
Edit: My bad, it’s the Gold Cup (duh!) not the US Open. I’m thinking, how is Bob playing??
2024 USPA Gold Cup Final- La Dolfina vs Valiente
Here is the US Open final - interesting to see all the extra cameras filming!
2024 U.S. Open Polo Championship Final- La Dolfina vs Valiente
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Yes, One of the reasons why enjoy photographing polo is, with the right lens, you can get up close to the players and the horses. So I missed that with the coverage.
Officially jealous.
I know the “doco” has been panned, but it really made me want to go and watch a big match. Maybe it should have been advertised as a “Keeping Up with the Polo Match-ians” instead of being a polo ‘documentary’ - then we’d get 20 seasons of it and multiple spin-offs!!
I watched it last week. Pretty much reality TV of the same ilk as the Desperate Housewives series. I too was hoping for more in depth info on horses and top player, but alas. I recall the best documentary on polo I ever saw was produced I believe by the BBC as part of The Horse in Sport series and was wonderful and highly educational. I found it on youtube and here is the link for those interested. It is a couple decades old but really good.
Having taken some polo lessons I will say it is a hard sport and you must be a real athlete to play. The new series would have been better off to focus more on the high goal players and the horses, in my opinion, rather than the rich patrons who are not horsemen. I guess they were trying to appeal to a broad audience. Jerks and drama make for good TV these days.
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My very non-horsey husband and I watched the series together. We both found it entertaining and would watch another season, if one is produced.
Yes, it is very reality tv-ish. If you don’t like reality tv in general, this series probably isn’t going to be for you. It’s based on the world of high-goal polo, not grassroots polo. So, expect that you are entering the world of the uber-wealthy, with all that encompasses. Flashy cars, lavish houses, high fashion, pretty ponies.
Ultimately, this is an incredibly niche sport, accessible at that level by only the extremely wealthy, connected or talented. The series is not intellectually challenging or a feel-good story about rising over challenging beginnings to succeed. It’s not a deep dive into the sport of polo, its history, or its horsemanship. It’s a shallow glimpse into the world of the very top of the high-goal polo world, for better or for worse.
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My non-horsey husband and I just finished it, and I agree with this summary. I am guilty of loving bad reality TV and we both love a long-form sports documentary a la Drive to Survive or Break Point, so despite my low expectations and its clear flaws, it was watchable enough if you took it for what it was.
I thought Pamela was the most interesting person in the whole show and would love it if a second season followed her as she got back in the saddle after her daughter’s birth. The moment where she carefully climbed back on board her special girl out in the field, just to sit for a moment and feel a horse underneath her again…ngl it brought a tear to my eye. I think a more intellectually rigorous production team could have done a lot with the juxtapostion of how she and Louis approached being high-level amateurs and their relationships with their horses. I know a Pamela-centered season 2 would never happen even if one gets made, but a girl can dream!
My even-less-horsey-than-my-husband in laws also watched it, and they said they would have liked to learn more about the horses too.
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Same! We both enjoyed it for what it was. I thought Pamela was interesting because she was clearly such an accomplished woman, both on and off the polo field. And yet she had so much patience and understanding for her man-child douche-nozzle of a husband.
To me the most interesting woman in the show, the one that I wish they would have gone into more depth on, was Susan Dutta. They didn’t touch at all on the fact that she is an incredibly accomplished equestrian herself. I would have loved for them to have them delve into that a little more.
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Yes, Susan’s equestrian career definitely deserved more than a three-second still shot of her competing. Even Marissa got to ride on-screen!
Harry should clearly let us produce the next season 
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Talk with Megan Markle about it. She is all about equality and womens rights. They should do one on the women’s teams.
(in my opinion)
I watched the whole season, and while its entertaining; if its goal was to bring polo to the masses it failed.
It showcased spoiled, rich, men that hired talented polo players with their patron program (pay to play) and I think its gross, but whateves.
Pamela was the shining star of the program.
ETA spelling.
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They should just go ahead and do a dressage version…showjumping version…that would be reality tv-ish, too. I would probably be entertained!
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If the series had been produced by someone else that nobody knew, would it have received equally bad reviews?
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The odd thing about all the reviews is this follows the exact same template as F1 & Full Swing docuseries on Netflix. Very little about the sport and more focused on the people/drama. It is exactly what I thought it would be, but I can see how if you have never seen the way Netflix does these you might have expected something else.
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If the series had been produced by someone else, would it have drawn an audience at all?
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I did not know anything about the reason he gave up polo. But I remember hearing that when he did, he basically had a fire sale on all his polo horses, tack, trailers, equipment, everything. So whoever happened to be in the right place at the right time on that day got some fantastic deals.
I believe Tommy Lee Jones also played a good bit of polo. I think he had a farm in Wellington as well. I don’t know if he still does now.
I have not seen this show, but I have watched a little bit of serious polo in Wellington. And I used to play on an extremely low level just for fun league with some friends many years ago. It was super entertaining.
There were two or three people who actually played polo for real, so we always had to make sure that they were never on the same team, since that would have been an extremely unfair advantage. The rest of us were basically just providing them with an opportunity to keep their horses fit and hit the ball around a little bit in between their real matches. Lol.
Everybody else was pretty evenly divided between people who could ride, but were not likely to hit the ball very far (mostly women), and people who could not necessarily ride that well or steer very effectively. But if they happened to find themselves near the ball, they could really whack it for a distance (mostly men).
It was a huge amount of fun. I will say that I had muscles that got sore from polo that have never been sore at any other time in my life. Lol.
Like any activity that involves horses, I’m sure there are people who take great care of the animals and are good horsemen. And then there are other people.
I still remember that in that group I knew, one of the guys who played polo for real was a vet. So of course he took great care of his horses. And I still remember him saying that he would play on an inexpensive horse with an inexpensive saddle and use an old stock trailer to go to the matches, but he would always happily pay for the best helmet available to protect his head. That thought has always stuck with me through the years.
I will say I’m amazed at how many people will play polo in a helmet that does not have a face mask. Hello? That’s a terrible idea.
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