Local equestrians “Cowboy Up” for Children’s Place during Celebrity Waiter Night 2010 in Aiken South Carolina.  Mark Thompson, Sharer Dale, Cathy Cram, Sarah Thompson, Heather Crespo, Jane Page Thompson, Carsten Peters, Kasey Craven, Megan Godard and celebrity professional ropers Bridgette Lanham, Tyler Moody, and Susan White

Catching up: From polo fan to polo student, Patrick Dhondt is now the proud owner of his first polo pony! The Dhondt family from Cross Roads, Texas has been enjoying polo at Prestonwood Polo Club since its opening and wife Nora joined the Ladies Polo Auxiliary. Given a polo lesson for his birthday, he was hooked and back for another, two days later. Spring Polo season brought Sain Joseph to play and Sain brought Blitzen. The Dhondts were especially attracted to this pony because Pat is part Dutch, Blitzen means Lightening in Dutch. Patrick was beaming on the sidelines when Sain played his horse in a chukker, proudly proclaiming “that’s him, that’s my horse!”

Heads up everyone, polo is going to be hot in California this summer: 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso will be captaining the Lucchese Polo Team this season at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. It will be Adolfo’s first time playing at the SBPC, where the high goal season begins in July and ends with the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open at the end of August.

Polo players, fans and those who simply liked to swing a club or two turned out for the inaugural Polo Players Golf Tournament sponsored by 302 Polo and hosted at the picturesque Houndslake Country Club in Aiken.  Tiger Kneece, Eddy and Alan Martinez, Tommy and Bradley Biddle, Horacio and Hollis Onetto, Julian Daniels, Nick Snow, Craig Fraser, Karen Reece, Antonio Galvan, Charlie Bostwick, Luis Escobar as well as Charlie’s nephew Schuyler Reardon were among those teeing it up in a fun-filled - now set to be annual - event organized by Susie Kneece, Todd Stilp and Henry Cato. The event enjoyed sponsorship from Steve Floyd and Tom Williams with Floyd & Green Jewelers, Todd Stilp with Enviroscape and Paul Smith with Horsecity.com. Houndslake Golf and Country Club is always a staunch supporter of community projects and has often stepped up to show true southern hospitality to the polo players in Aiken.

Bob Stanton reported that “after nearly 20 yrs, I finally was given a red flag.  In a normal calm voice I said to Billy Raab ‘come on, Billy.’  Just an innocent comment on some aspect of a game several weeks ago...  Well, I learned that you cannot call the umpire by their name-so Billy was a no-no, although other names might have been more acceptable.  He and I remain friends, but, if I ever earn another red flag again, I will certainly try to make it more memorable.”

Ami De La Mer writes “As you most likely know our 7 year old son Justice was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in November ’08, just five days after his sixth birthday. To see your child suffer and not be able to take it away is the worst pain a parent can feel. We need a cure now! Please take the time to read this information, and help. Even $1 can get us a long away... Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating disease that affects millions of people, a large and growing percentage of them children.  There is some good news, though. For the first time, scientists are predicting that we CAN expect to see a cure well within our lifetime!
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It seems Todd Stilp in Aiken has the solution for settling relationship issues. During the big Celeb Bar Tending benefit, everyone who is anyone in polo was there at the Willcox to participate for a good cause. Thousands of dollars were raised for Children’s Place by Willcox and all the other restaurants in Aiken. But the best part was the “jousting” games where JD Cooper and Julie Boyle had a friendly tussle. JD says he had to let her win. Then there was Lynn and her daughter Kate Carlyle in a match that ended in lots of giggling - especially when Lynn had to be hoisted over the inflated side of the ring with much, um.  grace.

The big betting match was against Todd and Charlie Herrick. Karen Dempsey and Beverly Zimmer both rode the bull, but they concur that there is NO WAY to not get bucked off.

Royal loss: Drizzle, one of Prince Harry’s most beloved polo ponies, died during a match on May 8 in Berkshire, England. The mare, which had been a previous mount of both Prince William and Prince Charles, died of a heart attack less than three minutes into the chukker. The princes were reported to be quite distraught over mare’s death.

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