Polo "Documentary"

teapot said:
Anyone else watched it yet? I'm half way through the first episode and it's exactly as I thought it would be!
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Yes me I’ve tried but I got bored very quickly , I was disappointed it’s not more about behind the scenes polo , particularly the ponies .
I have worked as a polo groom , used to follow polo and it still bored me!
 
Watched 2. It’s like all these that you have the person you’re supposed to warm to, the one you’re supposed to think is the baddie etc. interesting seeing Aldolfo who is 10 handicap and also the back stories.
 
We’ve watched some of it but the editing is so bloody fast, as soon as you see a horse they’re onto the next shot!

Can’t say the people are coming across as interesting either tbh plus they spell chukka wrong! 😑
 
Some truly awful people, most notably the patron guy who thought he could level up to Cambiaso and Pieres and had zero affinity with his horses. Enjoyed watching the play shots though. Suppose the average person on Netflix is more interested in the ‘Housewives of…’ sort of aspect though
 
humblepie said:
For a couple of years we belonged to a polo club - most of the members were exceeding wealthy and we went to some nice events in very posh houses, our little old car parked next to lots of expensive vehicles. We were at one house and someone said have you seen the Canalettos - fortunately (though not for the people who owned it) a Canaletto had been stolen recently and was in the news, so I knew what they were talking about otherwise I might have been tempted to ask what they tasted like.....
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Squeal of joy. Art historian here. Love a good Canaletto. You know much of Warswaw's cityscape after WW2 was rebuilt from 18th c Canaletto views from the river. Sublime. For me that would make the tedium of being around extremely rich people worth it.
 
ThreeFurs said:
Squeal of joy. Art historian here. Love a good Canaletto. You know much of Warswaw's cityscape after WW2 was rebuilt from 18th c Canaletto views from the river. Sublime. For me that would make the tedium of being around extremely rich people worth it.
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No I didn't know that, that is interesting.
 
Billabongchick said:
Some truly awful people, most notably the patron guy who thought he could level up to Cambiaso and Pieres and had zero affinity with his horses. Enjoyed watching the play shots though. Suppose the average person on Netflix is more interested in the ‘Housewives of…’ sort of aspect though
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I think he is supposed to come across as the "baddie" and yes agree there seems no affinity with horses at all. Interesting that his wife is/was a top female polo player and his "back story" about his father was quite too. Can fully understand the rather be at the yard than at a baby shower but possibly if it is your own baby you should be interested! The younger chap (Timmy?) comes across as liking his horses and enjoying time with them.
 
humblepie said:
I think he is supposed to come across as the "baddie" and yes agree there seems no affinity with horses at all. Interesting that his wife is/was a top female polo player and his "back story" about his father was quite too. Can fully understand the rather be at the yard than at a baby shower but possibly if it is your own baby you should be interested! The younger chap (Timmy?) comes across as liking his horses and enjoying time with them.
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Yes I agree; I think his wife is a good person (and player) and seems to have the horses best interests at heart, whereas he sees them as a means to a win which I can’t stand.

Timmy did seem quite sweet and played surprisingly well in that final match. The whole family seemed to respect their horses and he seemed aware of when he needed to swop out mid chukka on a tired horse. Although his Dad put mega pressure on him they seemed a nice family and caring underneath the competitiveness. Who knows though as it’s all engineered for screen! It’s a lot different to what I remember of high goal over here when I was involved in Cambiaso’s heyday!
 
Billabongchick said:
Yes I agree; I think his wife is a good person (and player) and seems to have the horses best interests at heart, whereas he sees them as a means to a win which I can’t stand.

Timmy did seem quite sweet and played surprisingly well in that final match. The whole family seemed to respect their horses and he seemed aware of when he needed to swop out mid chukka on a tired horse. Although his Dad put mega pressure on him they seemed a nice family and caring underneath the competitiveness. Who knows though as it’s all engineered for screen! It’s a lot different to what I remember of high goal over here when I was involved in Cambiaso’s heyday!
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Susie Dutta has an Insta and a few months ago she did quite a fun discipline swap with Timmy where he rode her Grand Prix horse. They came across as a nice family who genuinely like their horses.
 
humblepie said:
I think he is supposed to come across as the "baddie" and yes agree there seems no affinity with horses at all. Interesting that his wife is/was a top female polo player and his "back story" about his father was quite too. Can fully understand the rather be at the yard than at a baby shower but possibly if it is your own baby you should be interested! The younger chap (Timmy?) comes across as liking his horses and enjoying time with them.
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To be fair, even I didn't want to attend my baby shower!
 
Just watched episode 3 and cracking match Coca Cola and la dolfina. The baddie guy coming across even worse. Doesn’t know how to wear a seat belt in a car
 
We enjoyed it. But we too watch (or used to watch) a lot of polo, mostly at Cowdray Park. Would have liked the film to show more about the horses (aka ponies) but someone ( the late lamented Terry Hanlon) once explained to us, in our early days of watching that the ponies dont get that much publicity - something to do either with security or they're being taxable assets, I am not sure which.
The Prince Harry documentary did mention individual horses and made us think a lot more about Patrons and the risks they run playing themselves (not all do) which hadnt occurred to me before.
Polo watching has changed since we started watching in 2001 or 2. In those days ladies wore skirts when watching and never wore jeans. My grandmother's memoir shows she was smartly dressed up by her maid when she sat in her carriage to watch her husband play polo.
The sad thing about the film was viewing it as an essay on father son relationships. A wealthy industrialist and his polo playing son, Adolfo Cambiaso and his star player son, and of course Prince Harry who it was always rumoured could have been a professional polo player, had he not had other jobs to do. He may have had a 4 goal handicap at one point.
 
In favour of the film, in the past we have thought polo matches did not come across well on TV nor on film. WEvben ther Argentinian open final. Hasrry's director and cameramen seem to have managed quite well to catch the excitement and sudden reverses of direction asd werll as Cambiaso senior's particular method of play, both long shots and very fast rides down the field, unmarked.

I am sad that OH's deteriorating eyesight brought our Cowdray outings to an end.
 
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