2008 is Aiken's 126th
Consecutive Year of Polo. The first record of a polo game in
Aiken dates to March 27, 1882, in the Charleston News
and Courier. Just six years after the introduction of
the sport to the U.S., and four years before the first
Westchester Cup matches in Newport, Rhode Island, Aiken
had already been dubbed the "Newport of the South." It was
the winter home of many of polo's pioneers, including
Thomas Hitchcock, W.C. Eustis, and Harry Payne
Whitney, teammates on the Meadow Brook team that won the
Senior Championship in 1897 and '98; and later Devereux
Milburn, who would team with Whitney and the Waterbury
brothers to win the Westchester Cup for the U.S. in 1909,
'11, and '13.
It
is hard to imagine a family having a more lasting impression
on a city than the Hitchcocks had on Aiken; they made a
permanent preserve of the Hitchcock Woods, the largest urban
forest in the country; established the Winter Colony, an
area on the south side of town where grand mansions line red
clay roads left unpaved as a courtesy to the horses; and
founded the Aiken Prep School, whose alumni include
the Bostwicks, Pete (8), Charlie (6), and Rick (6); Alan
Corey, Jr. (9); the Gerrys, Ebby (9), Bobby (8), Eddy (5),
and Henry (5); Phillip Iglehart (7); the Knoxes, Norty (8)
and Seymour (5); Jimmy Mills (8); Billy Post (8); J.C.
Rathborne (7); Jules Romfh (6); and Charlie Von Stade (8).
Many of these great players learned the game from Mrs.
Thomas Hitchcock, who got them started with bicycle polo at
Aiken Prep and then taught them polo on what was then the
"Meadow Lark Field" and is now the sand ring next to the
Whitney Polo Field. The Whitney Field, which may be
the oldest in the country, was actually built by Thomas
Hitchcock and later sold to W.C. Whitney, who established a
permanent land trust for both the field and the racetrack
surrounding it.
The Powderhouse polo
fields are now also a part of the Whitney Trust, all but
guaranteeing polo a lasting place in the life of the city.
One of the first things that attracted the equestrian
classes to Aiken was the climate, with mild winters and
early springs. The soil produces grasses ideal for horses,
and the area remains a center for equestrian activities of
all sorts, with hundreds of horses in training each year.
The Aiken Triple Crown,
held each spring, involves flat racing, steeplechase, and
now polo. Training polo ponies has been an Aiken tradition
for at least 90 years, beginning with Fred Post in 1912.
Post was a legendary horseman in his day, and his son,
Billy, went on to be an 8-goal player, as noted above. The
tradition continues today.
During the "Golden Age" of
polo, and through the 1950's, Aiken was the winter capital
of polo in the U.S., prior to the establishment of the
Gulfstream, Royal Palm, and Palm Beach polo clubs in South
Florida. Games in excess of 20 and even 30 goals were
commonplace.
Article Courtesy of
William Matheson .
