NZ POLO PONY NEWS AND UPDATES 

4/12/2009 HAWKES BAY-The first competition on the NZ Polo ponies summer season started off with a hiss and a roar on December 4th at the Wine Country Cup in sunny, green Hawkes Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. 

Just coming out of spring the Hawkes Bay grounds were in top-notch condition with fast playing and high scoring games for so early on in the polo season. 

Having four players based with NZ Polo Pony, Daniel, Nick, Jonny and Hannah Henderson of England, made it the perfect opportunity to bring all the young ones out to have a blast around the field. Most of the horses were in their second season and playing extremely well, with great expectations for later on in the season.   

  

                                                                                                          Coddington's polo field 

2/1/2010 RANGITIKEI-The second event on the schedule was the Russell Cup. 

Based down in Rangitikei, two hours south of Hawkes Bay, this tournament was put on by the McKelvie family. 

And what a fantastic tournament it was. There was alot of fast polo on two breath-taking fields, which were in brilliant condition for the Savile Cup later on in the season. 

Having two players in the low goal meant that the young ones got another really good few days out on the field. 

In the 12 goal it was a great battle the whole way through to the final with 

Rangitikei A going head on with Hawkes Bay A. Nick (NZ Polo pony) had a great game with Hollywood. Only in his second season and taking the jump up from low goal to 12 goal, he did superbly well to be Nick’s star pony. Jonny (NZ Polo Pony) had three stand out star ponies - MC, Pingu and Dragons Den, with Pingu going on to take home the Russell Cup for the Supreme Champion pony of the competition! And the team had a well deserving win against some stiff competition.

                                                      

                                                                  Hollywood                   Pingu                                                    

                                                                                                                                              

7/1/2010 DEARDEN- BARRETT MEMORIAL

This was another successful tournament with the Barrett Memorial trophy up for grabs. This time, adding Oliver Jones and James Fielding of England to the bunch, making it five riders from NZ Polo Pony, as well as Jonny playing in two grades (low and medium goal). 

Olly had a great game in the low goal aboard a little pony called Baywatch. Keep an eye out for this willing and beautifully natured pony. She has a very exciting future ahead of her! 

In the final of the 12 goal for the Barrett Memorial Trophy, Nick and Jonny were up against the Rangitikei boys for another breath-taking show down!  Hawkes Bay couldn’t quite make it another win against their old rivals! But there will always be a next time!

Asda took a big step up to play in the 12 goal and proved she has what it takes to be Nick’s star pony. 

For Jonny, Boogie also took the step up to 12 goal and really gave it his all. Pingu had another stunning game but it wasn’t enough to take the  supreme champion pony prize off MC! 

                                                                         .

                                                                                                                                      MC

January brought horrible wet weather with both the Poverty Bay tournament (15/1/2010) and the Dewar Cup (27/1/2010) events having to be cancelled, as it was a total wash out literally. 

Date/2/2010 KIHIKIHI- 

We made the five hour trip up north to the Kihikihi Open with our horses playing in low, medium and high goal. James Fielding made it into the final of the 2 goal with the lovely Beonce having a blinder of a game for him. 

Jonny combined with the Poverty Bay boys to go into the handicap final of the 8 goal, bringing in Baywatch from the low goal. She performed exceptionally well to make her his star pony. 

Saturday was a day off for the boys, but not for the ponies! Getting the big call up to play in the England Vs New Zealand international match, by James Beim of England, was Pingu, Dragons Den and MC for the second time, having first played in the 2008 International. The horses thrived on Paul Kay’s immaculate couch field with Dragons Den having a super game being brought out on four different occasions. 

                                              

                                                                                   MC                                                                                             Dragons Den

                                                                                                            

13/2/2010 OPEN– Then it was time to travel up north to Auckland one hour from Kihikihi for the BMW NZ Polo Open. James Fielding went through to the final of the 4 goal that was held on Tony Vandenbrink's strictly exclusive field ‘Smiths Lawn’. With such a close game Beonce and Zupan were as reliable as ever and really took charge in their chukkas. However, the team didn’t combine as well as in the prior games and went down in the final.

 

In the high goal the highly anticipated team of Jonny Coddington (NZ Polo Pony), Michael Henderson and Cam and Angus Mckelvie didn’t gel as well as expected. 

Getting knocked out by the eventual winners Rodd and Gun by only two points but still enough to put them through into the handicap final. This was played on the Fisher field before the big final. This game was a total success with the team really pulling themselves together to take out the winning spot against Southland. Jonny had an absolute stunning, jaw dropping string of ponies that once again never let him down - Pingu, MC, Dragons Den and Hollywood (making his big début in the high goal) just to name a few. All played exceptionally well.

3/3/2010 SAVILE CUP- Back down South to the Savile tournament held at the Mckelvies in Rangitikei. This was another delightful tournament to be part of with perfect established fields for fast playing polo! Once again we played with a team completely made up of NZ Polo Pony players and ponies - Olly Jones, James Fielding of England, Nick and Jonny Coddington. The team went through to the final of the medium goal to be runners up to Kihikihi, but that wasn’t the end, all the ponies went brilliantly. However, Pingu shone a little more, to pick up the Wilson Champion Pony cup for her second pony prize of the season!  

                                                                                                                                   Pingu

20/3/2010 BRINKS- To end what was a fantastic season, the boys headed back up 

North six hours to Auckland where they were warmly welcomed by fellow team member and Uncle, Tim Coddington. With such a fun laid back but still very competitive competition, It was the perfect opportunity to bring out the babies, most of which 

had their first game on a competitive polo field.  With a good strong team of Coddingtons they came through to win the Handicap final with great excitement.

 

OVER SEAS PONIES - We also have a number of ponies playing in both America and England. Polo Hall of Fame member, Owen Rinehart, has been playing Nemo and Misada for the last year and both are playing strong, steady games on their way to the US Open in Palms Beach early next year. 

Jonny Coddington (NZ Polo Pony) has a beautiful string of ponies with MC being his new arrival to England from NZ. They are constantly winning finals in both England and Scotland, with Cloudy already winning two pony prizes in the English season.

                                             

                                                                                 Misada                                                                                                          Nemo

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                             Keep your eyes out for more NZ Polo Pony news coming soon!!!