Traditionally, Open Tournaments are the most prestigious Tournaments in any given country’s polo calendar. Three of the oldest and certainly the most prestigious around the world are the Argentine Open – the highest handicapped at 28-40 goals, and oldest of this trilogy; the US Open, the second oldest; and the British Open which was inaugurated by the 3rd Viscount Cowdray in 1956; also amongst one of the oldest Open Tournaments in the world is the Indian Open, which came to life in 1900. Over the years however, many other countries around the world have established Open tournaments, from Australia to New Zealand and South Africa to name but a few, and more recently Barbados and Jamaica in the Caribbean.

The Argentine Open

If we are talking about the best championship in the world, with the highest level and prestige, the Mecca of this sport has got to be Cathedral of Polo, Palermo, and the Argentine Open Championship. It is a Tournament every polo player dreams of, and one that few will ever get the opportunity to play in. It can be likened to Wimbledon for tennis. To win this tournament is not only a dream but the highest recognition for every polo player, and to watch is like no other experience. Excited by the quality of the game and its star players, each year thousands of people from around the world travel to Argentina to watch what surely is the best polo “spectacle” on offer anywhere in the world. It is the only all-professional tournament, and more often than not the teams that end up in the final are between 37 and 40 goals, the handicaps of the finalists between 8 and 10 goals. It has taken place every year since 1893, so is now in its 117th year. Initially known as the River Plate Polo Championship between 1893-1923, this tournament has attracted some of Argentina’s finest and some of the best players from around the world… and the names such as Alberdi, Gracida, Heguy, Harriot, Merlos, Pieres and of course Cambiaso have all had the honour of having their names engraved on this illustrious trophy, some of them as many as 10 times… no mean feat!

The US Open

The grand prize of polo in North America, The US Open Polo Championship, was first played in 1904 at Van Courtland Park in New York City (the Wanderers defeated the Freebooters 4 1/2 to 3). There was a brief hiatus thereafter, and the tournament resumed in 1910 and continued every year, even through the Great Depression with the exception of 1911, 1915, 1917, 1918, and during the Second World War from 1942-1945.

During the first half of the 20th century the event was hosted in the North-east, principally at Meadowbrook Polo Club in New York. With the demise of Meadowbrook, it moved to the Oakbrook Polo Club, outside Chicago in 1954 where it stayed until 1978; these were the golden years of US Polo. Without a permanent home, the Championship moved around the country for the next 18 years; from 1979-1986 it was hosted by the Retama Polo Club in San Antonio, where Memo Gracida recorded the first of his record 16 wins. Not the first in his family to do so, his father and three other Gracidas won the event for Mexico in 1946 at the Meadowbrook Polo Club. In 1987, the tournament was played at the El Dorado Polo Club in Palm Springs and the next four US Open Polo Championships thereafter were played at Horsepark in Lexington, Kentucky. Since 1996, the event has been held in South Florida, initially at Palm Beach Polo Club, and in its Centenary year 2004 it moved to its new home and the newly established International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida, the home of high-goal polo in the South East. This 26-goal tournament attracts the finest polo players in the world for a month-long competition which has attracted and continues to attract world-class players like Memo Gracida and his brother Carlos, the one-man show Adolfo Cambiaso who has won the trophy five times, with Outback, and twice with Crab Orchard, Mariano Aguerre, Pite Merlos, Sebastian Merlos, Lucas Criado, Pablo MacDonough, Magoo LaPrida, David Stirling, Juan Martin Nero, Gonzalito Pieres, and Facundo Pieres, to name but a few. To this day it is still US polo’s most prestigious tournament, which is played annually.

The British Open

With a long and illustrious history, Cowdray Park is recognised worldwide as the Home of British polo. Set in an Area of outstanding natural beauty within Viscount Cowdray’s 16,500-acre estate in West Sussex, the game of polo has been played at Cowdray for exactly a century this year, and even though the sport was to all about die out in England during the war, its post-war revival and Cowdray Park Polo Club’s significance in the re-establishment of polo in England following the Second World War cannot be underestimated. This was largely due to the efforts of a legendary name in the history of polo, John the third Viscount Cowdray and father of the present Viscount; he turned Cowdray Park into one of the most famous polo clubs in the world – firmly establishing its place at the very pinnacle of the sport both nationally and internationally.

Cowdray Park is home to the British Open, the most coveted trophy in British polo, which was launched by the third Viscount Cowdray in 1956.

All of the most illustrious names in polo have played in the Gold Cup for the British Open Polo Championship, and it is now the most important pro-am tournament at the 22-goal level in the world. It regularly attracts up to 20 teams to play on the hallowed Cowdray “Lawns” for a tournament which lasts just over three weeks each year from the end of June to the third week in July.

Carlos Gracida has won the Gold Cup ten times – more than any other individual player – and the emergence on the international stage of a 16-year-old player, already playing off seven, by the name of Adolfo Cambiaso, was witnessed in 1991 when he played alongside Carlos Gracida, Cowdray patron Anthony Embiricos and Adam Buchanan in the Tramontana team, which still holds the record for the most team victories in the Gold Cup – five in total.

The Indian Open

Outside of Argentina, USA and UK, the Open tournament with the most pedigree and the longest history is the Indian Open. It is Indian Polo’s Holy Grail – the ultimate prize for every polo player! The dominance of high-goal polo in other parts of the world, and the Subcontinent’s distance from most of the world’s major polo centres these days limits participants to local players from India and Asia with some participation by foreign pros. This, however, does not dilute the tournament’s historical importance or pedigree amongst Open Championships. Instituted as the Indian Polo Association Championship in 1900 in Lucknow, the Calcutta Polo Club began to host this coveted tournament in 1906 as India’s National Championship. Calcutta was the centre of Polo in India then. The oldest national level sports trophy in India found a home at the Calcutta Polo Club, the oldest club in the world until the year 2001. It shifted for the first time ever in its history in 2002 to New Delhi – the modern-day centre of Indian Polo – it was a huge success and henceforth is played in the capital each year.

Old stalwarts and luminaries of Indian polo like Maharaja Sawai Man Singh of Jaipur, Rao Raja Hanut Singh, Thakur Kishen Singh, Thakur Bijay Singh, Billy Sodhi, VP Singh, Pickles Sodhi, Raj Kalaan & Kuldeep Garcha are amongst the most prolific winners of the tournament.

With its immense history & tradition, the Open is patronised by the who’s-who and opinion leaders of Indian society and attracts extensive media coverage. The Chief Patron of this prestigious championship is Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh of Jaipur, an avid polo player himself in his day.

The Jamaica Open

Polo has been played in Jamaica for over 130 years the British Army established polo in Jamaica at the West India Regiment Garrison Club in 1882. Many clubs have come and gone over the years, such as the St Elizabeth Polo Club at the foot of Spur Tree, the Blue Hole Polo Club near Lucea and the Hanover Polo Club but two have endured for over 100 years. The Kingston Polo Club was formed for civilians in 1886 at Knutsford Park (now New Kingston). It then moved to the middle of the Caymanas Race Track and is now situated on the other side of the Mandela highway just below the Caymanas Golf Club. In 1892 Sam Burke founded the St Ann Polo Club, which moved to its present location at Drax Hall Estate in 1905 and boasts one of the oldest polo fields in the world. The Chukka Blue facility was rebuilt on the site of what was previously the Hanover Polo Club, which was over 30 years old, and had changed ownership twice in the intervening years. The viability of the field was threatened with the development of the North Coast Highway, but after numerous negotiations it was agreed by the North Coast Construction company that the field would be relocated and rebuilt (at their cost) to accommodate the highway. The new field was then renamed Chukka Blue, and eight years later polo is being played in Hanover once again. The Willie de Lisser Trophy for the Jamaica Open was inaugurated in 1960 – Willie de Lisser was the “Custos” of Hanover, and one of Jamaica’s legendary 4-goal players. The Jamaica Open was rebranded in 2009, and the tournament in its present format as a 14-goal pro-am tournament, with two professionals and two amateurs on each team, was reborn. It is the flagship tournament of the Jamaica Polo season and this year is back with a new sponsor, the Scotia Private Client Group.

The Scotia Private Client Group is the wealth management division of Scotiabank, one of North America’s leading financial institutions and Canada’s largest international bank. For more than a century, The Scotia Private Client Group offers discreet private banking services, including innovative banking and borrowing solutions, professional advice for investments, Trust and Insurance services, and Professional Advisory Services. Scotiabank has been putting clients’ needs first in some 50 countries with their access to a wealth of knowledge in private banking, investments, trust and estate services, and international financial services. The synergy between Scotiabank and polo is unrivalled – the union of a first-class banking institution with a first-class sport.

The Scotia Private Client Group Jamaica Open kicks off at the Kingston Polo Club on 20th April at 2.30pm, with the Grand finale on Sunday 25th April 2010; for match info and times check www.poloandmore.com, or call +1 876 322 3136.