p asides

ASIDES

Chrys Beal, Mary Muldoon, and SiSi Martin Celebrate their victory in
Bariloche between broken bones

No strangers to polo success pains, the Muldoon family is on the mend. Big Joe Muldoon is fully recovered from a fractured shoulder after taking a fall on the farm. Son Joe III is competing throughout the October and November in the 14 goal league at Grand Champions Polo Club in Palm Beach despite re-fracturing the same foot that had only healed this summer. His younger sister, Mary Louise, competed in August with teammate Chrys Beal and coach Kelly Beal on the North American Team in the first international women’s snow polo championship in Barioloche, Argentina. The team fared well; however, Mary returned home with a fractured fibula after being fouled. Mary’s too tough to let that slow her down and still played competitively as she healed. In fact, in October she and teammates Gabriel Crespo, Jay Fetner and J.B. Olinger won the 6-goal League at Edisto Polo Club in Aiken, SC after emerging undefeated though the qualifiers and the finals. Mary’s husband Dante is recovering from surgery to repair a fracture and tendon on his arm after a horse went down on the polo field in July. His triceps tendon tore off the bone and has been reattached but he’s still active on the sidelines and is looking forward to playing polo again in 2008. We don’t want to put a jinx on brother Charlie Muldoon, but at press time he’s as happy and healthy as always. . . .

Catching Up: Dressage gold medalists Jenna Wyatt tried her hand at polo down in Argentina. We’re not sure if she’s a complete convert, but Jenna admits the eye candy in the form of handsome players makes it very, very tempting!

Our Dallas pal, Ladena Miller, says she love-love-loved the baby pix in the Stallion issue. "I totally forgot that we have three babies due ourselves," she admits. "It’s a first for us, other than our Shetland pony who had a precious little guy this spring, but he’s a biter! `A0One of our polo ponies had a leg break, not bad enough to be put down but can’t play anymore. So, Vaughn decided to breed her and then decided to throw two more mares out there with her. Babies in the Miller barn will be a new thing that the kids will love! We have three kids, so I anticipate them all claiming one for their own." We’ll be wanting photos when the ‘gang’ hits the ground, Dena!

And speaking of Dena, Texas’ top new designer winner Abi Ferrin was spotted sipping champagne in the Henry S. Miller box at Las Colinas with her. Abi is designing Dena’s couture Bond Girl costume for upcoming "Goldeneagle" auction fundraiser for her kid’s school.

Dena loves Abi’s designs so much, she is planning a trunk show at her country club to introduce to all of her friends. Though the likes of Brittany Spears and Nicole Ritchie are calling all the time, Abi promises that her Texas socialites come first and will always be fit into her busy schedule!

In Chicago, Silver Spur Ranch is starting winter chukkers in January and has been awarded the USPA Arena Amateur Cup in March. It will be cold, but at least there is some polo in the Midwest and there has been a lot of interest. Hey, it’s a great alternative to skidding around on glare ice.

Those of us approaching our geezer-hood well remember Hair. What some don’t remember is that Michael Butler is still plugging away at it, and has a revival going at The MET Theatre in Los Angeles. A recent review in Variety Magazine said After 40 years, the moon’s not yet in the seventh house and Jupiter has yet to align with Mars, but the peace-love-freedom-happiness message of Ragni and Rado’s "Hair" remains resonant and relevant, and Galt MacDermot’s score still rocks the house. Helmer-choreographer Bo Crowell’s entertaining anniversary production at the MET, under the aegis of original impresario Michael Butler, avoids the usual fatal errors (smug superiority; updating; rampant amateurishness), and features a breakthrough lead performance. Be sure to catch it if you’re in the LA area and want to relive Hair – or discover it for the first time.

On November 3, John Walsh and his AMW crew were on Kauai to film segments on unsolved murders, including that of John Elwin. John was spotted at the John Elwin Memorial Polo Facility for a practice ride with three local players. He rode two of Elwin’s horses which had been recovered from Henry Calucag. John was a personal friend of Elwin’s and he wants to keep the pressure on to solve the murder and get a conviction. The AMW segment on Elwin aired on Saturday, Nov. 10.

Oh yes, apologies to Nick Roldan. Last issue we reported that Nick was stopped for a DUI in Aiken. His mom, Dee, called us to let us know all charges were dismissed, so we definitely owe Nick an apology.

Russ Sheldon says that they’ve been really really busy in Poway, moving horses from fire danger, helping a new polo player who also hosted the first International Jousting tournament. Five of the horses in the jousting tournament were Russ’s ponies, plus one from another Poway Polo player. Russ says the fires almost canceled the tournament, but luckily polo ponies were able to sort of replace the jousting horses that could not travel into San Diego County due to the fires, and the show went on. It’s never dull in California!

The Florida Scene: Dale Schwetz is back in Florida with the horses and plans for a pretty exciting polo school in Loxahatchee. He says he’s got PTF backing, and some great ideas on getting people started in the game. Catch up with him after he’s umpired a game (or played one down in Boca) for all the details. Vero Beach Polo stepped away from the polo field to try out the hunt field. Eight polo players joined the Palm Beach Hounds on a Hunter Pace November 17th. Kris Bowman, Carolyn Lauro, Jess Downey, Amelia Strazulla, Devon Kahle gave it a go, while the juniors of the club, Morgan Bowman, Lane Ashcroft, and Robert Mulholland placed 5th over a field of 79!!!!

Ginny Orthwein reports that Port Mayaca Polo Club is great fun. There are games going on all five fields, the grass is green, and the barns are standing. Steve says he’s doing this for the sport. Man, what does he do for a hobby? For more info, go to www.portmayacapoloclub.com

John Goodman does it again for Wellington. He has now added a golf course for his International Polo Club members with the purchase of a golf course and given it a face lift. We will be seeing the smiling face of Tim O’Conner around the IPC stadium , now that he’s finally given up his "government" job and come back to the polo fold, er, field. You’ll remember Tim running the Palm Beach Polo Club stadium for all it’s life and being one of the last remaining employees throughout all the it’s changes. Speaking of "changes" the old PBPCC stadium is finally receiving its long needed "face lift" since Mark Bellissimo is hard at work resurrecting the facility. We understand Mark has purchased the horse show dates and will be the new man at the top of the horse show scene this year in Wellieworld.

The much-anticipated construction on the new wing of the Museum of Polo began the end of September. The added space will serve as a regional office for the USPA and will also be occupied by Polo Player’s Edition magazine. The progress since the groundbreaking has been swift and completion of the building is well-ahead of schedule. A walk-through is scheduled for just before the Christmas Holidays so that the U. S. Polo Association branch here will be opened to its polo playing members by the start of 2008.

New Baby Department: Dean and Tracy Regas welcomed a baby girl on October 17th. Her name is Madeline Regas.

Bumps and Bruises: Henry Cato had a run-in with the dangerous polo mallet "strap" . . . seems his pony stepped on the mallet during a game recently in Aiken and the strap wouldn’t break, though he did buy turf, the strap is what broke two of his fingers and a knuckle.

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News to share: New baby, engagement, pickup truck? On the move, having parties, falling off horses? Share what’s happenin’ with your horse show friends by e-mailing us at people@sidelinesnews.com . Be sure to put "News for Asides" in the subject line.