Polo and ‘Security’ for the wealthy

Polo is known as the game or sport of kings because it was historically played by royalty and the elite. The game originated from Persia and is played as a field team sport. It has also evolved into a spectator sport primarily enjoyed by high society and the wealthy.

Since the game/sport involves horses, players must be trained to ride the demanding and risky sport. A polo game requires a stable of horses as individual players may need anywhere from two to four horses to play, thus, contributing to the high cost of the sport, as the horses have to be maintained in a stable and trained.

A team is composed of four skilled horse-riding polo players (as the game involves the risk of injuries if the player is not well-trained in handling and riding a horse) using a long-handled mallet to hit a small hard ball across a field to score through the opposing team’s goal.

As part of Security Bank’s curated perks for its wealth management clients, which includes special dinners, concerts and movie premieres, it sponsored the next to the last game of the Manila Polo Club’s 2025 Polo Season that started in January and will end this month at the Enrique Zobel Field, in Forbes Park, Makati.

Last Sunday, March 23, Security Bank president and CEO Sanjiv Vohra welcomed the bank’s wealth management clients and special guests that included House Speaker Martin Romualdez and US Ambassador Mary Kay Carlson to enjoy an afternoon watching the game of kings.

The polo players last Sunday were, to say the least, wealthy in their own right, with presidential son Sandro and House Speaker Romualdez’s son, Marty, among the players for the low goal games, and no less than Inigo Zobel and Pedro Roxas among the players for the high goal game.

Presidential son Sandro and cousin Marty were dynamic and enthusiastic players during the low goal game, while Inigo Zobel and Pedro Roxas showed off their polished polo skills later on in the high goal game.

There are actually three game levels ranging from low, medium and high.

A low goal game is the low-level entry standard game of polo involving the use of less horses (anywhere from two to four) and thus, costs cheaper to play, while the high goal game is the fastest and more expensive game to play for a team and involves having a minimum of four to five or more (with some reportedly up to 10 horses) per player.

Because polo is an intense and fast-paced game, the horses need to be rested and fresh and thus players need to have several horses to switch during the game.

Inigo is the son of the late Enrique Zobel who was an avid polo player and the first president of the Manila Polo Club. However, an unfortunate accident after a polo game in Sotogrande, Spain paralyzed EZ in 1991.

EZ is an indelible part of Ayala Corp., being its first CEO, and who, according to former employees who served under him, even physically took part in some development projects of the former swamp lands now known as Makati, as he could operate a bulldozer.

Former Philippine Ambassador to London Jesus Tambunting, a long-time member of the Manila Polo Club who normally takes his regular late afternoon walk around the polo field, heard about Security Bank’s sponsorship and decided to join the festivities and hobnob with other club members that included former Philippine National Bank president Archit Bartolome and his gracious wife Nene, who had previously invited me to a meeting of the Diamond Club to hear former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban recount his experience with stem cell treatment.

Archit and Nene also introduced me to Amorita Bantug-Rufino and daughter and former ballet dancer Maritoni Rufino-Tordesillas who has a ballet and yoga studio at the club.

What was quite interesting to learn from the still spritely 87-year-old ambassador and founder of Planters Development Bank, was that he used to be a polo player and even played with “Enriquito” in their younger days.

However, Ambassador Tambunting eventually decided that polo could be a risky sport and chose to give up the game and concentrate on his rural bank and other businesses.

Ambassador Tambunting also told me that he used to enjoy horseback riding with Don Jaime Zobel, cousin of EZ and father of Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA) and grandfather to Mariana Zobel and Jaime Alfonso Zobel and Jaime Urquijo. He recalls that they would ride the adjacent fields of what we now know as EDSA and the Bonifacio Global City, all the way to Laguna de Bay. He expressed amazement at how BGC has now become a gleaming city of high-rise office and residential towers framing the Enrique Zobel Polo Field.

Although Sunday’s game was sponsored by Security Bank, Manila Polo Club members were out in full force enjoying the cool late afternoon breeze, enjoying snacks and drinks and comfortably melding with the invited guests.

At the end of the game, guests and members of the club were invited to take part in the traditional divot stomp where they went to the field, socialized and drank wine while they turned back the divots torn up by the horses’ hooves and the wooden mallets of the players.

Cocktails were to follow, but after being reminded of the Club house rules, I felt it best to leave and let the members enjoy their conversations in private lest some juicy unwanted gossip spills from tipsy guests who had enjoyed the free flow of red and white wine.