Best Polo Player In The U.S., Julio Arellano Set To Play This Weekend In Bendabout International Cup

  • Friday, September 19, 2014
  • David Davis

The best polo player in the United States will lead the Bendabout Farm team against a team from Mexico on Sunday to play for the Bendabout International Cup.

The warm up match begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with tournament play at 2 p.m.

Sunday on the farm located south of Cleveland on U.S. Highway 11 in McDonald. Gates open to the public two hours before start time. There is no admission charge. There is plenty of free parking and seating or bring folding chairs.

Feature match play Sunday benefits the 6th Cavalry Museum in Fort Oglethorpe. Polo matches between Bendabout Farm and the 6th Cavalry at Fort Oglethorpe date back to the 1930s. While admission and parking are free to those attending the match, representatives of the museum will be on hand to answer questions and accept voluntary contributions.

In case of inclement weather, call Lindsay at 423-476-6602 for more information. 

This is the second year of cup play. The home team defeated a South African team when Julio Arellano came through with the game-winning goal in the last 30 seconds of play.

“His ability to play under pressure is just one of the reasons why he is the highest-ranking player in the United States,” Bendabout Farm Director of Polo Operations Boone Stribling said in a recent interview.

Arellano, 42, makes being the best polo player in the nation look easy as he and his horse race across the manicured field as a single unit. Ease is in appearance only. His rise to the top was a long process that began after his family moved from Nicaragua to Wellington, Florida, when he was seven years old.

“I began playing polo when I was nine,” he said. “My father played with friends on weekends as a hobby and that’s how I started riding and playing.”

That was during the infancy of polo in South Florida when Palm Beach polo was just getting started in Wellington and before that location became the polo capital of the world during winter months.

“From December to April that’s where the best players in the world gather,” he said.

Arellano credits his ascension to the professional level because he grew up in and around the best players and horses outside Argentina — the undisputed capital of the polo world.

“Having that opportunity, I grew up and graduated from high school and then college at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. I was able to play polo and eventually put a farm up in Aiken, S. C., which we use as the base for our horses,” he said.

The best American player has been playing professionally for 24 years. He has been playing for Bendabout since 2005 and earned the top rating in 2010.

When asked if he is in his prime right now, Arellano replied that he held a nine rating for one year in 2003 and then dropped down to an eight.

“I achieved a nine again in 2010 and have been able to maintain it until now so … I’m on a good run,” he said. “Obviously, the older you get the harder it gets but I feel good. I’m well mounted and fortunate to play on a good team with Coca-Cola. It always helps to have a good team and a good base.”

Additionally, Arellano, who is 6-ft., 2-in. tall and weighs between 175 and 180 pounds works hard to stay fit by working out regularly and eating healthy to keep his weight down. Weight is not as important in polo as it is in horse racing where ounces make a difference, but polo is not a sport in which riders should bulk up or get too big, heavy and muscular because flexibility is important.

“Ten pounds overweight makes it more difficult on the horses and it makes it harder on you so you want to stay as fit as possible. In horse racing they fight over a pound, so 15 pounds is a lot. I train every day outside of horse training with weights and stretching,” he said. “As a professional athlete, I have to eat right and work to stay fit.”

While he maintains a nine-goal rating and is successful international arena, Adolfo Cambiaso of Argentina is the world’s top-rated player with a 10-goal rating.

“Probably your top eight players are from Argentina. All of the 10 goal players are from Argentina. They dominate the sport. It’s very popular there. It is like basketball and baseball here,” he said. “Polo is probably one of the hardest sports to break into only because it’s not as common or familiar as other sports. You can’t go to the country club and buy a tennis racket or sign up at the local YMCA,” he said. “It is a sport most people feel they cannot get into. I got into it, as most people do, through family. 

“It’s not an elite sport like a lot of people think it is. It can be and in certain situations, it is, but it is also a backyard sport. In a lot of northern states they play arena polo in the wintertime,” Arellano said. “Indoor polo requires one horse that can be bought or rented from a local stable, so we’re trying to make a big push to let people know that it is something attainable for a lot of people who know and love horses.”

The Nashville club has arranged for an arena in Franklin where they will offer lessons and promote the formation of interscholastic polo. 

Arellano plays because he loves horses. He trains most of his horses at home in Aiken where he watches them develop and play.

“I love it. I love being around them. I love that it’s family oriented. You run into a lot of the same people on the circuit,” he said. 

Arellano explained that people play polo for many reasons. Some, like him, play because he loves the horses and the atmosphere while others might only like horses and love the Adrenalin rush and the competition.

“Everybody has a different aspect they like,” he said. “You can’t dislike horses because the bond between horse and rider is critical. You get to know your horses and get to know what they are going to do (in certain situations). You try to start training them between three and five years old and it takes two or three years to train a horse. The average horse is between seven and 15 years old. You’ll get some between 15 and 20,” he said. “You’ll also get some that are naturals and play when they’re six or even five years old.” 

There are many breeds of polo horses. Most thoroughbreds, but there are quarter horses, Argentine horses and Appendixes. Appendixes are bred for the sport. They are half thoroughbred and half quarter horse to take advantage of the thoroughbred’s overall speed and the quarter horse’s short bursts and durability.

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