After sale falls through, polo returns at Lakewood Ranch

Polo is like a lot of other sports.

Players huddle before competition to pump each other up and talk strategy.

“Let’s get after the ball. Let’s talk loudly to each other,” team captain Stuart Campbell of the Ten Oaks of Tallahassee polo club said to his teammates on Friday before a tournament game with the Brookland Plantation team from Charleston, S.C.

“Think about the angle. Let’s have fun,” said Campbell, a native of South Africa.

Play at the Sarasota Polo Club, the first amenity built at Lakewood Ranch in 1991, returns for the 27th year at 1 p.m. Sunday. Gates open at 10 a.m. Sunday at 8201 Polo Club Lane.

Very nearly, the club had a new owner for its new season. David Meunier, a Miami area developer and polo player, had a contract to buy the club last summer.

Meunier said Friday that he backed out of the deal because he has more than 150 other properties, and he realized it would have taken too much time to properly operate the club.

“It’s a big piece of property with a lot of potential. It’s beautiful but it’s a big task,” Meunier said. “Writing the check would have been the easy part.”

Kristen Galvan, club manager for the past three years, said she is looking forward to the new season, and the draw that the polo club has become not only for Lakewood Ranch, but also the wider Bradenton and Sarasota communities.

The season is getting started a bit later this year because the Christmas and New Year’s holidays fell on Mondays, she said.

“We have tournament play here all week long, except on Mondays, but Sunday is the only day that is open to the public,” Galvan said.

The season continues through April 8.

“Players come from all over. Some have their horses stabled here, and they fly back and forth. One player is trying to get here from Connecticut,” she said, referring to this week’s bomb cyclone that covered much of the Eastern seaboard in snow.

Jack Morris, scorekeeper and timer for polo at Lakewood Ranch, said he likes the family-friendly nature of the game, the excitement and entertainment of competition, and the camaraderie among players.

John Luke Beck, 20, and his sister, Anneke Beck, 19, play for the Tallahassee club, and have been coming to Lakewood Ranch since they were small children.

“I like the fact that polo combines being a team sport with riding,” Anneke Beck said. “Polo is really fun. You have a sense of community.”

Renee Dinan plays arena polo and plans to be at the match this week and every other Sunday this season.

“It’s so relaxed. It’s not like the movie ‘Pretty Woman’ where everyone is all dressed up. Come in your shorts or casual clothers. This is a family affair,” Dinan said.

Dinan, a regular at games, said she will be taking part in a popular polo tradition: tailgating. She was planning to snack on cheese while enjoying a little wine and champagne.

Sunday’s forecast calls for sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures, Galvan said, inviting the public to Sunday’s match.

General admission is $12 per person. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

For more information, visit sarasotapolo.com.

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 4:34 PM with the headline "After sale falls through, polo returns at Lakewood Ranch."