| Farmer giving new life to Cincinnati Polo Club |
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By Doug Graves
Ohio Correspondent
“They call polo a gentleman’s sport for the same reason they call a tall man ‘Shorty.’”
-Will Rogers, cowboy philosopher
GOSHEN, Ohio — According to Ohio’s most recent statistics, there are more than 306,000 horses in the state. Clermont County in southwestern Ohio is often referred to as the hotbed of Standardbreds in Ohio.
But many Thoroughbreds (many of those retired racehorses) have found a home at Wilshire Farm in Goshen. And that farm is the new home of the Cincinnati Polo Club.
“There are two misconceptions about the sport of polo,” said Frank Wilkens, who operates Wilshire Farm with his wife, Mary. “First, some say it’s only for the rich man. That’s not true. Second, some call it a gentleman’s sport. It’s anything but that. People who play this sport want to win.”
The Wilkens family has been involved with polo since the early 1960s. Wilshire Farm once stood in Mason, Ohio, and was owned by Frank’s parents, Herb and Marilyn. The farm was home to the Cincinnati Polo Club from the mid-1970s throughout the 1990s. That farm included a 72-stall boarding facility.
Urban sprawl forced the sale of the farm. Gone, too, was the Cincinnati Polo Club. Wilshire Farm relocated to Goshen and Frank purchased the 60-acre farm from his parents in 2001.
“There was nothing but soybeans when I moved out here,” Frank said. “My first intention was not buying this farm solely for polo. Not at all. My kids were growing up and all were in 4-H, and we had a lot of horses. I’ve been with horses all my life, so as the kids got older I wanted to do something with horses and decided to construct a polo field. It was just the natural thing to do.”
The new location now includes blacktop walkways, rubber matted box stalls, eight grooming stalls, turnout paddocks, secure tack room and pastures. All this is adjacent to a 120-by-220-foot indoor arena. Twenty of the farm’s 60 acres will be turned into a polo field, measuring 300-by-150-feet.
“If someone would have told me that with this economy I would have built this facility, I would have said they were nuts,” Frank said.
Frank has been involved with polo most of his life, and Mary is quite the equestrian as well. She is 4-H advisor for the Clermont County Equestrian Club and vice president of the Clermont County Horse Committee.
There are several rookies on this team. And there are seasoned veterans, too. Amy Flanary has been at the sport for just one year. Mark Sedacca has played professionally for 25 years. Vince Front and his wife, Torie, have played polo the past 15 years.
“Polo is a great sport, and you can get a heck of a sweat going,” Vince said. “It’s much like a seven-minute bull ride.”
Vince met, proposed to and married Torie on a polo field.
“People say it’s a rich man’s game, but we all have day jobs,” added Frost, who works in the dairy department at Kroger’s. “All you need is a few horses and some good transportation.”
The Cincinnati Polo Club competes in the Mid State League, which includes teams from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania. While there are five polo teams in Ohio, there are two teams in Indiana (Purdue University and Hickory Hall Polo Club in Whitestown), 10 teams in Kentucky, 10 in Illinois, six in Tennessee and four in Michigan.
Just two contests remain on the team’s 11-game schedule. The Cincinnati Polo Club will be at Indianapolis on Sept. 18 and in Indianapolis on Sept. 26 in a battle for the Centennial Cup. |
| 9/22/2010 |
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