If you are a reader of this blog, then you know that I am writing a series of novels called "The Games Men Play" and set in the worlds of swimming, tennis and football. The first two, "Water Music" and "The Penalty for Holding," are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The third will explore the equestrian worlds of show jumping, polo and Thoroughbred racing. It's a tale of bloodlines and bloodlust set amid rival equestrian families and told in part from the viewpoint of a colt that is trying to become the first since Whirlaway to win the Triple Crown and the Travers Stakes.

With this in mind, I thought you'd enjoy a repost from WAG Weekly, the e-newsletter that's part of my editing day job, about the other Open starting today in the New York metro area….

Polo is a fiercely elegant game – as sleek and lovely as the ponies that thunder down the field, no wonder Ralph Lauren has been so inspired by it – but also rough and tumble.

We were reminded of that Sunday, June 14 as Airstream faced off against the new team sponsored by Shreve, Crump & Low at the Greenwich Polo Club in the town’s verdant backcountry on a perfectly idyllic late-spring day. There were quite a few penalties – and more than one or two balls out of bounds – as Airstream prevailed 10-9 in a Monty Waterbury Cup match that went down to the last few minutes of the last chukker (period). They don’t call it “horse hockey” for nothing.

If you’ve never been to a match, it’s quite something. The teams enter from opposite sides of the field – which is nine times the size of a gridiron – and then face the grandstand as if to say, “We who are about to entertain salute you.” ...

The Other Open

Days of heaven at the Greenwich Polo Club