At Meadow Brook

In the first game of the two-out-of-three series for polo's Cup of the Americas last fortnight, Greentree, representing the U. S., was roundly beaten by Argentina, 21-to-9. There were two reasons for the defeat (TIME, Sept. 28). One was the superiority of the Argentine ponies. The other was the superiority of the Argentine players.

By borrowing five new mounts last week, Greentree at least tried to repair the first defect. The second was irreparable. In arranging the series the U. S. Polo Association had agreed to let the winners of the U. S. Open Championship represent the country. By substituting Winston Guest for Jock Whitney at Back and Stewart Iglehart for Gerald Balding at No. 2, the team--with Pete Bostwick and Tommy Hitchcock at Nos. 1 and 3--could have been improved but the U. S. Polo Association well knew that no such doings were permissible. Faster turf and the new U. S. mounts made the second game at Meadow Brook last week less one-sided but the upshot was the same. When it was over, 8-to-4, Manuel Andrada, Andres Gazzotti, Luis Duggan and Roberto Cavanagh were the first poloists who had beaten the U. S. in an international series since England did it in 1914.

In Argentina, where cattle raising is the national industry, polo is the national sport. The majority of the game's good players are not socialites as they are in the U. S., but ganchos (cowboys). Manuel Andrada, the Babe Ruth of Argentina, is a gaucho who has been playing high-goal polo for 30 years. Gazzotti, South America's No. 1 player, is a middle-class businessman. Luis Duggan and Roberto Cavanagh are third-generation, European-schooled sons of rich Irish-Argentinian ranching families. Cavanagh, at 20, is currently considered the most promising poloist in the world.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.