Horse Power - Lolo Castagnola

10 goal player Lolo Castagnola talks about polo, horses and his passion for horse breeding with Karen Kranenburg.

Photos by Javier Arfuch

What do you do when you are 10 goals, have won almost every major trophy there is to win, not once or  twice, but in some cases three or four times and seemingly have achieved every goal there is to achieve in polo?

More than being a polo player, 10 goaler Lolo Castagnola is also enchanted by his farm and by the horses. What is his passion these days? Breeding. his ambition in his own words “I want to be one of the best”.

Castagnola started his polo career at a young age, and has had a long and enduring one. He met his “brother” and partner in the La Dolfina team, world number one Adolfo Cambiaso when he was 9. “We became close friends very fast and from that moment on we “walked” our whole life together. Well, imagine, he is the brother I never had, I don’t know how many times I must have said it, but we did everything together”. Over the last 20+ years they have played tournaments together - from low to medium goal and eventually the high goal. They have played all over the world together on some of the most successful teams, and won almost every trophy that there is to be won. He is even married to Cambiaso’s sister Camila (www.polotodaynetwork.com), with whom he has three sons. Whilst he still intends to continue playing, he is starting to focus more and more on the breeding at La Dolfina, at the base of Canuelas where it all began all those years ago, and he is passionate about it.

It is said that on average in the game of polo that the horse is 70% of the game, however the higher the handicap of the tournament, the higher this percentage becomes. Castagnola says he would place an even greater degree of importance on the role that the horse plays, and though important, a lot less on the skill of the player. It is really a case of a skilled machine in the right hands, it is this combination that goes into making the winning team.

Although they are not recognized as a distinct breed, polo ponies are truly unique horses that combine the traits of a number of breeds. Next to a player’s skills, the polo pony is the most important factor in polo, and, many times, the pony is the single greatest determinant of the outcome of a match.  The sport demands the quick burst of speed seen in Thoroughbred horses. The complexity and strategy requires the intelligence of Arabian horses, and the rapid turn of play in pursuit of the ball necessitates the agility of Quarter horses. Since 1930 some of the best polo ponies have been produced in Argentina, and the Argentines generally tend to cross Thoroughbred horses with their local Criollo horses.

Castagnola says he is not confined in his breeding to any one particular breed of horse, but his programme is innovative in that “it combines the best from each breed”, to his credit he has bred over 600 horses which scatter the playing fields around the world from Dubai to England to West Palm Beach. He is coy about the price, so one can only fathom a guess at what these precious gems might cost.

He is fanatical now about his farm and the horses, and when you speak to him you realise that he has a thorough understanding of these majestic animals, and what an important role they play in the sport which he is also fanatical about. Played at Palermo in Buenos Aires, The Argentine Open is a tournament that every player dreams of winning, however it is like the Mount Everest of polo, almost impossible to conquer, and generally very few ever make it to the top. Castagnola has won this tournament 4 times, twice with Ellerstina, and twice with La Dolfina, and probably on his way to a 5th win in December this year. No mean feat one might add, how much of a role has pony power played in these victories, he says “almost 90% of it is down to the horse and the phenomenal strings we had available to us”.

When asked if the quality of ponies in Palermo has improved over the years. He says “I love seeing all the films of Palermo I can. Quite frankly, when I look at all the games since 1982 when Gonzalo Pieres played “la Toca” with Alcides Diniz its unbelievable. When you get to seeing the 1986 games you realize they were better and in 1990 even better still. I am also surprised to see how Gonzalo Heguy was mounted in 1986, he had 4 sensational mares: Cobra, Billionaria, Tatiana and Litigiosa. He was unstoppable. In general lines, all the players have progressed. Year by year one learns and has to take risks to improve”.  Theses are risks that Castagnola is taking with his poly pony breeding programme, with outstanding results,  expect to be hearing a lot more about him in years to come, not only on the field, but off as his programme expands even further. Can he repeat his successes on the field? Only time will tell, but if determination were the deciding factor the answer would surely be yes.

For further information on Lolo Castganola go to www.lolocastagnola.com