Our 2026 Best Playing Ponies, introduced by the players and grooms who know them best.
When international teams come to Glen Farm, they leave their horses at home. Newport players lend their own ponies to our rivals, a long-standing tradition of the Newport International Polo Series, and after the match the visiting team names one of those horses Best Playing Pony.
In our 150th Diamond Jubilee Season, eight ponies earned that blanket. Ask any player and they’ll tell you the horse is most of the game. Here are the ponies who carried Newport this summer, in the words of the people who ride them and care for them every day.
The Best Playing Pony tradition honors not only the horses themselves but also the owners who train, condition, and care for them with unwavering dedication. Newport Polo extends heartfelt congratulations to the owners of this year’s Best Playing Ponies – Dan Keating, Sergio Corro, Dave Bullis and Minnie Keating, for generously providing their world-class ponies to our visiting international teams. Their contributions allow athletes from across the globe to experience the thrill of Newport Polo at its finest, and they uphold one of the sport’s most meaningful traditions, honoring the beauty and power of these incredible horses with the world.
Polo ponies are unlike any other equine athletes. They must be as agile as jumpers, as fast as racehorses, and as disciplined as dressage mounts, yet still possess the unique instinct to play as part of a team. They read the field, anticipate competition, and respond to their rider’s slightest cues not from fear, but from trust. What makes a great polo pony isn’t just speed or strength, but heart – the drive to give everything for the team, stride after stride, chukker after chukker.
As the sun sets on Diamond Jubilee international season, we celebrate not only the champions who rode to victory but also the equine stars who made it possible.
These ponies are the pride of Newport Polo and living symbols of the grace, spirit, and partnership that make our sport truly extraordinary.
Thank you to the grooms
Behind every winning blanket is a groom who was at the barn long before the first throw-in. Thank you to the whole barn crew for a season to remember.
Best Playing Pony award presented by
