Fours

A sleek pony stretched his neck, drew back his body, shook at the withers, coughed. Soon many another pony was coughing. There was consternation in the Long Island stables wherein were quartered the ponies, for the cough-claque lessened the chances of victory for the Argentine polo team, ready to battle a U. S. four for the championship of the Americas.

But polo is of all games the most sportsmanlike, most gentlemanly. Quickly, the Defense Committee of the U. S. Polo Association postponed the international matches until September 15.

At and near the Meadowbrook Club, center of U. S. polo, the slightest detail of international matches is made the subject of almost endless speculation. So important a detail as a postponement stirred unusually eager discussion. Would the added days give the U. S. four, new as a team to international play, a much-needed opportunity to work in W. Averell Harriman at No. 1, and to settle the contest for the No. 4 position? Every poloist loves and reveres the name of Devereaux Milburn, most famed No. 4 of all time. Meadowbrook fans had to scour their memories to recall an international match when Hero Milburn did not play Back for the U. S four. But this year, he cannot play, must be content to watch from the sidelines, lamenting the hunting accident which lamed him last spring. And for his place, 37-year-old J. Cheever Cowdin, veteran, is battling Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, Yale star, an eight-goal man at 23*.

Would the postponement make the choice easier for the all-powerful selection committee? Would the U. S. be the gainer by the delay? Or would the veteran Argentine combination win the advantage of additional practice, better acclimatization?

Meadowbrook speculated, but at heart felt confident the U. S. would take the series, as it had against the Army-in-India last year, and against England in 1924. Most dangerous threat of the Argentines, as everyone knows, is Canadian-born Lewis Lacey, captain and the only ten-goal man among the invaders. Blue-eyed, slight, Poloist Lacey is capable of bearing the burden of his entire team. On occasion, and notably when he played for England in 1924, he has been both offense and defense.

But against Threat Lacey, U. S. poloists rely on two mighty Bulwarks. At No. 3 will be Malcolm ("Mike") Stevenson, tried internationalist. And Thomas Hitchcock, Jr. will again play No. 2.

Unlike many poloists, Hitchcock cares little for horses, little for hunting. He rides his ponies hard and not gracefully. But he was bred out of a family of polo-lovers. His mother, herself a player, has been friend and mentor of the Meadow Larks, a team which included young Tommy and Stevenson and many another youngster who now has an international rating. It was she who in 1921 polished the play of the 16-year-old Guest, then a raw but distinguished immigrant to the U. S. from England. Polo is in the Hitchcock blood. Thomas Hitchcock Jr. ranks with Devereaux Milburn and possibly Lewis Lacey as one of the two or three greatest of the polo great.

Poloist Hitchcock is 28. Together with Guest and Earle A. S. Hopping, he gives badly-needed support to the theory that polo is a young man's game. Most of the great players are in their 30's; some are over 40. But many a youngster has promise, cheers the heart of Harry Payne Whitney, notable player and patron of U. S. polo, as young Lott, Hennessey, Coen cheer the veteran tennis enthusiasts. Outstanding among the polo yearlings is D. Stewart Iglehart Jr., onetime Meadow Lark, whose rating jumped last week from 3 to 6. Another hopeful Meadow Lark is J. C. ("Cokey") Rathborne. Tall, powerful Arthur B. Borden, Princeton captain, organized the Old Oaks four which defeated the Army (July 21) for the junior championship. And no poloist can ignore Forrester Clark, Harvard ace; Hardie Scott, Yale champion; John D. Hertz Jr., whose father owns Reigh Count, Kentucky Derby winner.

Poloist Hitchcock also supports the far more tenable theory that polo is a family game. Many a golf club sponsors father-and-son tournaments. But Meadowbrook might hold a polo tournament in which the fours were strictly family affairs. Famed are the sons of Tiremaker Harvey Samuel Firestone (Akron, O.). Famed are the Baldwins, of Honolulu and of Cleveland.

*International polo ratings are fixed, arbitrarily, at from one to ten.