#PoloLife with Fred Mannix
During my trip to the UK for the Jaeger LeCoultre Gold Cup Final, I managed to meet up with Canadian 8-goaler Frederick Mannix, who was in the UK playing for Sommelier Polo. They had a fantastic season making it to the semifinals where they competed against their “brothers”, El Remanso (Sommelier is George Hanbury’s team and El Remanso is his brother Charlie Hanbury’s team).
From left: Fred Mannix, Alec White, Juan Gris Zavaleta, George Hanbury, Major Christopher Hanbury, Bridget Hanbury, Charlie Hanbury, Ollie Cudmore, James Beim and James Harper before the semifinal showdown between the two powerful teams
Fred and I before the match
On that slightly rainy Thursday morning, Philippa and I got in the Silver Bullet (my friend’s little convertible Mazda I get to use whilst in the UK) and we whizzed over to Manor Farm where we met Fred and Freddie Jr. for a little tour. We walked around the beautiful grounds and met the fantastic ponies, Guillermo being Freddie Jr.’s favorite.
Fred and Freddie. Photo by Philippa Davin
Meeting the ponies. Photo by Philippa Davin
Fred told us about their intense semifinal match against El Remanso and how there were “absolutely no bad feelings, just very competitive” and how the family really rallied around George and Charlie”. They were of course disappointed to have lost, but they were happy for El Remanso and for Charlie that they went on to play the Gold Cup final at Cowdray (the day after Charlie had his wedding in Germany!).
Teams are much more than the four players on the field. Sommelier and El Remanso share their facilities at Manor Farm, which made this semifinal match even more exciting as the brothers battled for the Gold Cup.
Fred was chosen to be a Hurlingham Polo 1875 global brand ambassador, a role he is very proud of. He has been working closely with the brand and Simon Hawkins with the new HP Active line, which includes 16 new athletic leisure wear items.
HPA “Authentically British, Absolutely International” a story of heritage and tradition, like the polo passion passed on through generations. Photo by Philippa Davin
A chat over coffee at Manor Farm, talking about #PoloLife, HPA, Argentina, Family and much more. Photo by Philippa Davin
We talked about “a normal day” in the life of Fred Mannix, which at Manor Farm meant coming over in the morning and doing a 30-45 min workout with the team. Then practice, either a mini match, stick and ball or penalty or a mix of everything, and if a match is planned for the next day, they have a team talk and discuss tactics and strategies.
Check out the rest of our conversation in this vlog.
I plan on traveling to Argentina in November, and I can’t wait to go and see the Alegria farm and watch the Alegria Polo team play in the top polo tournament in the world; The Palermo Open, where I first fell in love with polo. Stay tuned to come along on the tour, subscribe below.
