Chicago Polo

To Chicagoans the game of polo has a cc.chet, a glamor that it lacks in Texas where cowboys play it wearing chaps, or in Hollywood where actors have their handicaps published in Variety, or at Meadow Brook where it is taken completely for granted. Two summers ago, Chicago had a taste of high-grade polo when an Argentine team stopped off to play. This year Chicago will have more than a taste. In honor of the World's Fair, the Open Championship will probably be played there with players from England and possibly a 25-goal team of Indians led by the Maharaja of Jaipur. This winter the Indoor Polo Association of America tried the experiment of playing its tournament sectionally instead of at the Squadron A Armory in Manhattan. Chicago's 124th Field Artillery Armory has better seating facilities than the Manhattan Armory so it was there last week that an Army team of Captain Candler A. ("Wilky") Wilkinson, Captain Chester E. (''Stub") Davis and Major Compton C. ("C-Square") Smith played Winston Guest's Optimists for the Danforth Cup, in the Indoor Open final. The game was delayed until nearly 10:30 p. m. so that an international radio hook-up could let Argentines hear how the ponies they sold the U. S. players last year and the Optimists were making out. Watched by a crowd of 11,000, the Optimists made out very well. Cadaverous, imperious Winston Guest scored the first goal. He and Major Smith had a scramble for the ball a few minutes later; Smith won, and tied the score. After that the Optimists began to have things their own way. Mike Phipps, their chunky, excitable forward, took two passes from Guest, one for an easy goal, one for a hard one that he nearly missed. The Army men, playing well above their rating (nine goals below the Optimists), found themselves most of the time in close quarters near their own posts. Two of their goals were made on long shots from almost midfield. When the game was over, Phipps, Guest and Stewart Iglehart, Optimists' No. 3, had three goals apiece. The Sixth Corps Area had five altogether. The score was 8 1/2 to 4 1/2 because each team fouled once. Even more remarkable than the record of the Optimists--who have won the Indoor Championship three times in the last four years--was the way they organized for last week's game. Month ago, Winston Guest was in London, just back from lion-shooting in Africa. His cousin Michael Phipps called him up from Florida, urged him to reorganize their team. Guest flew to board the Bremen, flew from Manhattan to Virginia to inspect his ponies, played one practice game in Manhattan and took train for Chicago. Iglehart got word in Paris, came over on the Berengaria, played in Chicago the night after his boat docked in New York. Last week Guest's team retained its Class A championship by beating the Sixth Corps Area 16 to 8 with a two-goal man. Harvey Shaffer, at back. Only drawback in last week's tournament was the fact that the Aknusti team which won the Eastern title did not go out West to make the final three-cornered. Chicago polo enthusiasts hoped that the presence of the crack Army team at Fort Sheridan might cause the sulky cliques of socialites, who for years have played polo in & about Chicago on separate fields and with highly distinct organizations, to forget their differences, build up one or two teams good enough to rank with the best in the East. Pleased with the attendance at the 124th Field Artillery Armory, the Indoor Polo Association considered the advisa- bility of playing next year's finals at Chicago also. This year's winners in low handicap classes: Class B: Chicago Riding Club. Class C: 112th Field Artillery (Trenton, N. J.). Class D: Cleveland Riding Club.

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