Every summer, the Toronto Polo Club hosts Polo for Heart, an international polo competition benefiting the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario. The three-day fund-raiser will take place June 17 to 19 this year. On Wednesday, the event Polo for Heart in the City kicked off the fund-raising and sporting season.
The sold-out event attracted a crowd of more than 700 professionals from the financial community, and true to its name, took place in the heart of downtown Toronto in Pecaut Square. The evening included entertainment from Sara London and violinist Dr. Draw, as well as drummer Michel DeQuevedo. In addition, sponsor Holt Renfrew presented a “Day at Polo” fashion show featuring spring and summer attire appropriate for taking in a match.
Organizers planned to feature live play with four polo teams (that’s 16 horses), but wet weather in the week leading up to the event made a friendly match impossible. “The weather didn’t cooperate with us,” said Kingsley Ward, co-chair of Polo for Heart in the City. “The field was too damp from a week of rain.” (However, Ward noted, the rain fortuitously stopped for the duration of the event.)
Fake horses aren’t bothered by muddy fields, though, so a new event, the polo challenge, went on as scheduled. The competition featured sponsored teams mounting wooden horses and attempting to score the most goals. The victorious team, Wildman & Associates, won a package that included a private polo match, dinner, and helicopter transport to the Toronto Polo Club fields.
