New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-06-08
EngIand's Representatives, with
Their Speedy Ponies, Are
Pronounced FavoriteS.
FIRST BATTLE ON TUESDAY
Official Programme Announces
That Players Will Be
Numbered for Easy
Identification.

lenge cup from its American holders this
week. The setting for the great series of
contests. i'm which men and ponies will
clash in the first match on Tuesday, is
the same as two years ago, when Harry
PAYNE Whitney and his men Of Meadow
Brook fought off the attack of the team
from birmingham.
The field at Westbury. Long Island,
made historic by these matches is again
to be the scene Of the sort of sporting
conflict that not only tries the courage of
the contender. because Of its hazards and
its pulse stirring encounters. but affords
the modern Anglo-SaXon a taste of the
DAYS when Rome held carnivals in the
arena gave a flip TO the jaded appe-
/ tites Of its aristOcraCy.
Courage and daring form free-handed
! commodity among the men who viii
+ represent the two great polo playing ma
| tons on the side of the challengers are
/ numbered four rough riding dragons of
; the Kings own regiments. while on the
! other will be men who have ridden polo
| ponies practically into the jaws of death
without lnching.
The English players have come pre-
pared for the greatest battle in the his
tory OF the game. This year their string
Of ponies is worth a kings ransom. while
the men. as stalwart a lot as ever sat
saddle and swung a mallet. know every
/ trick of the game as a colt knows how
! to kick up its heels.
They have been picked from the crack
cavalry regiments Of the British Empire.
and in every quarter of the globe Eng
nshmen will watch and wait next Tues
day for the news as TO the success of its
. Challengers. who are expected 70 place
polo. one of the particular pet sports OF
the kingdom, safe within the keeping OF
Brtons again. al least so far as the
worlds championship is concerned.
The sensational change made in the
2 American team last week struck as
= thunderbolt I'm the camp of the cup de-
> tenders. This was because Harry Payne
Whitney. Larry and Monte Waterbury
and the demon riding DevereuX Milburn
had come to be regarded as the perpetual
four that would sweep away any attack
made upon one of the most priced tro-
phies in the realm of sport.
The first shock over, some polo follow
ers began to feel that perhaps the action
had been for the best. and then came the
unfortunate accident to FOXhall p. keenc,
the newly named captain, yesterday
which puts him out with a broken collar
bone. as fully told on the first page of
The Tribune.
This has led 10 more disquieting feel
ings. and the odds heightened again last
evening among those who care TO wager
the latest quotation being to p with the
invading team favorite.
he N To IF n
ster has developed for the last two years
has been wrought into machine calcu-
lated to play against the game which
Whitney. the Waterburys and Milburn at
their best would show on the field. They
have been tuned TO the exact pitch.
The Britons have worked out the sys-
TEN of concerted team action calculated
; TO set at naught the peculiar tactics OF
the old formation by which Milburn was
suddenly switched from back 10 No ?
position to ride down the bal! and the
goal.
The British disposition. in sport as in
commerce. is a peculiar thing. 1t accepts
! q change slowly. II not ponderously. Con-
sequently. putting aside whether Whitney
and the Waterburys were up TO form or
not. the fact remains that on the eve Of
, one of the greatest international sporting
battles that the world knows the Eng
lishnen ere faced not with the problem
they expected. but with an entire change
not only Of men. but Of tactics.
Ni'bu-n. riding at No. 2 like Western
cyclone at the height OF its devastating
course will require considerable attention.
II is significant that Foxhall Keene. who
is now out of the game, in talking Of
the matches the other day. said that so
far in their practice the Englishmen had
done very well. but that they had not
been tackled. The accent properly may
be placed upon the word tackled
Mr.. Keene is no gentle rider on the polo
field. and will be sadly missed. He has
at various times IN his career-and he
was captain Of the first cup team in 1886,
al Newport, r I-stood of single handed
an opposing four.
A close follower Of polo succinctly puts
II that the perfected machine of British
team work will be taxed to withstand
something very much In the order OF an
earthquake on Tuesday, unless all present
signs fail He goes on to say that indi-
viduality, strong, virile and daring Ia the
fundamental pIlnClple vi liiV AHiSAi~N"
side.
The condition and speed OF the ponies
under the gruelling pace Will play an inn
portant part The string Of mounts which
the Duke Of Westchester has sent over
for the recovery OF the cup Is slightly
superior 10 the ponies assembled for the
use of the Americans. Down at Piping
Rock, however. Neylor. the stud groom
has exhibited anxiety over his charges
because Of the warm weather of the last
few DAYS. The spirits Of the ponies have
been drooHng a trife, and Captain
Cheape and Captain Edwards, respective
ly the No ! and No. Of the challenging
forces, depend largely upon the speed
with which their mounts can set them
over the ball ahead Of the Americans.
The ponies OF the cup defenders are
thoroughly seasoned, and so II may be
that when the two nations take the field
the differences between the strings will be
eoualized. So far as the mallet work OF
the men is concerned there is little choice.
. and il anything the balance is in favor
of the defenders, who. on the average
acquire better length TO their strokes.
For those who are not conversant with
the rules OF polo 1t may be stated that
the teams change ends Of the field after
each goal has been scored thus alternat-
ing In attack and defence north ana
south. A goal is scored when the ball
49, linz hafWeen or above the