The lorry was packed full with tack, food and water along with 23 ponies. This year was different as Andrew had entered a complete family team consisting of himself, his eldest son Ben, Abigail his 17 year old daughter, Ashley his 14 year old son (both sharing a position) and Hugo Suarez our resident professional. The horses set off on the 28th February and after a very long and dusty journey arrived on the 3rd March.

Their first tournament was the Mc Micking, a 6-8 goal tournament that was held, on the 7th, 8th and 9th March, just before the Semana Santa period. The tournament consisted of 7 teams, from all around Europe. All three days were played on the Puente de Hierro fields. The weather was great and there was lots of atmosphere. The team for this tournament was Andrew, Ben, Hugo and the Santa Maria Polo Manager Santiago Torreguitar, who plays with a 3 goal handicap, giving the team an 8 goal handicap in total.

Because of the rules in Spain Hugo has to play off 4 goals where as in the UK he has a 2 goal handicap. Any sponsored player to play in Spain has to play off a minimum of 4 goals, even if they are a beginner!!! So for Beverey Polo Club it was very hard as we were the weaker team in the tournament.

As with every year there are three main tournaments running over the easter period, of which Andrew and his family played the first two. Jose Ignacio Domecq Memorial Cup was played from the 14th to the 23rd March. The Conde of Guaqui Memorial Cup was played from the 28th to the 30th March and finally the Santa Maria open was played from the 4th to the 6th April.

The tournaments were split into 2 levels. The lower hanicap was 2-5 goals and the medium handicap was 10-12 goals. The games were played on various polo fields of the Santa Maria Polo Club. Over the two levels there were 14 teams competing, from countries such as United Kingdom, Austria, Argentina, Poland, Belgium and Spain, amongst others.

The club has a total of nine polo fields, at three different locations. The Rio has two fields; these are the oldest fields, built between 1985-1986. Puente de Hierro also has three field that were built in 1992, and the newest fields are Los Pinos consisting of four full drained polo fields, which were completed in 2006. However, they are still working on the site and are planning to put up a new club house this year. Santa Maria is now one of the most important polo clubs in the world.

The Jose Ignacio Domecq Memorial Cup is played in honour of the renowned wine keeper and polo player Ignacio Domecq. This was the 29th year that the competition has been played. He was once a five goal handicap and carried on playing until he was 76 years old on a 2 goal handicap. He passed away in 1997 in his home town of Jerez da la Frontera.

This year the tournament has six teams competing in the low goal level on the Los Pinos grounds. Team Beverley Polo Club was Andrew, Ben, Abigail and Hugo. One of the opposing teams Auto-Dex consisted of Andrews good friends Richard Fagan and Tim Bowen of which he played with in Klosters earlier this year.

Throughout the tournament they had some very good games against some much stronger teams, even though they had the pleasure in playing in heavy downpours of rain two days in a row! It couldn't have been a very nice experience to put on sopping wet boots and helmets before you play!

Andrew was quoted saying in the Irish Bar in Soto Grande port the night before their first game. 'I have come out here to play with my family and to play our best, I am not expecting to win anything but if we do I will be ecstatic'. They then went on to win their first game against KE-Tepeyac. They then carried on playing another five competitive games. The most memorable game had to be the last game against Auto-Dex. As they were not in the final they decided to play for their own champagne and prizes. It was a very exciting fast open game, which ended closely with a score of 5-4 1/2 to Auto-Dex. Ashley Foreman played with a Spanish team Xie-Xie. After some very tough games they came third in the tournament.

The low handicap section of this tournamentwas sponsored by Promaga. Five teams were entered and the games were played on the Puente de Hierro and the beautiful Rio grounds. This time the Beverley Polo Club team consisted of Andrew, Ben, Ashley and Hugo. Abigail this time played with Xie Xie. They played in a Round Robin due to the odd number of teams. Xie Xie took the cup home ending in a 9-10 victory after a tight match with La Clarita. The other results from the American competition are as follows:- Ke Tepeyac defeated Coyotes 4-11 1/2, Ke Tepeyac beat Beverley 5-3 1/2, while Coyotes defeated Beverley 3-2.

Everyone had a very enjoyable time in Soto Grande. Plenty of polo, great weather (most of the time!), dinners at the Argentine restaurants eating plenty of beautiful steak and nights out dancing away to Midas Sound. Even though Beverley Polo Club was the weaker team, they proved that they would not be a push over! Everything has to be packed away and they set off back on the 31st March for the long three day journey home.