Coronel Suarez is the mecca of Polo. It is the most important place in the world, due to the impressive record of 24 wins in the Abierto tournament, the Wimbledon of Polo. Coronel Suarez Polo Club features the legendary Juan Carlos Harriot (the best player in Polo’s history), the Heguy family, and an impressive list of champions.
In the capital of Polo the Bertola family play a unique role. They are not only Polo champions (they played with Saudi prince, Indian Maharaja, fashion stars, sport and entertainment legends, british royal family, european aristocracy, top entrepreneurs, and the list is endless), they are also famous horse breeder. Their 5.000 hectares property host over 400 Polo horses, treated as kings. Their horses are evaluated between 10 and 500.000 USD. Despite the glamour of their life Bertola’s family live an incredibly humble country life, because Polo is much more a country issue than a status symbol.
Polo, at the end, is Argentina itself, connecting social extremes, through the relation between humans and horses, by playing a game that with its 45-70 horses per match is closer to Formula 1 than other sports, even if in Argentina there is always time to enjoy drinking mate and grill meat. At the end of a working day, Toti, the Bertola family and Mella, one of the poorest horse tamers despite to his incredible talent, get together sharing asado and beer.
