Are You Surra?

My old buddy Yeo Kuo Lee has to withdraw his Head Hunters team from the Royal Pahang Merdeka League Tournament when two horses died at Leisure Farm on Saturday.  Surra is suspected.  None of the horses were his, but as his horses were stabled at Leisure Farm, there was concern that his horses might be affected too.  With over 300 horses on stabled in their club for the tournament, Royal Pahang had to take the hard course and temporarily ban horses from Leisure Farm.

13 Teams - Apocalyptic

After one false start, we got a draw done for the Royal Pahang Merdeka League Tournament.  Royal Johor late entered three teams, so the initial draw had to be scrapped.  I had thought the new record of 11 teams entered was pretty phenomenal.  Speechless that we have now redrawn with 13 teams in the mix.   Sad that we have lost Team JAS who lost their pro and horses.

Apocalypse

Dato’ David Morais asked if I would play with him in the RMPA Merdeka League again this year.  I played with David in 5-Star last season and as the only + handicapped player in that team, had to work my ass off.  This season we will play with one pro, Yudie Fazly Jamili, so, hopefully,I will be able to pace myself a little better, I hope.  Yudie is a +2 handicapped professional with the Jogo Polo team, and the son of Malaysian polo icon Jamili Rashid.  He has spent so much time in Argentina that I’ll be calling plays to him in Spanish.

Kong Hee Fatt Choy

It is Chinese New Year.   We had a lovely reunion dinner last night with my mother, who is Cantonese and celebrating Chinese New Year in Kuala Lumpur for the first time ever. 

The Next Level

The Mercedes Benz – B Grimm Thai Polo Open final last weekend was an eye opener on many levels.  I saw that the RMPA International League has moved to The Next Level of play.  It was very competitive amongst all the teams and the quality of polo was much higher than in previous years.

Blue Saddle Rules

I posted photos on Zack’s Tack’s page on Facebook of four new saddles that Zack’s Tack had received. All were distinctive polo saddles - two were royal blue suede polo saddles, a pink suede polo saddle, and a flower seat polo saddle.

As a social networking tool, Facebook has no peers.  Within two hours, all the saddles were sold out.  

Resolve

New Year’s is a time for resolutions. I’m not normally one for lots of resolutions. But, as I get older, I have less time on earth left to do the important things. So here are my top 20 resolutions for 2010:

Zack’s Tack Hits the Ground Running

Zack’s Tack moved from the first floor to the ground floor of our Sri Hartamas location yesterday.  (For Singaporeans, that means we are on the first floor, not second anymore.)

What a difference it makes to be on the ground floor!  Lots more natural light and a much bigger area are the immediate benefits.  

Argentina and Thailand

The last couple of weeks has been really hectic, hence the lack of posts.  I traveled to Argentina with a contingent from the Royal Malaysian Polo Association led by RMPA President HRH Tengku Mahkota Pahang to make a bid to host the FIP Polo World Cup Zone D playoffs in Malaysia in June 2011. 

The Early Bird

Yesterday someone in the service industry called me at 9:30 in the morning and in the course of making polite conversation said “Did I wake you up?”  I was insulted, but I decided not to let him know as I was sure he didn’t mean to be insulting.

I have been an early riser all my life.  It goes back to the days when I would jump out of bed at 4:30 am to be able to work two horses, shower, change and drive 30 km before starting work at 7:25 am.  I have long held the belief that it is better to work horses in the fresh cool of the morning.  I still much prefer a morning ride to an evening one.