SARATOGA SPRINGS — Chris Veitch, a freshman at Saratoga Springs High School, has been a star polo athlete for the last four years and is even playing for the Yale intercollegiate team this year from October through March after they recruited him. After meeting Cuko Escapite, a polo player, at the Saratoga Polo Association through his grandmother, Annamaria Bonar and taking a lesson with Escapite, Veitch became enamored with the sport.
“I like the fact that you get to do a lot [with the sport]. You get to meet cool people and it’s fun to play. It’s a tough sport. The most challenging thing is learning how to start and there are a lot of rules that are involved with it,” Veitch said.
Veitch plays polo on his own horse, Honey, whom he purchased in April of this year. She is housed at Bloomfield Farms.
“We had owned a horse before Honey, but he wasn’t good [at polo] so then we went to Florida to buy another pony and we sold him,” he explained.
Veitch does not play any other sports. He is happy to be in high school instead of middle school now, because he is enjoying having more “independence.”
He cites his parents and his grandmother, Annamaria Bonar, as his biggest supporters in his polo journey. His grandmother even pays for most of his polo dues. Veitch worked at the Saratoga Polo Association this summer, grooming the horses and helping the players get ready. He plans to play polo as a career.
“There are a lot of opportunities that polo creates for jobs as well, between the people you meet and the fact that you can say you play polo,” he stated.
