With the momentum behind them after their alliance with La Dolfina, Jenny Lutterell's club, located in the heart of Idaho, is constantly growing, and their potential is high
Photo. Pablo Ramirez
The breathtaking landscape, the top quality of the fields, the comfort of the lodge and the skills of their players are enough reasons to decide to spend some days playing polo at Cotterel Polo Ranch. However, you can now add another virtue to the list: thanks to an agreement with La Dolfina, the horse string is growing in quality and quantity.
Adolfo Cambiaso has in La Dolfina one of the best –if not THE best– polo horse strings in the whole world. His bloodline is unique and has raised the likes of Cuartetera, Buenaventura, Lapa, Chocolate, and Aiken Cura, to name only a few. Recently, Cotterel Polo Farms has reached an agreement with La Dolfina that propels a promising future for their flock.
Cotterel Polo Farms is far from being a traditional polo club. Owned by Claudia, Jenny and Dallas Lutterell, it is located in the heart of Idaho. Surrounded by mountains, there’s a creek running through and leafy flora and fauna. To top it off, three polo fields that are pristine.
Photo. Pablo Ramirez
“We have some mares which Jenny used to play and some of my own that are used for reproduction. And we use different stallions, Jenny played the majority of them,” said Francisco Benardoni, who is in charge of the horse string at Cotterel. “The bond with Cambiaso and La Dolfina started thanks to the friendship between Jenny and Robert Zedda. La Dolfina is helping us in the process of increasing the string, whether it is giving advice, sharing knowledge on how to work or even counseling on which bloodlines to choose from.” Cotterel Polo Farms started when the family moved up from Denver and established themselves in Idaho. In 2015 they began building the fields, stables, lodge… everything you need to have polo played at the highest level. It has developed into a magnificent place to play, and will be even better once the new horses grow up.
“The string is pretty new, so it is a bit soon to talk about results. Step by step we are including mares in Jenny’s list, daughters of mares and stallions she used to play,” added Benardoni. “The idea is to keep on breeding horses for Jenny to play, or any other of the team members. And of course, we have the dream that every breeder has of having a horse playing in Palermo or any high goal tournament in Argentina.”
In terms of facilities, Cotterel has amazing accommodations available for guests and their family in the form of a 25-room beautifully renovated lodge (previously a working draft horse barn), 160 stalls for players to house their strings, a fully functional track, perfectly maintained fields supervised by Alejandro Batro, on-site vet and a perfect setup for asados on the weekends. Chef Augustine Mallman is home for those feasts throughout the Summer.
“We play for three months: June, July and August. We always have two teams settled here, regardless if there are visitors or not. We play Tuesday to Sundays,” explained Benardoni. “Our aim is that anyone who wants to come and play can have everything resolved in one phone call. To be flexible for whoever wants to come and play. Whether it is a patron with his whole team, a patron and a pro, a player all by himself. We have such a flexibility that we can organise any polo the visitor wants. Last year, Robert Zedda came along with Sarah Magness and Chris Dawson, from Hawaii Polo Life, visited us for a week tournament.”
Photo. Pablo Ramirez
The professionals who work at Cotterel Polo Farms are led by Jejo Taranco and Pedrinho Zacaharias, two international imports with experience in Palermo and the highest level of polo. Thanks to them, the high quality of play is guaranteed. “We always try to bring good pros and cool guys. We are in the middle of the country and stay active for three months,” said Benardoni. “Games are tough but fun, we have barbecues and fernet every Sunday…There’s a chill atmosphere”. Superlative facilities. Magnificent landscapes. Warm environment. A horse string in the process of perfectioning. The future looks bright at Cotterel Polo Farms.
Photo. Pablo Ramirez