Rain kept the polo at bay until late in the day but the strawberries and the champagne were dhearligh'ful. Taittinger's champagne, actually. It was very nice. The polo, oooh, the polo. Well, they played the chukkas, and they hit a ball and they sped up and down the field. It was splendid fun, m'dear, simply splendid. Mai Williamson is serving at the sandwich bar: "I love the horses," she says. Graeme Beere, of Abrakebabra, is ready to mount up. Why does he love it? "It's good exercise and it gets rid of the old gut," he says, patting his tummy. Liam Lacey, another polo player, originally from Tomaclavin near Stradbally in Co Laois, preparing to ride four of his ponies, all of them waiting in the wings - Biddy, Suzie, Calcutta and Fabio. Should we expect to hear expletives out on the field of play? "I'm afraid you would," he cautions. "When frustrations and tempers flare," he adds. By jingo, this polo is strong stuff.
Possibly one of the youngest players is Michael Fox (16) from Summerhill, Co Meath and a student at Kings Hospital. He plans to ride four of his horses: La Bambva, Humbro, Number One and Maxima. Inside the All Ireland Polo Club pavilion in the Phoenix Park, the guests peer out at the rain, among them Jane Devitt, chairwoman of the Horse Show Ball committee. She aims to raise £100,000 for the Irish Epilepsy Association at the 24th annual ball at the Burlington this year. Details of the ball on Friday, August 11th, are announced at the Brainwave Polo Day. "Everyone should give a few hours up for charity. When we're all connected in business, it's the least we can do," she says.
In from the rain comes Raymond Senior, creative director of a jazzy new website, ShowbizIreland.com, forgetting to take his shades off in the darkened room, but hey, it's a fashion statement. Justin Llewelyn, Tattinger's roving ambassador in Ireland and the UK, is here with his daughter, Charlotte (9). Briefly, he recalls his father, who played the role of Q in the James Bond movies and died last December. "He was a great man and very much what people saw on the screen, and he was a great lover of champagne."
There are plenty of young men at the polo party too. Two French men, Mikael Riadel and Laurent Lanies, are here from Les Alpes and Toulouse respectively. And then there are the Argentinians who are about to take part in the cup challenge: Ramiro Egana and Nicholas Antinori from Buenos Aires. "I am a professional," says Ramiro. Well, now, that's what we like to hear.