The People's Polo

The first chukker zooms by. The ponies are panting so loudly that their exertions can be heard from the sidelines. It's time to swap horses. Melissa Ganzi moves seamlessly from one saddle to another, mounting her second horse, a caramel-colored mare, without even touching the ground. Since each beast is a different height, the players must trade in their mallets nearly every chukker for their majestic swings to reach the ball.

The mallets are arranged on the ground in ascending order: 50 inches long, 51 inches, and so on. The players have memorized which mallet corresponds to which horse. Melissa points to a stick with red markings and instructs an assistant to hand it to her. "El rojo," she says. "Gracias."

And they're off. Again. The pounding of horse hooves reverberates like a mantra, lulling the spectators into a peaceful stupor. In the distance, at the Ganzi home, children splash in the pool under the watchful eyes of nannies. Marc lounges there too, taking in the match from his own pool. Many of the couples who live in the large homes surrounding the fields have turned out at Grand Champions to watch, socialize, and root for their neighbors.

One of the neighbors hints that Melissa Potamkin Ganzi had a comfortable upbringing. Well, yes. Melissa's paternal grandfather, Victor Potamkin, started a car dealership in Philadelphia in 1954. These days, Potamkin Automotive has 28 dealerships and 48 franchises in six states; the company, which is headquartered in Miami, has some $1.5 billion in annual sales.

Melissa grew up in Philadelphia, riding horses and competing in equestrian events. She met her husband while both were attending the University of Pennsylvania. Marc Ganzi is CEO of Global Tower Partners, a cell phone tower company based in Boca Raton. Marc's father, a former polo player, bought Melissa her first polo pony in December 2000.

"That ended up being a very expensive gift," Marc says with a laugh. The next year, the couple moved to Wellington, where Melissa approached Argentine polo player Juan Bollini for lessons. She was hooked. Then her husband took up the sport. Now the Ganzis have several dozen horses, plus a staff of veterinarians, stable hands, and players.

It's a lifestyle they can enjoy as a couple. There aren't many sports in which men and women can compete together at the professional level. In polo, the most important asset a player can have is a horse — OK, several horses — with fine temperaments, horses that move almost instinctively with their riders.

Handsome, tanned Argentine players have gotten much attention in polo circles in recent years. So does Melissa sometimes feel like a sex symbol too? "The real sex symbols are the horses," she says. "To me, it doesn't matter who is on top of them."

After the last June match in Wellington, staffers drove the Ganzi horses to Santa Barbara for the summer season. And the Ganzis flew to England to play, with borrowed polo ponies, against blueblooded chukker chucker Prince Harry.