Hard Work And Determination Pay Off For Newly Minted 10-Goaler Hilario Ulloa
By Shayna Tanen
As a boy, Hilario Ulloa always dreamed of playing in the Argentine Open. He also dreamed of being one of polo’s elite 10-goal players.
In 2013, he played the Argentine Open, and in 2014, he not only played in the U.S. Open against Valiente with his team Alegria — he won it.
And now, for the 2017 season starting Jan. 1, the United States Polo Association will officially rate him as a 10-goaler, in addition to his 10-goal handicap in Argentina.
Ulloa’s dreams have come true, and then some.
Ulloa grew up in Argentina watching his father and expert horse breeder Carlos “Polito” Ulloa train and breed polo horses. He was always surrounded by horses and polo players who visited to pick up horses from his father, he recalled. That was the beginning of his relationship with the sport.
He remembers playing polo on ponies as a 6-year-old with his older brother Salvador Ulloa, who preceded him in professional polo.
“I loved horses, and I loved riding horses,” Ulloa said. “So it was a way to have fun with my brother.”
Fun gradually turned into work, as Ulloa started playing professionally around age 16. His brother, now 32, was 17 when he turned pro.
At 30 years old, Ulloa is ranked as the No. 11 scorer in the world, according to the World Polo Tour in December. He won the East Coast Open in 2016, the U.S. Open in 2014, the C.V. Whitney Cup twice, and the Deauville, Piaget and British Gold cups, among a wide array of other victories and achievements.
For the 2017 season, Ulloa will play three 20-goal tournaments and the U.S. Open at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington.
He trains for these games every day, beginning his morning at the barn. He checks on his horses, rides them and trains them. Then he goes to the gym for an hour or more midday, and finally practices with his team in the afternoon.
Ulloa’s training isn’t all physical. He prepares mentally by watching videos from his own games and his opponents’ games, “to see what went wrong and see what the team did wrong in several ways.”
And his family is always right there alongside him to provide support, he said.
“They follow us everywhere,” Ulloa said. “They know our horses, they know what happens in our games. We are very united.”
That goes for when Ulloa is in Wellington, too. He has been visiting Wellington and playing at the International Polo Club since 2010.
“It’s an amazing polo club, amazing facility, great polo players,” he said. “I think IPC does a great job in having one of the top clubs in the world.”
When he’s not winning matches and working hard on the field, Ulloa is most likely with his family or hosting a barbecue at his Wellington home. He is married and has two young daughters, and they love going out to eat — especially for sushi at Kontiki.
Like his home in Pilar, located in Centauros, Argentina, Ulloa appreciates the equestrian community in Wellington.
“I love to drive on the road and see people riding horses,” he said. “It’s such a huge city of polo and horses and people who work with horses, and I haven’t seen that anywhere else.”
Additionally, Ulloa said most of the polo players who play in his town in Argentina also move to Wellington with their families.
“Of course, the country is different, but the way to live is quite similar. It’s a big community of polo people around the world,” he said.
While Wellington is one home for Ulloa, his go-to vacation spot would be at his farm in Argentina, about three hours away from his home in Pilar, he said. One of the most memorable and difficult matches he has ever played was in Argentina, too, at the 2013 Argentine Open playing for Alegria.
When asked about his best polo memory, Ulloa said, “It’s no doubt that it’s December 2013, when we won the semifinals of the [Argentine] Open… It was a great moment I’ll never forget in my life.”
In that moment, many of his childhood dreams came to fruition.
“I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it,” he recalled. “It was such a good memory because it was in this country [Argentina], with my family, my friends, the people working on my farm, everyone supporting us.”
The win didn’t come easily, and Ulloa said that playing against Ellerstina in the semifinals was probably the hardest match he has ever played. The level of concentration was unbelievable, he said. With eight chukkers, high temperatures and fast horses, Ulloa said jokingly that after the match, “Me and all of our teammates were dead.”
As a player, he plays for his team, and said he does his best to help the team perform well.
Ultimately for Ulloa, it’s his love for horses that fuels his passion for polo.
“I love waking up every morning to go to the barn,” he said. “And to know how the horses feel… to see if they are all sound and all set… I love what I do. I love that my family has a nice life. I work hard also for my family.”
Now that Ulloa has reached his lifelong dreams of playing the Argentine Open and earning the coveted 10-goal rating, he is looking toward the future to create new challenges and achieve new goals.
While he is in Wellington this winter, his top priority will be to win the 2017 U.S. Open at the International Polo Club. Ulloa made it to the semifinals in the 2016 Argentine Open, and next season, he aims to win the final.
