Colts Saddled With Highest Handicap in Restructured American Polo League

When the Los Angeles Colts open their American Polo League season April 4 against the Chicago Panthers at the L.A. Equestrian Center, they’ll find themselves trailing by six goals.

That’s because the revamped APL has decided to allow handicaps this season. The Colts, featuring Joe Henderson (9-goal rating), Ronnie Tongg (8) and Tom Goodspeed (8), are the league’s highest-rated team at 25 goals.

Chicago, at 19 goals, is the league’s lowest-rated team. Washington and Houston are rated at 23 goals, San Francisco at 22 and New York at 21.

The Colts, beginning their sixth season, will play 10 Saturday night games at the indoor Equidome. The regular season ends June 27 and the top two teams will meet July 11 for the championship.

The APL has consolidated since the end of the 1986 season, reducing the number of teams from 11 to six.

“We’re going to be a true league this season,” said Goodspeed, the Colts’ captain.

Colts players make “a modest five-figure income,” Goodspeed said, and only Henderson, one of just three nine-goal scorers in the world, can afford to play polo full time.

Goodspeed said that the Colts averaged 3,000-4,000 spectators at the 4,500-seat Equidome last season, and they weren’t sitting on their hands.

“People are becoming fans,” he said. “It’s not a social foo-foo to get up and yell at polo matches.”