After playing for 30 years, James Beh describes how polo has helped him and his family do business better, why the sport isn’t attracting more big patrons and why he’s slowing down but not retiring from polo entirely

Istarted doing polo around 30 years ago with two of my children –my daughter Lovy and my eldest son Chevy, who sadly passed away last year. We took up riding lessons together and started playing polo, especially Chevy and I. Polo is special for us, as it strengthens our chemistry as a family. It is no coincidence that my surname, Beh, means “horse” in Chinese. Horsemanship could be in our DNA.

Polo is our family sport and main interest, as we all love playing. We bond over it and also learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It keeps us fit and healthy, too, along with yoga, pilates and golf. When I’m home in Malaysia, every Saturday and Sunday I ride 10–12 horses for 15 minutes each. This improves my riding and hitting, and enables me to get to know the horses.

Polo also helps us do business better. For my children, polo is better than a Harvard MBA, as dealing with the polo industry is quite a challenge. Now my children are grown up and we talk about business, we talk about it like a polo game. At the top level of polo, it’s a huge organisation. If I spent the same amount of time on my business as I do playing polo, I think I could double my wealth! In polo we deplete our assets, instead of building them up. But it’s worth it, as polo is such fun. Winning or losing is not the most important part; we try our best to have a good fight, and it means a lot to score a few goals each game.

After playing for 30 years, I’m still learning from polo. My son once said to me, ‘Dad, polo is just a sport, have fun and don’t be so aggressive! You always want to win.’ So perhaps I should learn something from my son, and master how to be a better loser. Every time we lose, we learn something about how to improve ourselves. With any business, I just know how to make it a success. In polo, I sometimes ask myself, ‘Why am I not successful?’

But you can control a lot of factors in business, and there are a lot of things in polo you can’t control. There is no perfection in polo, so I just aim to have fun. When playing with family and friends, we win together and we laugh, and we lose together and we laugh. A successful team is a happy team, with everyone enjoying their polo.

My most special game was playing with my three sons, Chevy, Joevy and Garvy, with my daughter Lovy as a reserve, at the Snow Polo in St Moritz as a 15-goal handicap team. We made history as the first all-family team with all amateur players. My favourite teammates are my sons, as they are reliable and they play with all their might. We have an innate connection on the field.

Joevy and Garvy are currently at five goals each, and at the recent handicap review, they were proposing six goals. At six goals, we are

Opposite, from left: Garvy, James and Joevy Beh.

Above: Joevy playing at Guards in 2022. Left: James leading the play in Sotogrande in 2021 preparing for them to play in the Open. When I was interviewed 25 years ago, and asked what my dream was in polo, I said it was to see my children play in the Cámara Cup. Now they’ve played in the Cámara, and six goals is the minimum handicap to play in the Argentine Open; we’ll find a way to set up a team so they can play in the Open. Everything is possible.

I’ve played polo at all levels, but I like to play with other amateurs, then I feel like I’m Cambiaso! But even at 28-goal level at top speed, any ball that’s sent to me, I put in the goal. At San Jorge, a 28-goal tournament playing with Adolfo Cambiaso, I played two games in Palermo and scored 10 goals. I learned a lot playing with Cambiaso.

Firstly, he said to me, ‘Don’t call for the ball. Before I touch the ball, I already know where you are, so run discreetly and I’ll send it to you’. It’s another level of polo skill.

Secondly, he said, ‘Be patient. When you’re not patient, you create a foul. When you are patient, the other team will become impatient and cause the fouls’.

I’ve known Cambiaso since he was a child. His half-brother Salvador Socas has been with me for 30 years, so I know the whole family very well. I arrived in England without any horses one season, and Juanma (Juan Martin Nero) told Cambiaso I needed some. I ended up with 17 from him. Because he helped me with horsepower, I said, ‘Why don’t we play a father-and-son team in Spain, and then in Argentina?’ He helped me, and I wanted to help him in return.

I respect everyone in polo, in order to have respect reciprocated. The first lesson I taught my children was love everyone and be generous to everyone and mean no one any harm, whatever you do in life. Many people fall because they are not nice to people.

One of the changes I’ve noticed in polo over the years is the increasing cost – high-goal polo now is all about money. That’s what makes the difference. No money means no good horses. Players’ skills are about the same, but the horses make the difference.

Second is the standard of polo. Horsepower, skill, speed, equipment, facilities… everything has improved. However, despite these improvements, polo has actually become more dangerous, as the game is so fast, the horses are pushed to the absolute limit.

The AAP hosted a meeting attended by FIP president Horacio Areco, and they were concerned about why polo is attracting fewer big patrons. I presented a picture to them of the Palermo Open, on field number one, and I described a piece of meat there surrounded by hyenas and alligators. I then presented another image, and the meat becomes smaller, and with more predators around it. Everyone was laughing, but I explained this is why polo isn’t growing. I gave them the solution – each stakeholder should know everyone’s responsibility. Make sure you don’t frustrate people. Make a verbal contract between patron and player. Patrons must know their commitment to make timely payments and the amounts as agreed. The players must perform dutifully and not create confusion or complication, and play at their best and not betray the patron. Polo clubs should set up the rules, obey them and not take sides.

I have an idea for an online platform, which would involve the AAP, USPA and the HPA, where if you’re travelling, you can find polo anywhere in the world via this group, whether you want to play chukkas or a weekend tournament, hiring horses, etc. I want to create more links and meeting opportunities, so more players can find patrons.

After 30 years in polo, there are two things telling me to slow down. I’m a go-getter in business, and this mindset and ego mean I sometimes argue with the umpire – I don’t want to be in this scenario anymore, I just want to play for enjoyment. That’s why I’m stepping back from competitive polo. I want to build my karma and my legacy. It’s also getting too dangerous. I’ve had a few occasions where young players have come flying towards me at top speed, and thankfully I’m lucky I have good horses so I can hold them to avoid a full collision.

But I’m not giving up polo for good. Next year, my sons are going to play the 22-goal, and if they can’t play for any reason, I’ll reactivate my polo and play for them. I’ll also continue to buy auction horses, and have done some cloning. I’m not so interested in buying ready-made horses, as I like the rewarding element of seeing them progress.