The state title,
kept at home —
and a tour of two continents

Volume Two closed with a box on its back page: The State Championship stays at HPRC. It was a promise first made at a press conference in October 2025, after the inaugural Telangana State Equestrian Championship, and repeated in August with dates attached — the fourteenth to the eighteenth of October. The dates held. They usually do here.

Between the fourteenth and the eighteenth, HPRC again ran two events back to back on one arena. The National Qualifier 2026 · Edition II — the second graded EFI fixture the club has hosted this season — took the fourteenth to the sixteenth: fifty-eight starts over two competition days, eighteen performances clearing the threshold for the Junior Nationals. The 2nd Telangana State Equestrian Championship opened with a practice round on the Friday evening and ran through Saturday and Sunday: sixteen state titles across Hacks, Dressage and Show Jumping, from the Under 12 Hacks and the 40 cm classes up to the 110–115 cm Open under lights.

Two things were different from August. The first was the name on the backdrop. Phoenix Group, Hyderabad, came in as Title Partner and put ₹1,02,500 of prize money behind the three Open show jumping classes — real money, presented in its name, into the hands of riders most of whom are still at school. The second was the ceremony. Where the Qualifier awards nothing and sends on a set of numbers, the Championship awards everything: medals and certificates in every class, cash in the Opens, a trophy for the premier class, and two evenings of chief guests on the lawns who stayed to the last certificate.

Entries came from HPRC, Archi Horse Riding Academy, Royal Caballo Club, The Ashwa Collective, Kings Equestrian, THEC and riders competing unattached. Dilano, ridden by three different riders, won all three Open cash classes. Sauryaram Indukuri won two state titles and was second in the tallest class on the card. The host club's Ananya Gupta went home with four medals.

And in between the two Hyderabad weeks, the club went abroad. From the twenty-third of September to the fourth of October the HPRC team played three matches as India — on grass at Madrid Polo Club and in the arena under lights at Commonwealth Polo Club, Kentucky — on the host clubs' horses and grounds. The club's third overseas outing, after Hawaii and San Diego. One win, one loss by a goal, and a 10–10 draw with the United States that was level to the last bell of overtime. That story begins on page ten.

The second National Qualifier of the season at HPRC followed the first's pattern: a practice round on the Wednesday evening, horse inspection and the first classes on Thursday morning, and signed sheets to the EFI, copied to TSEA, by the Friday evening. Dressage was judged by Col. S. L. Reddy (Retd) and Dr. KCS Reddy; the show jumping by Mr. Kishore Futnani with Dr. KCS Reddy. There were entries in every category from Children II to Young Rider, and fifty-eight starts across the two competition days.

The threshold was the one that matters: 60% in dressage, four penalties or fewer, time included, in show jumping. Eighteen horse-and-rider combinations cleared it — twelve on Thursday and six on Friday — and go forward to the Junior National Equestrian Championships. Seven of the show jumping rounds were clear. The top dressage score of the week, 71.61%, came from Anet Salomi Castilino on Bella in the Children I on Friday.

Thursday belonged to the Children II show jumping: twenty-one starters, six clear rounds and two more on four penalties — eight qualifications from one class. Siddharth Dutta went clear on both his horses. HPRC's Ananya Gupta went clear on Brave Indian and added a second qualification on Achilles with four penalties. In the Junior dressage, Gautam Sanjay Sujanaani of HPRC was the only rider in the class over sixty per cent, on Airstrike.

A Championship should begin with its youngest riders, and this one did. The Under 12 Hacks and the two 40 cm classes — kept deliberately affordable so that a beginner on a club horse can compete for a medal — were on the card before the Open riders had saddled up. Catherine on Prithvi won the Hacks; two HPRC riders, Vir Reddy on Trustful and Akira Manne on Baretta, shared third. Naag Hridhaan Mulugu won the 40 cm Under 12 on King with HPRC's Luv Manne second on Duke.

In the Dressage, Siddharth Dutta rode two horses into the top two places of the Children I, and HPRC's Gautam Sanjay Sujanaani took the Junior title on Airstrike — his third win on the horse in these pages this year.

The evening produced the closest finish of the weekend. In the 100–105 cm Open, Abdul Manan on Dilano was the clear winner; behind him four combinations — Eeshaan Bharadwaj on Salerno, S Mahesh on Handsome Boy and Sanjay Rama Raju on both Condero and Cornelius — could not be separated and shared second. In the Under 18 section, Sauryaram Indukuri and Happyness, the only clear round of Thursday's Children I show jumping, took the state title. The medals were presented on the lawns by Sri Siraj Attari, Vice President, and Sri Raghu Panchakarla, Honorary Secretary, of the Telangana State Equestrian Association.

Sunday ran seven classes and the whole of the day's story can be told through two names. The first is Sauryaram Indukuri, who won the 80–90 cm Under 14 on Happyness in the morning, took third in the 60 cm Open on Peter Bolt, and then went out under lights in the 110–115 cm Open — the tallest class on the card, against riders twice his age — and finished second on Happyness. Two state titles and a silver in the premier class, in one weekend, in the Under 14 section.

The second is a horse. Dilano had won the 100–105 cm Open under Abdul Manan on Saturday. On Sunday he won the 80–90 cm Open under Aarnav Reddy and then the 110–115 cm Open under Pothuraju Sridhar — three riders, three Open classes, all three cash prizes, and the Championship trophy.

Dhruva Potineni won twice — the Children II Dressage on Grace and the 60 cm Under 12 on Sin. Behind Kori Vivaan in the 80–90 cm Under 12 came two HPRC placings, both Ananya Gupta: second on Achilles, third on Brave Indian — to go with her second and third in the morning's Dressage. Four state medals in a day.

Sauryaram Indukuri arrived in these pages in August without a placing worth the paragraph. In October he produced the only clear round of the Qualifier's Children I show jumping, won the 100–105 cm Under 18 and the 80–90 cm Under 14 state titles on Happyness, took third at 60 cm on Peter Bolt, and finished second in the 110–115 cm Open against the senior field. If there was a rider of the Championship, this was he.

Ananya Gupta is now a fixture of this column. In May she had the best Hacks score in the Under 12s; in August she won the 60 cm Under 14; in October she qualified for the Nationals in both disciplines on three different horses and took four state medals in one Sunday. Flat class to Nationals in eighteen months.

Siddharth Dutta came through the Qualifier with three qualifications — two clear show jumping rounds and 70% in the dressage — and then won the Children I Dressage at the Championship with his second horse in second place. Few riders of his age in the country are presenting two horses at this level.

Dhruva Potineni missed the dressage threshold at the Qualifier by less than one per cent, and answered on the Sunday by winning the Children II Dressage and the 60 cm Under 12 within a few hours of each other.

Dilano. Three Open classes, three riders, three wins, all ₹50,000 of first-prize money and the Championship trophy. In August we said somebody should check what the horses are being paid. Dilano has evidently read the column.

Two ceremonies, two evenings, one set of lawns. On Saturday the medals were presented by the officers of TSEA with the President and Vice-President of HPRC. On Sunday the Chief Guests took tea in the President's office at half past six and were on the lawns by seven: Sri B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, MLC, President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee; Sri P. Uday Kumar, IAS, Zonal Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; and Sri Ch. Srinivas, IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Serilingampally Zone, Cyberabad.

Sri Mahesh Kumar Goud presented the Young Rider Dressage, the 110–115 cm Open and the Championship trophy; Sri Uday Kumar the Children II Dressage and the 80–90 cm Under 14 and Open; Sri Srinivas the 60 cm classes and the 80–90 cm Under 12. The President assisted on stage; Saif ur Rehman called every placing by name from the commentary box, as he had across both days.

The cash prizes were a segment of their own. Sri Chandra Rama Rao, Committee Member of HPRC, presented all twelve Phoenix Group awards — ₹1,02,500 across the three Open classes, fourth place to first in each — with the Chief Guests joining him for the trophy. Mementos to the guests, a vote of thanks, a group photograph, and the Closing Dinner at Snaffles from half past eight.

In August the prize money came from Midori. In October it came from Phoenix Group, Hyderabad — and more of it, to more riders, with the Group's name on the backdrop, in the commentary and on the twelve envelopes handed out on the Sunday evening. The sponsorship was confirmed before the entries closed, which is the kind of thing a club remembers; the club's thanks go to Mr. Gopi Patibanda, Chairman of Phoenix Group.

Presented on behalf of Phoenix Group by Sri Chandra Rama Rao, Committee Member, HPRC. The joint second in the 100–105 cm Open shared the second-to-fourth pool. Twelve awards in all, in the three Open show jumping classes.

Twelve days, two continents, two host clubs and three matches played as India — on grass in Madrid and in the arena under lights in Kentucky, every one of them on the host club's horses and the host club's ground. The party: Chaitania Kumar, Arsalan Khan, Saif Attari and Akash Reddy, with families. It was the club's third overseas outing as ambassadors of Indian polo, after Hawaii and San Diego, and the purpose was the same as before: to put Hyderabad on the map as a polo destination, and to bring teams home to Gandipet.

Madrid, 23–27 September. Madrid Polo Club put three horses under each visiting player and opened with the Friendship Cup on the Saturday — mixed teams, two HPRC players and two Madrid members a side. White (MGV, Ivan Davila, Chaitania Kumar, Arsalan Khan) beat Blue (Akash Reddy, Saif Attari, Mateo, Nacho) 4–3. On the Sunday came the Clubs Cup, Spain against India. Chaitania Kumar opened the scoring; Arsalan Khan added two; at 3–3 India held the home side until Madrid converted the winner in the closing minutes of the final chukker. Spain 4, India 3.

Off the field: a teams dinner, an evening of flamenco for both clubs and their families, a party after the Cup, and — for an equestrian club — the horse armour and jousting saddles of the Spanish court at the Galería de las Colecciones Reales beside the Royal Palace. Our thanks to Ivan, Mario and Lorenzo. Madrid Polo Club has been invited to bring a team to Hyderabad.

Arena polo under lights, three a side, four chukkers and overtime, and never more than a goal in it. The United States, represented by Commonwealth Polo Club, and India, represented by HPRC, went into the final bell of overtime level at 10–10 and the teams were content to leave it there. Chaitania Kumar 4, Arsalan Khan 4, Saif Attari 2 for India — on Commonwealth's horses, in Commonwealth's arena, in the heart of thoroughbred country twenty minutes from Lexington.

"That was as hard a game of arena polo as any of us have played," the President told the press afterwards. "Neck and neck the whole way, two chukkers each way, and at the last bell the scoreboard read 10–10. Nobody deserved to lose it." The week around the match took in practice chukkers on the club's horses, two mornings among the stallions, opening day at Keeneland, the Kentucky Horse Park, and a barbecue at the club after the final, where the commemorative HPRC–Commonwealth shirts were exchanged with Jorge Vasquez. Commonwealth Polo Club, like Madrid, has been invited to bring a team to Hyderabad.

Two mornings among the stallions. At Gainesway Farm on the Paris Pike the party met Tapit, the grey who sired a generation, in the farm's architecturally renowned stallion barns — and the next day watched Gainesway's own Emphatic win the main race of opening day at Keeneland, the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades, by a couple of lengths. The HPRC party, in suits and hats with Jorge Vasquez, was invited into the winner's circle for the trophy presentation: the highlight of the tour. At Darley's Jonabell Farm the party met Cody's Wish, saw the Kentucky Derby trophy in the trophy room, and stood at the grave of Equipoise, the great chestnut of 1928.

The week closed at the Kentucky Horse Park and its International Museum of the Horse — a working park given over entirely to the horse, and the kind of institution that makes Lexington the horse capital it is.

This periodical keeps a habit of noting when HPRC says it will do something and then does it. Two volumes ago the dates were the fourteenth to the sixteenth of August; one volume ago, the fourteenth to the eighteenth of October. Both held. The next entry on the card is twelve days away, and the one after it brings the Madrid and Kentucky hosts to Gandipet.

Members whose children would like to ride in Edition Three should speak to the riding school: the Start Riding and Beginners programmes feed the 40 cm and Hacks classes directly. Stick & ball and chukkers continue on the usual evenings ahead of the arena polo. And, as members will have read on hprc.in, a new 50-room hotel at the club is on the drawing board.