ABOUT ALICE
Photography & Press connections
Well known within the sport as one of the leading polo photographers as well as a prominent female player, Alice has photographed for Royalty, had 40+ front covers on various polo magazines and had her work published in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Financial Times, Horse & Hound, PQ International, Hurlingham, The Polo Magazine, Polo Times, Country Life, Polo Players Edition, Clarin Newspaper, PACE, Polo Barbados along with more polo publications and books. To view Alice's photography and written articles for polo publications please visit www.alicegippsgallery.com
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Equine & Polo experience
Having ridden all her life since age 3, Alice is a strong competitive rider, who, with over 15 years of polo experience, holds a 0 goal handicap in mixed polo and a 4 goal women's rating with a number of impressive wins at major tournaments under her belt.
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Her press and playing connections inter-link and are an asset when travelling around the world as she can combine her skills. Argentina, America, Thailand, India (elephant polo as well) and Ireland are among the countries she played polo and photography has taken her on many more trips abroad. 2021 has brought an invite to play in a ladies exhibition game at Celebrity Polo Ranch in LA, California, this coming September.
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A general riding knowledge was a big help when starting out, however, to learn the basics of a very different riding style and sport she learnt by helping at a local polo school to gain experience. Since then, many years of grooming for herself with early starts and late evenings to look after her ponies daily during the polo season before and after work was the only way to get where she has today. She now has help to look after her ponies but is still greatly involved twice a day using the time to focus on training her homebreds. Alice has built up a fantastic string of ponies and started breeding her own polo ponies in 2009.
A passion for horses, determination and drive have rewarded her with impressive achievements within this sport. These include winning prestigious women's tournaments both in the UK and abroad such as the British Ladies Open twice, producing top quality polo ponies and being presented on several occasions the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
A member at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo club and Ranelagh Polo Club, Alice also competes at Cowdray Park Polo Club, Guards Polo Club, Cirencester Park Polo Club and Knepp Castle to name a few.
Alice Studied Equine Science at University and recently in 2019 she became a certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist by completing an Equissage course in California.
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Sponsor Involvement
Although Alice mostly plays for patrons in both mixed and women's polo, she has been the core team member organizing competitive teams for sponsors since 2007. Successful wins first time out for the likes of Cadenza, Crabbie's, Vardags and E-Motion in ladies polo has given these teams great exposure within the sport. View pictures of the teams and their wins here.
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Women's polo
Alice has long been an advocate for a wider recognition of women in polo for many years and has excelled when given the chance to create teams for sponsors in the women's polo. Alice has also organised and run women's polo tournaments in both Argentina and England at Coworth Park. With the support of Pololine, she was the first to propose the vision of an International women's tournament at Guards Polo Club.
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Memorable moments of her polo career so far
A highlight and incredible experience was the unique opportunity of training with the Heguys, one of the most famous polo families in Argentina. She spent time over four seasons helping Eduardo Heguy at his estancia in La Pampa. There she gained valuable knowledge from playing practices mounted on phenomenal ponies, many that played the Argentine Open, while practicing with some of the best players in the world.
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Another memorable moment in Argentina was to play at Palermo in 2015, the most famous polo ground in the world which is located in Buenos Aires.
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It was an honour to be invited by the Marchioness of Milford-Haven to participate in an all ladies Jaeger LeCoultre charity game alongside UK top professionals Nina Clarkin and Sarah Wiseman.
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With a lifetime of horse knowledge, a BSc Hons degree in Equine Science and Thoroughbred management and an endless passion to know more, it is no surprise that any spare time currently involves furthering her young horse training skills. Alice has interviewed and produced articles for polo publications on two of her horse training idols, the world famous American, Monty Roberts (article PDF), and Australian, Warwick Schiller (article PDF).
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Alice currently has a string of 6 talented polo ponies and previously her string included two ex-high goal legends, Vasco Piskui and Vasco Anegro bred by Eduardo Heguy. Both previously played at the very top level with Eduardo in Argentina at the Open and then were flown to the USA for the Open before ending up in the UK for the British high goal. Her playing string now are all homebreds she has trained herself.
Her proudest moment so far has been for the worlds No. 1 player, Adolfo Cambiaso, to try and like her eldest homebred Phoenix - visit the Meet the Ponies page for the profiles of her superstars and Alice's Portfolio may also be of interest.
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A few of Alice's polo achievements so far:
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Winner of the 2006 Arena Ladies Nationals and MVP award
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Winner of the 2007 British Ladies Open, Cowdray Park for Cadenza.
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Winner of the 2007 Don Manuel International Ladies, Argentina
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Winner of the 2007 Miriam Heguy Ladies, Argentina
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Winner of the 2007 San Diego Ladies, Argentina
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Winner of the 2008 Ascot park Ladies Invited to play the 2009 Ladies Heritage cup at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy
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Winner of the 2009 Jaeger LeCoultre Charity ladies exhibition at Ham Polo club invited by the Marchioness of Milford Haven
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Winner of the 2010 British Ladies Open, Cowdray Park for Audi and awarded the MVP award
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Winner of the 2010 Coworth Park Ladies International for Crabbie's.
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Winner of the 2013 Sub Final at Cirencester Park Polo Club.
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Winner of the 2015 Royal County of Berkshire Ladies Polo Festival for Vardags.
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Winner of the 2016 Thailand International Ladies, Polo Escape.
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Winner of the 2016 Ranelagh Ladies and awarded the MVP
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Winner of the 2017 Royal County of Berkshire Ladies Polo Festival for Emotion
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2018 - broken ribs!
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Winner of the 2019 Fifield Ladies for Ona
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Winner of the 2019 Guards Ladies Subsidiary Trophy for Iona House Gallery
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