There is something about sport and horses that makes spectators go on parade. With the spring racing carnival having wound up for another year, thundering hooves can still be heard as mallet strikes ball and the other sport of kings — as played by the most famous king-in-waiting, Prince Charles and his princes, William and Harry — gallops to centre stage.

As with the races, some spectators are there to watch the horses while others favour the social spectacle of the fillies, stallions and fashions. Polo is the ideal playground for show ponies.

The Victorian Polo Club's season is in full swing around the state, but one-off social polo swings into action tomorrow at Werribee and Saturday at Albert Park.

Tomorrow is the Christmas Polo at Werribee Mansion, run by the Entertainment Consulting Group. Director Matthew Banks says it is mainly a corporate event for companies to hold Christmas parties with a horsey theme, without the price tag associated with the spring racing carnival. The group's Flemington marquees in the winning post enclosure are $700 a head but a top marquee tomorrow is only $275, and guests get to watch the action and eat and drink to their heart's content.

While the focus is on corporate back-slapping, there will be a sprinkling of Channel Nine celebrities, with former swimmer Giaan Rooney, partner of polo player Hamish McLachlan, as ambassador.

Banks has been running Christmas Polo for three years and is relieved the event hasn't slipped with the stockmarket. "We're on par with last year, but if the market hadn't decreased we would have been much bigger," he says. In an act of generosity in tough times, Banks has given away a car park space for spectators to BYO party essentials.

On Saturday it's the Paspaley Polo in the City at Albert Park, run by Mark Pennell, director of International Communications and Events. Just follow the trail of Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Mercs, BMWs — and some ordinary cars as well — look for the Polo Ralph Lauren, and listen for the Mumm bubbly popping as an accompaniment to the salmon or chicken. Also in its third year, the event donates profits to Variety, the children's charity. Tickets start at $50 and increase to $300 for a sit-down lunch in the Variety marquee.

Pennell was driven to introduce polo to the city after seeing social polo in the south of France — on a beach. "I thought, 'Wow, this is fantastic. Surely we can do something in Melbourne because we've got a good, solid polo fraternity.' " He sells the virtue of having his event in inner-city Melbourne.

"The problem with other events is that you have to drive down to Werribee, and getting there and getting back is always a bit of a hassle."

That's if you like a drink or three, and it would appear most spectators are welded to their flutes.

Pennell says the event has grown 60 per cent each year. This year, he finally hopes to make a profit, a necessity when donating to charity. In previous years, while making a loss, he says the charities still received some money. Digging into his own pocket was, he says, "my philanthropic" contribution.

Of course, you can't have polo without photogenic and photo-worthy guests, and those invited to Pennell's Pony Lounge marquee include Eddie and Carla McGuire, Alex and Heloise Waislitz, Sigrid Thornton and Tom Burstall, Brendan and Alex Fevola, Gary Ablett jnr and Lauren Phillips, Daniel MacPherson and Naomi Robson.

Pennell loves the sport: "It's a great spectacle and it's not all inaccessible and toffy. It's played by a bunch of good blokes who love the horses and love the sport."

Along with the good blokes there are a few good women. Among them is Inge Burke, a pioneer who has been working to attract more women players to pick up the mallet. "It is the most exhilarating thing you can do," Burke says. "There's the adrenalin, it's competitive, it's like chess on horseback. You have to switch your mind on because it's a dangerous game and you could get a serious injury."

As for the pressure of being one of the few females, Burke says: "Most of the guys welcome girls — they don't treat you differently. I give it to them as much as they give it me."

Polo suffers from an image problem in that outsiders don't understand the game and see the social whirl as snooty. It could be the game's early Persian heritage, which was reinvented in Britain for the modern game, or the perception, often accurate, that it takes riches to finance floats of horses and the international travel. Blame it on the image of playboy Argentinian players or Australia's superstar, Ruki Baillieu, and his jetsetting lifestyle. Baillieu, the blond poster boy of the sport, is the highest-ranked Aussie player overseas.

Then there is the jetsetting family man Glen Gilmore, captain of the Australian team for 10 years and ambassador for Mumm, the official bubbly of the Albert Park event.

Gilmore spends half the year in Queensland and the other half in England with his English wife, Karen, and children, Lachie and Lucia. Adventurous? Yes. Glamorous? Yes. In January he plays snow polo in St Moritz. The chance to rub shoulders with the royals? Yes. Gilmore has played charity events with Charles, William and Harry and says: "They are very, very nice people and a lot of fun."

Unlike horse racing, polo spectators also get their turn on the field during the traditional half-time stomping of the divots.

"A lot of people don't understand how much fun it is to go to the polo," Gilmore says.

http://ecgroup.net.au

http://polointhecity.com

http://victorianpoloclub.com.au

Understanding polo

■ Australian rules football has quarters and polo has chukkas: six sessions, each lasting seven minutes.

■ Each team has four players.

■ Players have a handicap of between -2 and 10 goals.

■ Australia's highest-ranked players are Australian team captain Glen Gilmore and Ruki Baillieu, who are seven-goal players.

■ The Christmas polo and Albert Park polo are exhibition matches with fewer chukkas.