Toy Moon

The remarkably talented mare Toy Moon was bred in Hawaii circa 1931 by noted breeder of polo ponies, Walter Dillingham. Purchased from Dillingham in 1938, the fleet chestnut mare was brought to the mainland by Hall of Famer Elbridge T. Gerry, Captain of the Aknusti team, to be part of his illustrious string of ponies.

Toy Moon’s level of play set her apart as evidenced by her back-to-back wins, in 1940 and ’41, of the Prince Friarstown Challenge Cup, a coveted prize awarded to the best playing mare suitable to produce polo ponies; the judges based their decisions on her play in both the U.S. Open and Monty Waterbury cups. For this, and her long career of excellent and exceptional performances in which she was described as playing “top flight polo,” she was recognized by the experts as one of the great polo ponies of her era.

After her playing days were over, Toy Moon lived out her life happily, to a ripe old age, at Gerry’s farm. As a broodmare, she produced two foals by a Standardbred stallion, and served as a steady and dependable mount taking great care with the Gerry children, who took her on many leisurely jaunts around the sprawling premises.

Toy Moon with Elbridge Gerry (right and above)

Watercolor portrait of Toy Moon (Top Photo) by artist, Melinda Brewer; www.poloart.ca