Argentine polo trainer Carlos “Polito” Ulloa is the star of a new advert for the Belgian beer Stella Artois.
Stella Artois is set to sponsor the Argentine Open tournament in Palermo, Buenos Aires, this year, and the commercial features “behind-the-scenes” clips of Polito working with a horse.
Polito is one of the country’s best-known trainers of polo ponies and the father of top high-goal player Hilario Ulloa, who won the Gold Cup at Cowdray Park with patron Lyndon Lea’s Zacara team.
The English sub-titles declare Ulloa to be “the man with vision to see champions where no-one else can” — and indeed, the polo pony whom viewers see him breaking-in is initially invisible.
Polito mounts the “invisible” horse — the tack is visible — and sits some hefty bucks. As the horse becomes rideable it also becomes visible — and the final shot is of a polo pony competing in a high-goal match.
It has been popular on social media with horse fans, who have reposted it on Facebook declaring “Love this” and “Fabulous ad”.
However, Stella isn’t the only beer brand to feature horses.
Budweiser has had some hit adverts in the past few years starring equines.
This year for the brand’s Superbowl advert — which was released on 28 January — the famous puppy and the Clydesdale made a comeback, but unfortunately the horse doesn’t manage to keep a close enough eye on his new friend and he goes missing.
The video had nearly 5.8m views on YouTube in the first two days.
Brian Perkins, a Budweiser vice president said: “The Budweiser Clydesdales have appeared in our Super Bowl ads for nearly three decades.
“They continue to serve as time-honoured symbols of how we brew our beer: remarkable care and attention, sparing no expense, the highest quality and consistency.”
The Argentine Open at Palermo runs from 14 November-5 December 2015.
