He stayed involved at the stable until it was time to go off to college for engineering and construction and finally Vietnam as a member of the Army. “The horse and polo people were my social friends, but I always kept my contacts. In the summer, I went off to work but I’d come around. I’d take the last week or two off before going back to school and go with Davey [Rizzo and others] to Brandywine [to play].”
During his stint in the Army, Coppola’s father was sick and eventually passed away. When Coppola got out of the service, he took over his father’s pool construction business but rode and started playing polo again whenever he could.
The frozen ground during the Long Island winters wasn’t conducive to building pools, so Coppola headed south for some polo. “I decided I liked [polo] so much I started coming to Florida in the winters. The first year I came down for six weeks, the next year [a couple of] months, then one day I just sold my business up there and got into polo.”
Coppola ran polo at a club in New Jersey for a few years until a freak accident seriously injured the owner of the club. Coppola then focused his attention on his tack business. “I thought there was a need for somebody to take over in the polo supply and it would afford me more longevity in the sport, if, when I reached 40 or so, I couldn’t ride or peddle horses. I guess I got it right because I had to get my hip replaced recently.”
He got started in the early 1970s, out of a trailer at Gulfstream Polo Club in Lake Worth, Florida. “Bernie Cohen [a polo enthusiast and tack dealer in New York] was very instrumental in pointing me in the right direction of some of the sources. I started to travel to England to see saddle makers, and by the late 1970s to Argentina to see tack and mallet makers over there as well.”
Coppola and some of his old friends were trying to come up with a name for the business when someone suggested Tony’s Tack and Pizzeria. It was then decided to shorten it to The Tackeria. At first it was a bit of a joke, but Tony went out of town and when he returned, his late wife, Barbara had made a sign with the new name. From then on The Tackeria name stuck like, well, cheese on pizza.
“The basic principal of the Tackeria from the very beginning was to be kind of a Johnny-on-the-spot by being there with the trailer fieldside and to procure the hard-toget items, things that maybe were no longer mass manufactured … The likes of [former 10-goaler] Tommy Wayman and people like that would say, ‘Hey, my dad had this kind of bit, can you get it?’ Or, ‘Here’s one, get it made.’ That is what we did. … In the early ’80s I went to England [to a bit manufacturer] and there were some bits they hadn’t manufactured since World War II. We just showed them pictures and they found the old molds and started manufacturing some of those old bits for us. … The persistence of trying to source them out is what carried us all the way through the ’80s.”
By the mid-1970s business was doing well enough that The Tackeria needed a bigger trailer, the second of five. In 1976 Coppola met Argentine polo player and mallet maker Cacho Merlos, who worked with him to import Merlos mallets, tack and other Argentine goods.
He worked tirelessly to improve and expand the business. “In the early days I didn’t rely on the tack business. I still peddled horses and ran clubs so the resources kept going back into the business,” allowing it to grow.
Coppola was busy taking the trailer from club to club. “There was a time I would be [in Florida] all winter, then I would go to Houston and San Antonio in the spring, go to Alabama until July, then go to Detroit and Oak Brook until Labor Day, then go back to Alabama until Thanksgiving before coming back [to Florida].” While in Florida, he would spend a few days a week at each of the three clubs in South Florida—Palm Beach Polo, Royal Palm Polo and Gulfstream. During the summers he always kept someone in Florida to fill mail orders. Customer service was a big part of the Tackeria’s success. “Seventy-five to 80 percent of our mail orders of in-stock items were filled the same day.”

Around 1979, Palm Beach Polo experienced a huge explosion of teams and polo activity, and Coppola decided it was time to find a permanent location in the area. He was able to secure space in one of the club barns at Palm Beach Polo. This prime location allowed him to be in the midst of all the polo action. “The first year I think there were 16 or 18 teams at the 22-goal level, so there were a lot of international players. The combination of traveling to Oak Brook in the summers and being around the games and polo gave me the opportunity to meet top polo players. We would try to find the hard-to-get items and that gave us credibility with them. The fact that they came from Argentina or wherever and would say, ‘I have a mallet maker and I’ll introduce you to this guy,’ opened up a lot of doors in both directions.” Coppola also offered tack repair at the store.
By the early 1980s Coppola expanded even further, opening a second location in a local shopping center, offering more general equestrian items instead of strictly polo. “We needed a place where wives and families could shop.” The new store carried more general equestrian merchandise, including gifts and clothing.
“What happened in the early ’90s is I said there are only 3,000 polo players in this country, while the South Florida Hunter Jumper Association has 1,000 people, so we started funneling our efforts [toward] expanding into the general equestrian market, knowing we could never be in that market what we were in polo, yet keeping a lot of inventory.” Coppola said this was a turning point in the business since at the time 60 percent of the business was polo related, while today only 35 percent is. To accommodate the expanded inventory he moved from a 2,000-square-foot store to its current 7,000-square-foot location. The barn store was moved into another building near the barns but still on the grounds of Palm Beach Polo.
“We always like to say we have everything from screw eyes to saddles and everything in between. … We can’t be all things to all people, but we reached a point where we could only go so far in polo. … Normally, in most tack shops you can walk in and tell the owner’s discipline of riding. [In our big store] you wouldn’t know that my interests are in polo because we try to cater to everybody, knowing that we can’t be the expert in every field but we like to think we are experts in polo.”
To keep up with the new products on the market, Coppola attends a lot of trade shows. As his business has gotten bigger, suppliers seek him out. “Years ago I would go to the trade shows and ask, ‘What do you have in polo?’ to the point they would say, ‘Hey, you’re that polo guy. I found this or that has a polo player on it. Is this a polo bit, or I have a source for a polo saddle.’ ”
The Tackeria has always been a family business. Tony’s first wife, Barbara, helped him start it and his nephew Lou worked there for six or seven years before leaving for a few years, but now he is back again. During the time he was away, he kept involved in a limited way by running the souvenir concession at the Greenwich Polo Club. Though they are no longer married, Jesse Coppola continues to help with the business. “Jesse is still involved. She is in the show world so she keeps up with the trends and what is going on in showing.” The two have a son Matthew, now 10.

Today the store employs about 30 people, many of whom have worked there for many years. “We hire people who have knowledge of horses and what is going on. …” The store is open seven days a week, with few exceptions. It is closed only on about five major holidays. Someone can come in and purchase just about everything he needs for himself, his horse and barn. The store stocks buckets, stall guards, brushes, supplements, dewormers, boots, gloves, mallets, saddles, pitchforks, stationery, videos, model horses, books and just about anything else you can think of.
“If you want a hotwalker, we’ll get you a hotwalker,” Coppola says. “We sell polo trailers, horse trailers. Anything that goes on or near a horse we either have it or can get it for you.” From the very beginning Coppola educated himself about tack and horse supplies, including the different qualities of leather, what makes a well-made saddle, etc. “People know they will get the quality and service. If they don’t get it, we welcome their comments and we’ll make things right. … If someone says, ‘I have a pair of knee guards for $100,’ and we have a pair for $125, you are not comparing the same knee guards. We make sure the leather and stitching is good.”
Over the years, Coppola has continued to run clubs, and his distinctive voice has been heard at some of the best polo matches and events from Saratoga to the Hamptons to Chicago to Palm Beach. Today he lends his voice for some large polo-related charities, including the annual auction for the Polo Players’ Support Group and the Polo Hall of Fame induction ceremony. “I try to give back by staying involved with the Polo Training Foundation and kids’ polo and the polo museum. Too many people [ask too much] and there are certain ways to give back. This is my way of giving back.” The Tackeria has been a sponsor of the junior polo program for many years and has been a very generous donor for many different polo charities.
The Tackeria also has traditionally run an annual sale to celebrate the start of the summer polo season. “We started our annual spring stock-up sale, not to get rid of overstocks or bad merchandise, but to jump start people’s polo seasons, and that is why there are certain items [on sale] every year. We always sell polo bandages, halters, lead ropes, we feature one or more saddles, we try to feature things people really need for the polo season.”
Coppola still plays polo when he can and enjoys spending time with his son. About six or seven years ago he was asked by Bill Ylvisaker to help run the Saratoga Polo Club during the summer months. He liked it so much, he bought a house there and continues to go each year. “It is just something I love to do. Even when I had my hip replaced and didn’t ride for two summers, I still went to Saratoga.”
His son, Matthew, has a renewed interest in polo and enjoys riding and stick and balling. Though he had lost interest in the sport for a few years, he still played bike and foot polo but now is happy to be back in the saddle.
Today, The Tackeria consists of the big store, the barn store and a warehouse. In addition to carrying a large inventory of tack and supplies, the store does its own embroidery, engraving and tack repair. Future plans are to combine the whole operation into one location.
“We are in our 30th year not because we didn’t do things right. People know they will get the quality and service. We have been here for 30 years and we hope to be here for 30 more!”