The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
It was close all the way through as Big Ben of Mansour and team kept it very tight from the get go. On a beautiful Sunday for Polo, about 72 degrees with a light breeze, it was Mansour scoring a 2 to 1 lead at the end of 1. They won all the throw ins during that chukkar, but Grant’s Farm and Andy Busch got it back in line in the second chukker and took a 3 to 1 chukkar. With a couple of penalty shots by Jeff Hall they took the game lead at end of 2 by 4 to 3. The third chukker was all Mansour as the Energizer Boy Hilario was setting sail often and quickly. He even made a #4 penalty to take the lead and send them to a 1/2 time lead of 2 at 6 to 4, shutting out GF in the 3rd . Grant’s Farm came back from break time hungry and they went deep and scored 3 goals. This may have been when Andy made his own goal, I guess you call it as he misdirected it into Mansour’s goal, so they may not have made any in the 4th, but finished at 7 each. Polito and Mansour traded goals in the 5th and Mansour eked out a 1 goal lead at the end of the 5th in a very fast chukkar. With 5 goals scored the 6th, it started good for Mansour, but it was Grant’s Farm doing the damage. During one big play, Jared Sheldon took out Mansour’s gun and freed Jeff all the way to go solo to the condo goal. Andy jumped all over a ball and this time it went his way thru the GF posts and they added 1. Soon after Hilario got one back on the board with a #4 and they fell by 1 in the final seconds.
It seemed to be a very good game with some slipping horses on clubhouse side early, but all got their feet back and the speed increased. Jared Sheldon made Poppa Billy happy I am sure as he worked hard all day. Polito just keeps picking up the silver and was defintley a candidate for MVP again. These two at the front define hard work and they never quit trying to free someone. Andy and Jeff must be enjoying it.
Mansour does look like they are improving as they fired on all 4 today and Santi continues to be a force in the back and the Energizer Bullet who pulling the team with incredible drive. It was a great crowd including famous people … Superstar Polito’s Father Paul Pieres. Many do not know of him, but he is on a whole bunch of trophy’s back East. And yes, his name is Paul not Pablo as many think Polito must be jr. for Pablo. Great to see him in SB. The 20-goal play resumes this Friday with the USPA Silver Cup. I hear there are still 4 teams, but the Adolfo Cambiaso is here so look out for some changes in the air.
WINNING TEAM: GRANTS FARM… JAROD SHELDON, POLITO PIERES , JEFF HALL, ANDY BUSCH
MVP MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: HILARIO ULOA
BPP BEST PLAYING PONY: ADAM SNOWS MARE
SEE YA FRIDAY
see ya