Francisco Escobar, Ruben Gracida, Max Secunda, Nico Escobar, Tony Calle, Luis Escobar, Georgette Escobar, Richard Dudman, Cassy Spade, Tom and River Blake, Omar Sosa, Teo Calle and Wes Finlayson
By Whitney Webbe
La Herradura (Tony Calle, Richard Dudman, Tom Blake and Omar Sosa) scored wins over Santa Clara (Nico Escobar, Max Secunda, Ruben Gracida and Francisco Escobar) and Agua Clara (Mauricio Herrera, Teo Calle, Wes Finlayson and Luis Escobar) in the County Line Feed 8-goal round-robin Saturday afternoon at the Santa Clara Polo Club in Wellington.
The round-robin structure allowed for three teams to play one another for three chukkers with the cumulative goals scored from Friday’s tournament play being added to the total goals scored on Saturday. The parity of the teams resulted in three games which were decided by a single goal.
The emphasis of family and polo couldn’t have been more perfectly presented than it was when Santa Clara faced Agua Clara, fielding Escobar’s from three generations with Santa Clara’s Francisco Escobar and grandson Nico Escobar taking the field on the Santa Clara team while Francisco’s son, Luis Escobar, led the Agua Clara foursome.
“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to play this wonderful game with your son and grandson,” said Francisco Escobar at the end of the day. “There are not a lot of activities in which all three of us can compete on an equal basis, but polo is certainly one of them.”
The round-robin got started with Santa Clara beating Agua Clara 4-3 in the opening three chukkers of play with thirteen-year-old Nico Escobar scoring three of Santa Clara’s four goals.
Agua Clara held the field for the next three chukkers but fared no better as La Herradura slipped past them, 4-3.
A 5-4 win by La Herradura over Santa Clara in the final three chukkers gave them the County Line Feed 8-goal title. La Herradura’s Omar Sosa was named MVP and Luis Escobar’s Charisma received Best Playing Pony honors.