Sept. 7th ’08: Today Audi Polo made history by being the first team since 1996 to sweep all three 20-goal tournaments at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club with their 13-10 victory over Grants Farm in the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open.
Audi from left to right: Gonzalo Del Tour, Gonzalo Pieres, Sugar Erskine and Marc Ganzi.
The PCO final, played in front of a capacity crowd and a lot of TV cameramen filming a reality TV show, started off with three quick goals from Audi’s Gonzalito Pieres and Gonzalo del Tour. Grants Farm recovered in the second chukker with goals from Jeff Hall and back to back goals from up and coming player Cachi Garcia Velez. A goal from Pieres kept the score tied at the end of the 2nd chukker.
Both teams were playing fast and furious and neither team could grab a lead in the 3rd. They traded goals as the usually unstoppable Audi team was marked very closely by the Grants Farm players.
After the halftime divot stomp the crowd waited to see if Audi would do their usual 4th chukker goal scoring spree, but Grants Farm had other plans. They held Audi to just two penalty 2 conversions while scoring two goals of their own. Audi had several chances to score from the penalties at the 60 yard line but their shots went wide, unusual for a team with up until now, a very good success rate with penalty shots.
In the 5th chukker Grants Farm sensed the victory was possible and covered every ball, every pass, but Pieres shrugged off his penalty shooting problems and scored from the field as well as del Tour. Freddie Mannix had his second goal of the game to keep Grants Farm within one at the beginning of the 6th.
In the 6th chukker Audi turned the tables on Grants Farm by sending Sugar Erskine to challenge Jeff Hall on the knock ins. Erskine’s harrassment tactics paid off as he scored two goals and Pieres yet another goal. Despite Jeff Hall’s fifth goal of the game Grants Farm would fall short, despite a valiant effort, and Audi would drive off into the sunset with their 13-10 victory.
Best Playing Pony Pro was Shell Rock, played by Sugar Erskine, and BPP Amateur was Andy Busch’s black mare Perla, presented by Bombardier.
Also presented by Bombardier was Most Valuable Player Amateur to Audi patron Marc Ganzi and MVP Pro to Gonzalito Pieres, who scored a game high 9 goals.
The Robert Skene Award for the Most Valuable Player of the entire season was presented by Elizabeth Skene to Gonzalo del Tour. This award was voted on by the players in the tournament based on playing ability and sportsmanship and is a very special honor.
Now the horses have been put away at the barn and the players have all gone to club house for the last 20 goal celebration. Come see us as Santa Barbara for the fall 8 goal beginning September 20 and come out again next summer when the 20 goal polo will be better then ever!
On Saturday Long Beach and Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch met in the Western Badge and Trophy Cup, which is the subsidiary to the PCO. It was a very good game as both teams obviously wanted to finish the season with a good win. Dan Walker scored five goals in the first half for Long Beach to give them the lead going into halftime, but strong teamwork from Mike Azzaro and Juan Bollini kept it close. Then in the 5th chukker Long Beach outscored GC/ KR 3-0 and that would give them a big enough lead to hold off a last charge by GC/ KR. Final score was 14-12. After the game SBPRC President Wes Ru presented the fabulous trophies to the teams, courtesy of his company Western Badge and Trophy.
Sept. 4th ’08: Results
There was lots of action in Santa Barbara this week with the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open semifinals and the Western Badge subsidiary semifinals. At this point in the season there are no second chances. You lose: you are out. You win: move forward.
Subsidiary semifinal action got started on Wednesday September 3rd with a game between Long Beach and Piocho ranch up at Piocho, where once again Tom Barrack’s legendery pancake breakfast and Barbecue lunch kept all the spectators and players well fed. In a beautiful free flowing game both teams played well, but in the end Long Beach, which had lost nearly all their games by a goal, pulled off the win with an overtime goal be Luis Escobar. This time the one goal difference was in Long Beach’s favor, as the final score was 15-14.
In the next subsidiary semifinal, ERG and Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch faced each other Thursday afternoon at the Club. Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch jumped out to a 5-2 lead at halftime. ERG tied it up at 5 all but it was all GC/KR from then on as they went on to win it 11-8.
In the first of the PCO semifinals, undefeated Audi hoped to hold off Lucchese, the Cinderella team of the PCO. Lucchese was winless in the first two 20 goal tournaments, but something clicked for them in the PCO as they reeled off a 3-1 record to qualify for the semifinals. Lucchese ran with Audi for the first half, playing strong defense on Audi superstar Gonzalito Pieres. Lucchese sponsor John Muse had a very nice goal in the 3rd chukker to keep his team close.
After the half, however, Audi proved they are a truly balanced team as Sugar Erskine and Gonzalo del Tour both kept putting the ball through the posts, taking some pressure off Gonzalito. Gonzalito, despite constant harrasment from Lucchese, still managed to score 7 goals for the game, as Audi won 14-10 and put themselves in the finals.
The next game would determine Audi’s opponent in the final. Defending PCO champion Zacara was heavily favored, but Grants Farm had shown they could win close games when it mattered. Zacara jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first chukker on some very fast horses. Javier Astrada and Ruki Bailleau were connecting well as Javier kept passing the ball to Ruki for the score. Grants Farm got goals from Freddie Mannix and Jeff Hall to close it back up to 5-4 Zacara at halftime.
After the halftime break we saw some truly inspired polo, as the teams kept it even with two goals apiece in the 4th chukker. But in the 5th chukker Freddie Mannix, playing possibly his best game of the season, scored three penalty shots to put Grants farm ahead for the first time all day, as the score was 9-8 Grants Farm at the end of the 5th chukker. A partisan crowd loudly cheered Grants Farm as they rode off to get fresh horses for the 6th chukker.
In the 6th chukker Grants Farm played like their lives depended on it as Mannix scored an open goal, then a penalty 2 and Hall followed it up with an open goal shot that he had to ride off every player on Zacara to score. Sponsor Andy Busch was a wall at back. Zacara scored 2 goals in the last two minutes but it would not be enough to catch Grants Farm. Final score was 12-10 in favor of Grants Farm.
The Wester Badge subsidiary final between Long Beach and Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch will be played at 1pm on Saturday on Field 1.
The Bombardier Pacific Coast Open Final will be played at 2pm on Sunday on the main field in front of the Grandstand. More then 3,000 polo fans are expected for the final. Tailgate parties are welcome. The match between Audi and Grants Farm is a rematch of the Skene Trophy final, which was won by Audi. Grants Farm will be looking for for revenge and Audi will be looking to maintain their perfect record, so it should be a fantastic polo match!
Wednesday September 3
10am Piocho Subsidiary Semifinal #6 vs #7 (Piocho vs Long Beach)
Thursday September 4- at SBPRC
10am Field TBA Semifinal #1 vs #4 (Audi vs Lucchese)
12pm Field TBA Semifinal #2 vs #3 (Zacara vs Grants Farm)
3pm Field TBA Subsidiary Semifinal #5 vs #8 (ERG vs GC/KR)
Saturday September 6
1pm Field 4 Western Badge and Trophy (Subsidiary Final)
Sunday September 7
2pm Field 2 Final
Sunday, August 31st 08: You could feel the tension in the air this morning before the final day of bracket play in Bombardier Pacific Coast Open. The day began with five teams having a chance to qualify gor the four semifinal positions, so every one looked a little nervous.
Up at Piocho Ranch in the early game, John Muse’s Lucchese faced Tom Barrack and the home team. Piocho had no chance to qualify for the semis, but it looked like big brother Memo Gracida was not about to let brother Carlos just walk away with a win for Lucchese. The game was fast and flowing from the start, with both teams playing classic open polo. The score was tied 8-8 at the half. Lucchese looked like they were going to pull off the win and go undefeated, but Piocho was determined to shut the door and they did, scoring 4 goals in the last chukker to win in a nailbiter 14-13.
At the same time, undefeated Audi played ERG. ERG had played strong this tournament, despite several injuries. But their luck ran out against Audi, who controlled the game from the start. Audi had an impressive 13-2 lead at the half. ERG made up some ground in the second half, but it was not enough and Audi maintained their perfect record with a 16-9 win. Gonzalito Pieres scored 9 goals for Audi, and sponsor Marc Ganzi contributed 3 goals. For ERG, Augustine Molinas was high scorer with 5 goals.
In the 1pm curtain raiser game in front of the grandstands, Zacara knew they were gauranteed a semifinal berth with a win and they set out with determination to do just that. Good teamwork and a couple of nice goals from sponsor Lyndon Lea gave them a huge lead of 11-4 at the half. Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch played with a great deal of heart, despite being a 16 goal team playing in an open 20 goal tournament. Justin Klentner played especially well for GC/ KR, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Zacara machine, who marched out to a 15-7 victory.
There was a lot riding on the last game of the day. Grants Farm had to win to be in the semifinals, and even though Long Beach was out of the semifinals anyone who knows the Walkers knows they try to win every game. The game started with Grants Farm jumping out to a four goal lead, but Long Beach roared back to tie it at 5 all after the 2nd chukker. But after that Grants Farm maintained a slim lead, and every time Long beach closed within one goal Grants Farm would find a way to get another goal and go back up by two goals. For Long Beach Luis Escobar had 9 goals, and Jeff Blake made setup plays for his teammates all over the field, while for Grants Farm Freddie Mannix was explosive going to goal.
In the last chukker the upset minded Long Beach pulled back within one, and the Grants Farm faithful sat on the edge of their seats. The teams traded goals but in the end Grants Farm clung to their one goal lead and pulled off the 13-12 victory.
So in the semifinals on Thursday undefeated Audi, ranked first after bracket play, will play Lucchese, while the high scoring Zacara takes on Grants Farm in the othe semifinal. In the subsidiary ERG plays Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch and Piocho plays Long Beach.
Rankings are on the attachment
PCO Semifinals- Thursday Sept 4th
10am (#1 vs #4): Audi vs Lucchese
12pm (#2 vs #3): Zacara vs Grants Farm
PCO Subsidiary (Western Badge)
TBA (#5 vs #8): ERG vs Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch
TBA (#6 vs #7): Piocho vs Long Beach
PCO Ranking
1. Audi 4-0
2. Zacara 3-1 +22 net goals
3. Grants Farm 3-1 +17 net goals
4. Lucchese 3-1 +4 net goals
5. ERG 2-2
6. Piocho 1-3
7. Long Beach 0-4 -12 net goals
8. GC/KR 0-4 -27 net goals
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There is a time change for the Sunday games on Aug. 31st at Santa Barbara Polo. Games are as follows:
10am at Piocho: Lucchese vs Piocho
10am Field #1: Audi vs ERG
1pm Field #2: Zacara vs GC/KR
3pm Field #2: Grants Farm vs Long Beach
The Bombardier Pacific Open Game Recaps and Highlights
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The games are getting are down to the nitty- gritty here in the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open at Santa Barbara Polo Club. A tournament that had some people predicting a clean sweep of games by the finalists of the previous tournament had some surprises today.
The re-engineered ERG team, featuring Nick Roldan and Martine Munoz substituting for the injured Paco de Narvaez and Scott Wood, faced Zacara in the early game. Defending PCO champion Zacara had won their first two games by large margins, but ERG did not let that intimidate them. Tough defense by both teams led to a very low halftime score of 4-2. The score was close throughout the second half as well, as Zacara had a slim lead over ERG going into the 6th of one goal. But in the 6th chukker Nick Roldan scored 3 goals from the field to give ERG the win 8-7, which put both ERG and Zacara to 2-1 in bracket play so far.
At the fabulous Piocho Ranch field Grants Farm faced Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch. Although a Grants Farm player had to ask for directions to the field the day before the game, once Grants Farm arrived at Piocho they had no trouble finding the goal. After a fairly even first half, with Melissa Ganzi playing especially well for GC/KR, Grants Farm went on a tear and ended up winning the game by an astounding 21-7 score, which helps them by putting them to 2-1 and helps them with net goals. Despite valiant play by the 16 goal rated GC/KR team they drop to 0-3 in bracket play so far.
The mist burned off just in time for the next game between Lucchese and Long Beach. Long Beach jumped out to a 9-5 lead at half time, with all four players marking the man well and backing each other up with good team work. But Lucchese was just getting warmed up, and slowly fought their way back to 12 all going into the 6th, helped by Carlos Gracida scoring 4 goals in the 5th on his beautiful dark grey mare. The 6th chukker was tense for spectators and players alike. The scoring started off with Luis Escobar starting it off by sinking a penalty 4 through the goal and somebody’s window in the condos. The team traded goals until Andres Weisz guaranteed the win for Lucchese with a goal within the last 30 seconds. Lucchese won 15-14 and is now 3-0, while Long Beach is 0-3.
The final game of the day featured Piocho and Audi, and everyone wondered if there would be another upset of an undefeated team. Piocho came out playing very well, but Gonzalo del Tour scored 3 goals for Audi in the first half to keep them tied with Piocho 7-7 at half time. In the 4th chukker Gonzalito Pieres once again showed off his horsepower and scored 3 goals from the field and from then on Audi steadily pulled away. Piocho played hard right until the final buzzer, but in the end Audi won it 14-10, putting them to 3-0 in bracket play and Piocho to 0-3.
The final round of bracket play is this Sunday, and after that the best four out of all eight teams will go to the semifinals on Thursday, with the other four teams playing the subsidiary.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The first round of play in the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open started off with America’s Cup champion Audi playing against Grand Champions/ Klentner Ranch. Although Mike Azzaro scored a game high 9 goals for GC/KR, Audi would take control of the game in the second half and go on to win it 13-10. Audi sponsor Marc Ganzi took most of the open goal penalty shots for his team which helped him notch a very respectable 5 goals for the game.
Meanwhile, back at Piocho Ranch, it was an epic battle between Texas based teams Lucchese and ERG. ERG, gallantly playing without injured sponsor Scot Woods, ran out to an 8-3 lead at half time. The second half would be dominated by Carlos Gracida of Lucchese, who showed off his pony power, especially a sensational grey mare that he played in the last chukker. The score was tied at 10-10 going into the 6th chukker, but Gracida was was unstoppable and led his team to the 13-12 victory.
Defending PCO champions Zacara took on Long Beach next. Long Beach changed up their usual lineup, putting Jeff Blake at one and Danny Walker at two, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the high scoring Zacara team. Zacara steadily pulled away from Long Beach throughout the game, winning 15-8. Ruki Bailleau was the high scorer for Zacara with 7 goals.
The happy hour game featured Grants Farm against Piocho. Grants Farm came out strong, led by stellar play from Jeff Hall and a nice goal from Andy Busch. Grants Farm was up 8-2 at the half. However, this season has seen a number of come from behind victories and it looked like Kris Kampsen was going to get one started for Piocho, as he scored 4 goals in the 4th. But Grants Farm regrouped in the 5th with two goals from Freddie Mannix, and one each from Hall and Busch, and Grants Farm went on to win the game 14-10.
| Thu. 8/21 | 10:00 am | Luchesse def. ERG |
13-12 |
| 10:00 am | Audi def. GC/KR |
13-10 | |
| 2:00 pm | Zacara def. Long Beach |
15-8 | |
| 4:00 pm | Grants Farm def. Piocho |
14-10 | |
| Sun. 8/24 | 10:00 am | Audi def. Long Beach |
15-12 |
| 10:00 am | Zacara def. Piocho |
17-9 | |
| 1:00 pm | Luchesse def. GC/KR |
17-14 | |
| 3:00 pm | ERG def. Grants Farm |
11-9 | |
| Thu. 8/28 | 10:00 am | Grants Farm vs. GC/KR |
21-7 |
| 10:00 am | Zacara vs ERG | 8-7 | |
| 1:30 pm | Luchesse vs. Long Beach |
15-14 | |
| 4:00 pm | Audi vs. Piocho | 14-10 | |
| Sun. 8/31 | TBA | Luchesse vs. Piocho |
TBA |
| TBA | Audi vs. ERG | TBA | |
| TBA | Zacara vs. GC/KR | TBA | |
| TBA | Grants Farm vs. Long Beach | TBA | |
| Thu. 9/4 | 10:00 am | Semifinal #1 vs #4 | TBA |
| 12:00 pm |
Semifinal #2 vs #3 |
TBA | |
| 2:00 pm |
Subsidiary Semifinal #5 |
TBA | |
| 4:00 pm | Subsidiary Semifinal #6 vs #7 |
TBA | |
| Sat. 9/6 | 1:00 pm | Western Badge and Trophy (Subsidiary Final) |
Field # 4 |
| Sun. 9/7 | 2:00 pm | Pacific Coast Open Final | Field # 2 |
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Source: Santa Barbara Polo Club