Photo: Jesse Bray. Photo by Alex Pacheco
Pony Express and Palm Beach Illustrated, two underdogs, will meet Tuesday in the final of the third annual $50,000 National 12-Goal Tournament at Grand Champions Polo Club.
One of the nation’s most important and competitive tournaments with major prize money on the line attracted some of the sport’s top teams and several up-and-coming young players.
It is the nation’s only 12-goal tournament that offers major prize money.
Pony Express will be a family affair with father and son Bob and Justin Daniels joining teammates Bautista Urbina and Tomas Goti.
Palm Beach Illustrated features Todd Thurston, Jared Zenni, Geronimo Obregon and Jesse Bray.
Palm Beach Illustrated advanced into the final with a win over 5Star Builders/Tackeria behind Bray’s six goals. Pony Express advanced with a 9-8 upset of favorite Casablanca.
The single-elimination tournament attracted six teams including Casablanca (Grant Ganzi 1, Leo Mandelbaum 2, Juancito Bollini 3, Mark Tomlinson 6); 5 Star Builders/Tackeria (Kristos Magrini 1, Matt Coppola 4, Joaquin Panelo 4, Michel Dorignac 5; Palm Beach Equine (Agustin Arellano 2, Ezequiel Zubiaurre 4, Gringo Colombres 6, Scott Swerdlin 0) and Wildcat (Ryan Gilbertson 0, Nick Johnson 2, Steve Krueger 3, Jason Crowder 6).
Past champion teams are Palm Beach Equine ( Scott Swerdlin, Alejandro Gonzalez, Tommy Collingwood, Luis Escobar) in 2014 and Aspen Valley Polo Club (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Mark Tomlinson, Wes Finlayson) in 2015.
The game will be live-streamed by ChukkerTV, leaders in polo broadcasting.
Wellington-based ChukkerTV is exclusively live streaming International Polo Club Palm Beach and Grand Champions Polo Club games during the 2016 season with polo broadcasters Toby Wayman and Dale Schwetz calling the action.
Grand Champions is the nation’s busiest and most innovative polo club with tournaments ranging from six to 20-goal.
Grand Champions Polo Club also features The Polo School, dedicated to teaching polo, particularly grass roots youth. Its mission is to provide individuals opportunities in polo. The Polo School operates in Wellington January through June and September through November.