The Aspen Valley Polo Club returns top level polo competition to Colorado with the Rocky Mountain Open Championship. Pictured above is the Glenwood Springs polo team, circa 1904
Polo arrived in Glenwood Springs in the 1890s when Devereux and Hervey Lyle formed the Glenwood Polo and Racing Association. They created the original Rocky Mountain Championship with the inaugural tournament taking place in 1902 and the trophy being presented to the winning Cheyenne Mountain Country Club (Colorado Springs) of Ernest H. Every, Dr. Gerald B. Webb, Harold J. Bryant and Horace K. Devereux.
At that time, players came from as far away as Nebraska, and even Canada, to play in the tournament. In 2014 the Aspen Valley Polo Club breathed new life into the grand old tradition with the Rocky Mountain Open, a tournament that would attract some of the top players in the world, and the 2016 edition would promise to be even more exciting.
The Rocky Mountain Championship Cup of 1902.
On Friday, August 19th, five teams will kick off the 2016 Rocky Mountain Open beginning with an 11am (MST) match between Flexjet (Ace Boyd, Melissa Ganzi, Lucas Lalor and Juan Bollini) and Los Amigos-Red (Paul Foster, Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini and Sebastian Merlos) on the Sopris Mountain Ranch field. At 3pm (MST) Jeff Hildebrand’s High Mesa Ranch will see ChukkerTV (Hilario Figueras, Segundo Merlos, Marc Ganzi and Tincho Merlos), Los Amigos-White (Alexandra Foster, Gabriel Gracida, Julio Novillo Astrada and Carlitos Gracida) and Tonkawa (Alex Gooding, Jeff Hildebrand, Jimmy Seward and Nic Roldan) compete in a round-robin with the winner facing the winner of the morning contest in the final at 11am (MST) on Sunday at the Aspen Valley Polo Club followed by a subsidiary match at 1:15pm (MST).
All matches will be live-streamed on ChukkerTV.com.
The Aspen Valley Polo Club is located at 3275 County Road 100, Carbondale, CO. The public is welcome to watch polo in a relaxed atmosphere. Admission and parking are free. The club’s Polo Hotline is 970-710-1663.