The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
March 22, 2011

The Big Guns were smokin’ east to west n the biggest day of March Madness in Polo. We will start back east …  they were 3 hours ahead of the west coast.  It was Big Bob J and Valiente taking the Butler Handicap as they rolled over Orchard Hill in the final game before the U.S. Open starts in the finals of the USPA GOLD CUP. It was a very good game and I never thought it would be so close or that AUDI would win, but they did. What a game it was. And to me … it was all due to the best field leader in Polo and that is Gonzalo Pieres, Jr.  He is a chip off the block with an uncanny ability to read the field and anticipate the play. Pieres is just very good. He uses everyone and will do it at anytime. I thought they would be out gunned by Lechuza, but it did not happen in the end.  To me it was his constant savvy to get them back in the game time after time and he just was a better leader than the other team.  Pieres waited for that big moment and no matter who was there … a 1- goal or an 8-Goal player,  he put the ball right there.  Pieres  had a lot of help  from the Brazilian Master R. Andrade, who was fearless and very tough to get by. All 3 attacked when Pieres took the ball and it was quick, accurate passes or he blazing it down the pitch on his own. Still they were fortunate to win when a very costly mistake was made by the Owls and gave them a chance to tie it up at the very last moment.  Once they did you knew who had the advantage and they took it real quick. Now AUDI and Captain Marc Ganzi are very happy people. The winning team was:

AUDI
Marc Ganzi
Nico Pieres MVP
Gonzalo Pieres
Rodrigo Andrade

\\\\\\\\\\Well done great game ///////////////////////////

Out west it was Chukkers for $$ as El Dorado had the finals of the Kkins and it was the Canadians dialing in for Dollars as the return of the Duke RON MATHISION was a complete success after many years of absence  …due to Children, his passion for team penning and Cutting (where he is in the top 5 in the World).  Mathison decided to grab a stick and hit the pitch and he did as Team CAM CLARK FORD/RM Galloped off with 5 of 6 chukkers over Ben Soleimoni Mansour foursome where they had a big crowd and a big welcome back to RM and the
CHAMPIONS OF THE 2011 SKINS IS:

CAM CLARK FORD
RON MATHISION
PEDRO ORELANO
MARCELLO ABIATTI
CACHO GALINDO

Next door at Empire Polo they are playing the first round of the tournament of Champions for more dollars as this pot is around 70 grand I think and that is for the 10-goal.  The desert is  a very hot place to be as there are only two weeks to go. The big money finals is this coming Sunday and it looks like Big Ben may get to that finals as well where I hear they may face the Big Guns of Smokin’ Joe Henderson and the Empire/Shanghai team ,who have been beating up on their opposition so far the records for the 10 goal and 4 goal are so far I believe :

8-10 Goal Champions Cup Stats as of Sunday, March 20th.

Empire /Shanghai
Barrossa 0 & 2
Trinity 1 & 1
Mansour 2 & 0
Tritech/Stormcat 0 & 2
Santa Rosa Ranch 1 & 1

4-Goal Lions Cup Stats

Cam Clark Ford 2 & 0
Coldwell Banker Temecula 0 & 2
Fair Hills 1 &1
Empire 1 & 1

8-10 Goal Champions’ Cup Teams

EMPIRE(10)/SHANGHAI
Ashton Wolf
Abby Riggs
Nick Morrison
Joe Henderson

MANSOUR
Santiago Von Wernich
Marcos Bignoli
Patrick Uretz
Ben Soleimani

BARROSSA
Jef Graham
Erik Wright
Jared Sheldon
Santiago Trotz

TRINITY
Rick Paicius
Robin Paicius
Mariano Gutierrez
Agustin Zavaleta

TRITECH/STORMCAT
Craig Steinke
Victor Soto
Chris Maloney
Gaston Von Wernich

SANTA ROSA RANCH
Nicolas Maciel
Miguel Gutierrez
Rob Yackley
Scott Cunningham

4-Goal Lions Cup

EMPIRE(4)
Leigh Brecheen
Rob Scapa
Charlie Peterson
Lolo Payan

FAIR HILLS
Graydon Britton
Ashton Wolf
TJ Elordi
Goyo Mariscal

Cam Clark Ford
Dayelle Fargey
Cam Clark
Canelo Silvestre
Jared Sheldon

Coldwell Banker Temecula
Scott Walker
Santos Areolla
Ricardo Garcia
Antonio Juarez