The Polo Report
by Steve Crowder

Of the 12 teams at this years US OPEN, only 2 come from west of the Mississippi and quite a ways further like Calgary and Colorado. They will meet next Sunday at 3 p.m. in West Palm Beach, FL  in the quarter finals.  I guess you will have to say the winner will be King of the West.

The Hawk’s are 4 M’s as Julian and Fred Mannix and Mariano 1 and 2 make up the 4 M’s. They have been having a pretty good winter so far arriving at the gate of all 3 tournaments finals. They have a real foe in the southern Rockies as Big Bob J. as in Jorvnayvaz and Valiente do not intend to be pushed aside. It should be a good game.  It would have been nice if they could have both met in the finals that would really be fun for the Eastern seaboard.

The Hawks made their way to the quarters by defeating all 3 opponents and getting their pass.  Valiente did suffer 1 loss,  but were beaten only by a goal in an earlier game. It should be fun!   Also qualifing for the Quarters was Audi, who will meet Zacara in a brothers game as Gonzalo and Nicolas Pieres play for Audi along with Mr. Ganzi and the Brazilian Master.  They take on brother Facundo Pieres and the King of Pain Sebe Merlos without their leader Lyndon Lea who is packing a wing at the moment.

In other action for the Quarters it is Bendabout also undefeated, led by Julio Arellano of the 2010 Champs.  He plays with a hard-riding Jillian Johnston where they will meet The Owls and Mr. Vargas and his Lechuza-Carcas squad. Last but not least, 3 time champions Crab Orchard and George Rawlings hook up to a big one against the Nuns of Colombia also known as Los Monjitas. These two battled for the title in the last 2 or 3 years.  A side note of some interest is about 3 years ago Robert and Valiente met the Hawks in the Governor’s Cup in Indio, CA at the 6-goal handicap level … now just add 20.

Out here in CA it was the finals of the 2011 Gov. Cup, but no word on who won or even who played in the finals as it will come out soon. It is a bit hard to get information on the happenings down there, maybe because it is below sea level … not sure?????

If some of you are looking for Turnout until next time in cooler weather Peter Gianibi has pasture in San Ynez area with lots of grass and also a couple of high end houses for rent during Polo season very close to SB Polo Club.

See ya.