The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
Summer may have finally arrived in Santa Barbara as it has been in the high 70’s two days in a row with sunshine all day. Today was it the surprise of new teams or was it a solution to old teams?
As for Polo it looks like some brand new team ideas, but same names as 3 teams carried new staff in the first round. Did it work? Only time will tell we should know more in about a week.
In game one, a new idea was seen as Mrs. Ganzi, as in Melisa, came to the field with a new captain Miguel Astrada. He seems to fit pretty well. In their first game they gave Lucchese all they could handle and looked very sharp for no practice and a new group. They pushed the big man to the limit, but he still won as Lucchese went out with a win, but by 1 over Piaget.
In the second of the day it was Mansour doing the unbelievable. They WON ! Lolo and Sapo galloped off with a close one, but still on top over ERG. It was a new team for Ben Solemani as he added Lolo + young gun Juan Ho as in Gonzalez of the local mix. Juan Ho played exceptional. In my opinion, he is the best player for his handicap on the field. He took the man and was very strong defending. It was a bit of a heavy on the stripes as they were in a lot of plays today. Some were needed and some were not. Scott Woods was very strong for ERG as he out worked the team in taking a Man. Just a small part of the sport, but also often wins the games. Mansour could be a factor we shall see.
In the final game of the day it was Audi making a huge rally to overcome a 3 goal lead by Grant’s Farm. The new combo of a pair of Gracida’s both named Carlos did very well as the super stick of Gonzalo 3 found them on many plays. Carlos Sr. is replacing Sugar, who suffered a broken leg last week.
Round 2 will be Sunday and will give us a better idea of who is going through to the semis as the first 2 teams get a bye to the semis. Some of the Polo whiners are saying this is a bad format because you could lose your first 3 games and still make the finals and even win it. There are some other ways, but the one which would have been the best for hard games of all play each other and best two meet in the finals may not be any better. As Mike Hagan said today, the problem with that idea is if one team loses the first 2 games he knows he is probably out and how much fun is that! And he is right. He also has four PCO titles to prove it. I do think it is far from over and most teams are not risking horses or will be for another week, but I doubt it is anywhere near decided as the new teams looked stronger than before … but are they? Time will tell. If you are anywhere nearby come on out. It will be fun to see. Best of all you can hear them as the low tone is not in effect as of yet or even close.
I had to laugh today about a rather innocent comment heard from sidelines. It went like this … one of the stripes said “thats enough Paco” and the player replied “I am not Paco I am Sapo” and he did not get a red flag as another player did when he seemed to compliment the stripes by saying “Bravo great call” it was not taken well, I guess.
Action continues this Sunday with 3 games and again next Thursday and then the best two teams are on to the semis. Other four play for the Quarters. The fields are getting rough and the action hot, so get ready to rumble.
Down South where they are getting huge crowds, the action has been hot. Mrs. Bancroft and her StarMeadows won the big one on Sunday. It is amazing what one Lady with one computer can do to build a crowd and she does not even have Nacho in town, who is fasttbecoming the face of Polo and is doing an unbelievable job @ it. Every week I see him in a magazine or a Paper or the TV and I do not even know how to see much on the Internet. I think Nacho Figueras has become the Star and maybe the Savior of Polo. Adolfo is the Stud and Nacho is the Star. I thank him for doing this so well as this is probably a lot more work than just hitting the ball and enjoying life in the saddle. I bet Ralph is also very happy to have him and not just an image on a bottle.