Cowboy Cup 20, 21 August, 2011

In true cowboy fashion, northwest polo’s Cowboy Cup took off like a bucking colt. Through a hard-fought bloody game Morgan Stanley-Tentnology emerged the absolute victor, shutting down Storm Cat’s four year winning streak. The first day game moved in favour of Storm Cat with a small lead over Morgan Stanley-Tentnology. But an action-packed second day ended in a decisive lead by the financial/manufacturer team from which Storm Cat would see no recovery. At 35 mph and a 1/2 second left before the horn, Tentnology pro Nicolas Maciel hammered home a booming shot through the Storm Cat goal posts to transfix both crowd and final score at 9-5; both teams trotting away sore but happy with a great polo weekend.

Photo left to right: Nicolas Maciel, Manuel Vismara, Gery Warner, Rob Pederson, Segundo Bengolea

Photo left to right: Nicolas Maciel, Manuel Vismara, Gery Warner, Rob Pederson, Segundo Bengolea

Team Morgan Stanley-Tentnology

Gery Warner

Rob Pederson
Segundo Bengolea
Manuel Vismara
Nicolas Maciel

Team Storm Cat

Dylan Warner
Randy Thompson
George Olivas
Craig Steinke
Victor Soto

Games were five chukkas with one man standing down each.

A brief history

The Cowboy Cup had its genesis back in the day when Harry Kent and his clan ruled an Eastern Washington polo empire like TV Ponderosa’s Ben Cartwright.

Springtime’s Rawhide Cup brought invaders from the “wet” coast to play in a Yakima valley paradise on the White Swan Indian reserve.  We coastals were all so happy to trade steel grey Pacific sky for the clear blue just across that mountain range.  The Rawhide Cup  got the bucks out of wintered horse and player alike.

Then … the Cowboy Cup … when autumn rains on a gloomy coast drove seasoned players back once more to the Kent’s gracious hospitality.  What warm wonderful times they were.

But nothing lasts forever.  Reconstituted once more by polo patron Craig Steinke at his idyllic field in Ferndale Washington, the Cowboy Cup lives again.  And life moves on.