Casablanca Wins USPA Eastern Challenge Cup

Winning team Casablanca with Nic Roldan and his nephew Santos, Wes Finlayson, awards presenter Georgette Escobar, MVP Juancito Bollini, Grant Ganzi. 
Photo by Rob Bowman

Juancito Bollini Named MVP

Casablanca held off a late rally by upset-minded Dutta Corp to capture the USPA Eastern Challenge Cup in front of a good crowd and worldwide Chukker TV audience.

In the first game of a Mother’s Day tripleheader on Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club, Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Wes Finlayson, Nic Roldan) edged Dutta Corp (Timmy Dutta, Carlitos Gracida, Kris Kampsen, Guille Aguero), 11-10.

A late rally led by Kampsen and Dutta, at 13, the youngest player in the final, enabled Dutta Corp to shut out Casablanca, 3-0, in the final chukker. Despite two scoring opportunities Dutta Corp ran out of time as Casablanca held on for its first spring tournament victory.

Juancito Bollini, 19, a sophomore at Florida Atlantic University, was awarded Most Valuable Player, for his outstanding play.

Alegre, a 9-year-old Chestnut owned by Tim Dutta and ridden by his son Timmy in the third chukker, was selected Best Playing Pony.

Casablanca, which started with a two-goal handicap lead and added a penalty-one goal, got balanced scoring from all four of its players. Bollini led scoring with three and Ganzi, Finlayson and Roldan each had two goals but the win was far from easy.

“They played really well, give them credit,” Ganzi said of Dutta Corp. “The sixth chukker they played well and we lost our rhythm and started fouling a little bit. We just played kind of sloppy that chukker but overall we played well.

“The first half was really good,” Ganzi said. “We came out  strong, loosened up a little and kept pushing hard. We just didn’t respond when they started scoring goal after goal in the sixth chukker.

“In the end it was all okay. We held on and won. It’s good to actually win this one. This team is a lot of fun. Nic helped us a lot. He tells us what to do and where to be. We need that kind of guidance. We’re thankful we have a guy like that.”

Roldan’s booming 65-yard goal gave Casablanca a 5-1 lead for most of the opening chukker. Gracida’s late goal in the final 30 seconds ended the chukker at 5-2.

Dutta Corp rallied 3-1 in the third chukker behind Dutta’s two goals from the field and penalty shot to cut Casablanca’s lead to one (6-5) at the end of the second chukker.

Casablanca rebounded with a 3-0 third chukker with two goals from Finlayson and penalty shot by Bollini for a 9-5 halftime advantage.

The fourth and fifth chukkers were more defensive with each team scoring one goal in each chukker and Casablanca holding an 11-7 advantage after five chukkers.

Kampsen rallied his team in the sixth chukker opening the chukker with a reverse neck shot for a goal at the 6:45 mark, bringing his team to within three (11-8). A minute later, Kampsen scored on an open back shot to trail by two (11-9). At the 3:36 mark, Dutta converted a penalty goal to trail by only one.

Both teams had scoring opportunities but squandered them as time ran out.

Dutta had a game-high four goals including three in the second chukker. Kampsen had three, Gracida scored two and Aguero added one.
In the USPA Eastern Challenge subsidiary game, Audi (Marc Ganzi, Hector Guerrero, Felipe Viana, Lucas Lalor) defeated Intercontinental Hotel (Alejandro Poma, Roberto Gonzalez, Piki Alberdi, Tito Gaudenzi), 10-9. Marc Ganzi scored a team-high five goals and was named MVP.

Throughout the afternoon, family, friends, players and fans were treated to a catered brunch courtesy of hosts Marc and Melissa Ganzi and Grand Champions.

Top professional chef Shannon Atkins, a Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts alum and recent Flavors of Wellington winner, and his staff John Tadesco, Ondrus Atkins and Uniquely Yourz Cakes, Cupcakes & More, served a five-star buffet luncheon along with a open bar.

Casablanca joins Palm Beach Equine (Scott Swerdlin, Facundo Obregon, Brandon Phillips, Martin Estrada), Travieso (Tony Calle, Carlucho Arellano, Julio Arellano, Teo Calle) and Psycho Bunny (Piki Diaz Alberdi, Brandon Phillips, Andrew Seibert, Kris Kampsen) as the first four tournament champions.

The remaining spring tournaments at Grand Champions are this weekend’s Polo Gear Challenge Cup, May 21-25, The Memorial, May 24-25 USPA NYTS and May 28-31, Santa Rita Memorial.

One of the biggest highlights of the spring season has been the use of state-of-the-art technology featuring live streaming, instant replay, challenges and team review from Chukker.TV.

In January, 2014, Grand Champions Polo Club became the first polo club worldwide to offer instant replay and team review much to the delight of players and patrons in hopes of improving officiating and quality of play at all levels of polo.

Chukker.TV is providing unduplicated state-of-the-art technology to provide instant replay. In addition, the technical staff has live-streamed games that have been viewed around the world on its website.

Chukker.TV also partnered with Roku, Inc. to bring polo to fans live in the comfort of their homes at no cost. Chukker.TV has a channel on Roku.

Grand Champions,with its five well-manicured fields and turnkey facility, is enjoying its finest spring season in the history of the club, which opened in 2008. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the games. Admission is free.

2015 POLO ON DEMAND

Grand Champions Polo Club, featuring five world-class fields, has a full schedule of tournaments from January to May. Let our polo experts create a turn-key experience including top pros to bring out the best in you and your team. Lessons are available.

2015 SPRING SCHEDULE

May 14-17, Polo Gear Challenge Cup; May 21-25, The Memorial; May 24-25, USPA NYTS; May 28-31, Santa Rita Memorial.

GRAND CHAMPIONS POLO CLUB

WHERE: 13444 Southfields Road, on the corner of South Shore Boulevard and Lake Worth Road, Wellington, 33414.