FlexJet Wins Louis Vuitton Cup At Aspen Valley Polo Club

FlexJet, with a combination of up-and-coming players and veteran experience, held off Team Mexico to capture the Louis Vuitton Cup this past weekend at Aspen Valley Polo Club.

FlexJet (Juancito Bollini, Lucas Lalor, Grant Ganzi, Stewart Armstrong) defeated Team Mexico (Alejandro Gonzalez, Carlitos Gracida, Mariano Gracida, Guillermo Steta), 6-5.

In front of a worldwide ChukkerTV audience and large local crowd including five-time Olympic skier Casey Puckett, who presented post-game awards, FlexJet captured its first tournament of the summer polo season.

Lalor was named Most Valuable Player for the first time during the summer season.

Chestnut, a 7-year-old chestnut mare, ridden by Lalor and owned by Halo Polo, was named Best Playing Pony. Chestnut is the daughter of polo pony great Timba, owned by Argentine 10-goaler Facundo Pieres.

Lalor led scoring with three goals and played heads-up, ball-hawking defense. Ganzi added two goals and Bollini had one. Armstrong, a steadying influence on the younger players, was outstanding on defense and goal assists.

Carlitos Gracida had two goals for Team Mexico while Gonzalez, Mariano Gracida and Steta each had one goal. Steta, president of the Mexico Polo Federation and FIP ambassador, was making his summer polo debut in Aspen.

After a scoreless first chukker, FlexJet scored two goals in the second chukker with Lalor scoring on a deep neck shot and Bollini scoring on a 30-yarder after a great pass from Armstrong.

FlexJet held Team Mexico scoreless again in the second chukker while building a 3-0 lead on a Lucas 60-yarder with another great pass from Armstrong. Team Mexico got on the scoreboard with a lofted goal from Steta. FlexJet lead 3-1 at the half.

Team Mexico got untracked in the second half and started marking FlexJet well. Gonzalez and Carlitos Gracida scored to cut FlexJet’s lead to 4-3. After missed scoring opportunities by both teams in the fifth chukker, Ganzi scored a 30-yard penalty goal and Lalor scored from the field to extend FlexJet’s lead, 6-3.

Team Mexico rallied in the sixth chukker outscoring FlexJet, 2-0, behind goals by the Gracida brothers but ran out of time.

In another hotly-contested game, Audi (Will Jacobs, Melissa Ganzi, Lucas Lalor, Juan Bollini, Riley Ganzi) defeated KIG (Bash Kazi, Brian Boyd, Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan), 9-7, in the tournament’s subsidiary game. Nic Roldan, one of the nation’s top players, was named Most Valuable Player.

Melissa Ganzi led all scoring with five goals. Jacobs, making his medium goal tournament debut in Aspen, added two goals. Bollini and Riley Ganzi each had one goal. Marc Ganzi led his team in scoring with three goals. Boyd and Kazi each had two goals.

Fans, players and their families enjoyed food and refreshments courtesy of Aspen Valley Polo Club and entertaining kids foot mallet polo game at halftime.

Louis Vuitton is the name of a luxury fashion brand, made popular by its luggage and leather goods. The French company is one of the leading fashion houses in the world and responsible for creating trends and influencing fashion. Louis Vuitton has several stores throughout the world including Aspen, Colo.

FlexJet Team sponsor has been a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies since 2013. They are committed to creating premium travel experiences and providing access to the most modern, technologically-advanced aircraft in the industry on a daily basis, going above and beyond world-class private travel experiences.

Nine summer tournaments have been played at Aspen Valley Polo Club. In addition to FlexJet’s victory this past weekend, Melody Polo Team won the first two tournaments–Independence Cup and ChukkerTV Challenge; Aspen Valley Polo Team won the Aspen Valley Cup I; Travieso won the Craig Sakin Memorial; La Karina won the Basalt Handicap Cup and Aspen Valley Cup II; KIG captured the Emma Challenge; and Audi won the inaugural ChukkerTV Arena Challenge Cup.

The remainder of the summer schedule is this week’s Mount Sopris Cup and Aug. 12-23 Rocky Mountain Cup.

ChukkerTV, the leaders in polo broadcasting, is live streaming the club’s tournaments.

In addition to Aspen Valley Polo Club action, ChukkerTV’s Summer Tour, a 13,000-mile cross country trip featuring several U.S. Polo Association tournaments at various U.S. polo clubs including Oak Brook and Greenwich, is also under way.

ChukkerTV, an independent media company, was the first to introduce state-of-the-art live streaming technology in January, 2014 at Grand Champions Polo Club, where it was well-received for its cutting-edge technology and ability to promote the sport to a larger audience and continues to build and improve its technology.