The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
Alonso Cruz, subbing for Charlie Walker, was simply awesome in his first chance to hit the big time. as He made it happen and Patron Henry Walker and Farmers & Merchants out-dueled Silent Chris Maloney and Twin Palms in the last two chukkars.
The first final of 2016 was in good fashion yesterday with a few big surprises. The Sun came out about 2.30 and made for a very pleasant day. There was also a very nice crowd, which was a real nice thing to see, because it has been a while. I asked several people what got them here they said they found it on on the axxcss Card (it sounds like access card) but said it was with x’s. Anyway they are loudly thanked and hope they continue to come to polo. Now we need an announcer, quick as in next Sunday.
The Polo game was a little bit confusing to new people, probably as there were 3 goals scored in first 2 minutes and then not another for 8 minutes, but it was a good moving game. Both patrons Henry Walker and Chris Maloney were very strong yesterday. They came out smoking the ball. It was fun to see. The F&M finished chukkar 1 up by 2 to 1. TP tied it up in the 2nd as F&M failed on 4 out of 5 penalty 4’s. It might have let Cruz shoot them. After the second TP went on a good run winning 5 to 3 at the 1/2 time break. They were still up 6 to 5 going into the 5th, but a great goal by Alonso tied it in the early 5th and stayed that way until the start of the 6th. Then the wheels came off of Twin Palms and F & M headed to the Trophy Stand with a 4 goal 6th.
It was a good finals and the crowd was great. There are some other young guns showing up quite a bit and making their place on the field. Seeing Alonso have such a great day will motivate them as well. Young Jake Kentner has been playing very good as well as Charlie Walker. Both are playing with their Father’s teams. This is what makes POLO.
The big one gets started across the pond Tuesday as two familiar faces to this area meet in London… Lyndon Lea’s Zacara takes on Ben Solemani’s Restoration Hardware in the Queens Cup at Windsor Park 6,000 miles away. Will Rogers also had their first full weekend and many others are a week or so away. See you next Sunday .
see ya