Aug. 26th '07: Champions of The Pacific Coast Open Z-Z-ZACARA @ Santa Barbara PC (CA)

Click here to view photos of the P.C.O. By David Lominska.

Z-Z-Zacara or just plain Zacara. They came to play and they did it. It was a balls to the wall game from 0 to 42 and then some. Lyndon Lea is a Patron from the UK and he likes to play polo. Lyndon picked a good team and he let them fly and they have since the first week of August. It has been a problem to beat them and nobody did.

Today, Sunday Aug. 26th ’07, was something special. First you have to understand polo is a game and even though its a game somebody has to win. Here lies the problem. It gets nasty often, but today was awesome. Memo Gracida, Captain of Piocho Ranch, went as far as letting Zacara know he was swicthing players for the finals.This was a very royal gesture in this sport and it was a royal game. The umpires did a very good job of keeping the game safe yet exciting. As for the game it was good old-fashioned speed. They ran, we ran and nobody did not run.

Piocho made the first goal, but it would be their only lead during the game. Zacara came back quick and it was Ruki Bailieu on fire as he caputured the second with solid stickwork. I thought he should have been the MVP today. He was very good, but everyone turned up the heat on a day that showed rain, but not a drop was really ever felt. That is normal for Ca. In August no rain anyway.

Back to the game. It was 3 to 1 at the end of the first chukker. The first chukker showed this was going to be a polo game with speed. The field playing better for the finals in many years due to not having a pregame played on it before the final. The field was much faster than last year. The second chukker was when Zacara won the Open. They were quick in the throw ins and it was 1 touch polo. Nick Roldan to Lyndon Lea to Brandon Philips to Ruki Bailieu and goal. There were 6 goals scored in the second chukker and only 1 knock in. It was when “Nick the Stick” Roldan missed a #4, but he made up for it with high speed steals and rocket shots to teammates. At the end of 2 it was 7 to 3 . The third chukkar was a draw as Nick got out of rythm for a while after a long 1/2 time show. All were rested and ready to go. The Master, under Tom Barracks tent, was working on a new plan. Tom Barrack playing with a broken finger on his right hand was not going to be done and we all knew it. Lyndon Lea the opposing patron had this to say. Its 0 to 0 so lets go boys. Oh did they roll in the 4th easily. It was one of the fastest chukkers ever at Santa Barbara and it finished in a draw 2 to 2. No knock ins, no penalty shots, they just ran and hit and went very fast. The fifth chukker saw what we expected, trouble from the red camp. We knew it was coming and it did. Zacara got the first goal, but they would have a 10 to 6 lead for about 30 seconds as an open goal foul was awarded and then a technical converted and another huge run by Julio Gracida and suddenly its a 2 goal lead. Then the Red Head (Kris Kampsen) puts one in and its a 1 goal game and the crowd is going wild. Most are in red, but a quick breakaway by Ruki stops the bleeding and gets the Z’s back to 2 up and then a big run by Brandon closes the chukker and Zacara has some room again as they lead by 3, but lost the chukkar by 4 to 3. It was a very good chukkar 1 penalty, 1 technical and one heck of a lot of scoring 7 goals in 7 minutes.

The final chukkar looked to be a big one, but Piocho missed 2 chances to narrow the board and then Lyndon Lea in a huge run and save had a crash, but he saved the goal and for about 14 minutes lay unhappy at the north end of the field as a substuite was located. He said no to a substitute he wanted tol finish and he DID. Lyndon could not walk, but he rode the last 2 and 1/2 minutes and even hit the ball, but I do not think he was feeling very well. It took some help to get him to the cup presentation on the trophy stand, but he was smiling as was all of Zacara and so was Piocho Ranch. It was a very clean game. very fair and very fast. The way polo should be played. No tap, tap and no squaling. Just good old-fashioned polo. Thanks for a very good day of it. See ya

Click here to view photos of the P.C.O. By David Lominska.