Elegante Polo-L to R-Federico Escobar, Armando Huerta, Tom Blake, Choice of Champions owner Allyn Maix and Robert Kiger.
By Whitney Webbe
In the second round-robin of the week, Elegante Polo (Federico Escobar, Robert Kiger, Armando Huerta and Tom Blake) emerged victorious to capture the Choice of Champions 8-goal at the Santa Clara Polo Club Saturday morning.
Elegante Polo rode onto the field for the first three chukkers of the three team round-robin against Santa Clara (Nico Escobar, Omar Sosa, Ruben Gracida and Francisco Escobar) carrying a 5-3 edge from their meeting on Thursday.
A pair of penalty conversions from Armando Huerta were countered by a single penalty goal from Omar Sosa in first chukker play as Elegante Polo extended its lead to 7-4 (combining the goals from Thursday’s competition with today’s goals).
Second chukker goals from Federico Escobar, Huerta and Tom Blake had Elegante on top of a 10-6 score. Santa Clara got a goal from the field from Ruben Gracida and a penalty conversion from Nico Pieres.
A last chukker Santa Clara rally saw Nico Escobar convert another penalty shot for a goal and add one from the field while he and his teammates held Elegante Polo scoreless. The chukker ended, however, with Elegante Polo riding off with a 10-8 victory.
SANTA CLARA 10, AGUA CLARA 10
Santa Clara held the field for the next three periods, facing Agua Clara (Mauricio Herrera, Tito Robledo, Wes Finlayson and Luis Escobar), a team they beat in Thursday’s competition, 5-3.
Santa Clara’s Nico Escobar scored the first two goals of the game from the field, the second on a blistering neck shot through the Agua Clara goalposts. Agua Clara was unable to score and trailed 7-3 (building on their Thursday scores).
Tito Robledo scored the first goal of the second chukker for Agua Clara followed by two goals from Wes Finlayson, 7-6. Santa Clara closed out the chukker with a goal from Nico Escobar to lead, 8-6.
Agua Clara exploded with four goals in the final chukker with Luis Escobar scoring from the field while Finlayson added two of his three goals on penalty shots. Nico Escobar responded for Santa Clara with two more goals on the day for a 10-10 tie.
ELEGANTE POLO 10, AGUA CLARA 8
In the final matchup of the day, Elegante Polo would need to defeat Agua Clara to win the tournament, and Agua Clara didn’t make it easy.
The two teams battled to a 3-3 tie in Thursday’s competition, forcing Elegante Polo to score a win to take top honors.
Luis Escobar converted a penalty shot for the first goal of the final three chukkers with teammates Tito Robledo and Mauricio Herrera adding single goals for a 6-5 lead. Elegante Polo received one goal from the field from Armando Huerta and was awarded one goal on a Penalty 1 to trail by a goal.
Two second chukker goals from Huerta and a goal from Tom Blake went unanswered. With one period left to play, Elegante Polo led, 8-6.
Federico Escobar converted a penalty shot and Blake scored from the field to give Elegante Polo a comfortable 10-6 lead, but Agua Clara wasn’t thru. Tito Robledo took the ball from the throw-in and raced down the field to score, 10-7. Finlayson converted a penalty shot for a goal, 10-8, but that was where it stalled. Time ran out on Agua Clara as Elegante Polo celebrated the 10-8 win.
Elegante Polo’s Armando Huerta was named MVP. Luis Escobar’s five-year-old mare Pippa received Best Playing Pony Honors.