Alegria 9-goaler Freddie Mannix.
Following the heroic effort of the Alegria polo team (Polito Pieres, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Freddie Mannix) in their loss to Adolfo Cambiaso’s La Dolfina foursome (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Sebastian Merlos-replacing the injured Juan Martin Nero) Freddie Mannix saw his impressive 8-goal handicap elevated to nine, making him the second-highest rated Canadian player in history.
His 34-goal Alegria polo team played La Dolfina goal for goal through much of the first six chukkers of play in the Argentine Open finals before falling 16-11 to the veteran lineup.
“We had a good game plan and got some inspiring speeches from our captain (Lucas Monteverde) and coach (Clemente Zavaleta), and we studied the films before the Ellerstina game (a 19-15 upset) and the final with La Dolfina.”
Alegria played La Dolfina, the 2013 winners of the Tortugas Open and the Hurlingham Open, to an 8-8 tie at the end of the first half and trailed by only two goals after six periods.
“We got behind by a couple of goals late in the game and took some chances that didn’t work out for us,” said Mannix. “I was proud of the team and the effort that we put forth,” he added.
The efforts of the Alegria team didn’t go unnoticed by the Argentine Polo Association, and following their performance in the finals both Mannix and teammate Polito Pieres had their handicaps raised to 9-goals.
When asked about the discrepancy between his 6-goal handicap in the United States (Mannix had been rated at 7-goals) and his 9-goal rating in Argentine he said that they were different levels of polo and had separate associations to rate the players.
“I don’t pay much attention to individual handicaps,” he said. “I’m more concerned with the individual efforts of the players and the teamwork.”
Mannix was busy getting his horses in shape for the winter season at the International Polo Club in Wellington where he will compete with Melissa Ganzi, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Juan Bollini on the Flight Options/Alegria roster in 20-goal competition.
When asked if he would be playing at the 26-goal level this winter season he replied that he couldn’t get on a team that he thought had a chance of winning and would pass on it this year.
Canadian polo dates back to the year 1878 and boasts their very own 10-goal player in Lewis Lacey, but Lacey did most of his playing in Argentina. Mannix was groomed in Canada and hones his skills at the Eldorado Polo Club in Palm Springs, California and Wellington, Florida before establishing a base in Argentina. A promising young player with unlimited potential, you can expect to see a competitive Alegria team back on the fields of Buenos Aires again in 2014.