The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
The first round of the USPA Intercircuit got underway today at the fabulous Piocho Ranch. Thanks to Mr. Tom Barrack for letting us use your field. It was still very wet in Carpinteria. It was kind of fun climbing up the pass in fog. It was so thick I could barley see the road. When I reached the top it was another sunny day. The game was played on best field in the county. Leigh Brecheen’s Antelope team got the lead back from Farmer’s & Merchant’s in the second period of play. They just keep ahead the rest of the game. There were some rather silly calls, but luckily 8 of them, I think, were overturned. It does hurt the momentum a lot of time. With 8 teams we should be seeing more and better men in the black and white. This is not a training ground for them.
Today in this game I thought for most part Andy Maze did very well. I still think this tournament should have been seeded and these two teams may well have been in the finals. It would have been a great game for it. Game 2 was held at another beautiful place, Andy Busch’s setting near Gaviota. Grant’s Farm/Wildcats and Ryan Gilbertson took on the high-flying hawks and Phil Mattagart. It was tied in the fourth and Andy’s sub, family member Charley Peterson, along with the wicked speed of Joseph Stuart. They made a run, but the Hawks kept circling. One at a time they came back to stop the guns of Grant’s Far/Wildcats and the Hawks go to 1 and 0.
Game 3 was at the Club delayed to 3:30 due to traffic on the 101. As the county continues to reap rewards from the oil companies, a leak 3 weeks happened nearby. It was in the local papers. You will know the con job, but what they do not figure is the oil companies say “well now we have this problem. so oil must be shipped.” They will charge us more and our prices are already a buck more than National average. That is the way it is here. We are at their mercy.
Game 3 was the Monterrey, Mexico Fernandez macho men showing they were “macho.” They put a drubbing on Klentner Ranch. They have young Rodrigo looking like Memo in a lot of plays, but the grand old man Memo and his yellow hat was obviously directing the show and doing it well. They go to 1 and 0.
Game 4 was at 5:30 and it was bit chilly in the low 60’s, but nobody told Twin Palms’ Patron Chris Maloney it was cold. He came out on fire and just kept on burning as did the whole Twin Palms team. They rode the boots off of Lucchese, despite a very strange referee standing. I do not know why, but is it possible a team winning so obviously going hard never gets fouled in 4 chukkars. The whistle never blew and only twice in the other 2 and it blew against the winners 17 times and 2 of them were in the last 2 minutes for the winners were up by several. I am also a bit keen on two things they are doing. One is blowing an appeal every now and then and going completely stupid about it. Then saying things in a near unseating was not in balance, when we all saw what it was. If we are going to pay the Umpires then they must have a controller. This happened before. They do not rule, they only enforce the rules correctly. That is why they are hired. As a coach, I will be very happy to answer them. Why I say this … there are videos.
Anyway, if it does not snow we will have 4 games on Sunday and it looks like this …
10 am La Herradura 1-0 vs. Hawk Hill 1-0
also Grants Farm/Wildcats 0-1 vs. Klentner Ranch 0-1
1 pm Farmers and Merchants 0-1 vs. Lucchese 0-1
3 pm Antelope 1-0 vs. Twin Palms 1-0
Down South in party town San Diego has a full slate for Sunday and they are in their second week of the main one.
Across the pond tune into the Queen’s Cup finals at 10 am Sunday morning. It will showcase 3 of the best players on the planet. Then head out to the local club for a GREAT TIME.
see ya @ POLO