Players from Columbia, Peru, Russia, Argentina, USA, England, Germany and Mexico came to play in the annual 9 to 12 goal Copa Careyes, which is played over the holidays from December 27 to January 2 – plus 85 head of horses were shipped in especially for the tournament to add to the 50 that were rented to visiting players. Giorgio Brignone, owner and president of the Costa Careyes club, hosted great parties, special events and fieldside camaraderie for all the players at this beautiful Pacific Ocean beach resort. Brignone was unable to play as he had a minor polo accident that sidelined him for the event. Carlos Zamora and Carlos Hernandez replaced him in the play.
To quote Memo Gracida to Sr Brignone: ¨ I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the polo tournament in Careyes from the fields, horses and people and the natural beauty of the place made without a doubt and excuse to come back next year!¨
ALL TEAMS WERE HONORED AT THE COPA CAREYES WITH GIORGIO AND GIAN FRANCO BRIGNONE.
Six teams played off in 2 separate brackets to get to the finals on Sunday, January 2. Both teams led by Carlos and Memo Gracida ended up in the finals but before lots of hard fought action by the other teams. Patrons who fielded teams included Brian Boyd,Sante Fe, New Mexico, Bolko Kissling, Germany and California, and Luis Miguel Basaguren, Juan Carlos Galan, Jorge Suarez, Hernan Coppel, all from Mexico and David Geovanis, Moscow, Russia . Carlos Gracida Casa Iguanas with Nick Clark(0), Jamie Peel(3) and Billy Steta(1) were undefeated going into the finals and had played Memo’s team of the Fernandez brothers, Alvaro (0) and Rodrigo (3) and cousin Isaac Sepulveda(1) in an earlier game.
WINNERS! OF THE COPA CAREYES – TEAM COBRA – L TO R MEMO GRACIA, ISAAC SEPULVEDA, ALVARO , RODRIGO AND ALBERTO FERNANDEZ
Finals days – all game faces in place – had Casa Iguanas( Carlos) and the Cobra(Memo) team of Monterrey. Ever chukker thru the fourth in a five chukker game ended in a tie , 8 to 8 – leading scorers were Carlos with 5 goals and Memo with 6. Carlos scored the next goal but Memo and Rodrigo Fernandez both had 2 in the last chukker ended the game in a 12 to 9 victory for the Cobra team with their large family ecstatic on the sidelines. Rodrigo Fernandez of the Cobra team was high scoring amateur for the tournament. Rob Roenisch and son, Daniel, umpires for the tournament , were given compliments for their expertise.
JAMIE PEEL (3) CASA IGUANAS TEAM AND RODRIGO FERNANDE, COBRA, FIGHT HARD FOR THE BALL.
Further action for the other standings were the Careyes team against La Karina for 3rd and fourth and Monterrey Stallions played Casa Sombras for 5th and 6th. The next tournament is the Canadian Week, Ladies Polo and More and Careyes is hosting a FIP Ambassadors Cup the first week of February. Please see us at www.careyes.com.
TROPHY TABLE FOR THE COPA CAREYES EVENT ´PLAYED FROM DECEMBER 27 THROUGH JANUARY 2, 2011