I took a little walkabout while the lights were still dim at Santa Barbara PC and ended up in Party Land (San Diego PC) where they were having a lot of polo and some speedy action on Saturday. The game was a dandy at 1 pm. The San Diego Magazine Cup action continued with Hanalei Bay/Sorteo who took on Ohana/Tri tech combo of Silent Chris (Maloney) and sister Kelly from the Tiki Tavern. She was not slinging shots just polo balls as she rang the bell 5 times to lead O/S past Hanalei/n a very fast and hard game which was over early, but just not quite. The Doctor (Gaston Von Wernich) and Dandy Dan (Danny Juarez) coasted to a big win. It was just not over as Fast-etta (Mariano Fassetta) and Jophie (Joseph Stuart) came alive in the second 1/2 and smoked the board with 5 big ones to tie it up. They even took the lead, but Ms. Kelly was not going to let her best day end that way. She grabbed a big pass at midfield and headed north at a high rate of speed and stroked it thru to knot it up and start a wild finish. Her team Tri tech/Ohana got the final flag with seconds to go on the timepiece and then the horn sounded and a Lady who has had a long winter knew it was summer time where the surf meets the turf. She had a big smile on her face as they head to the finals next Sunday afternoon of the San Diego Magazine Surf Cup.
In the low goal it was Tracee Brunetti in her powder blue surviving a big run by Roberto Estudio and Daniel Samaniego in the last two chukkers to keep LA Pasion out in front of San Fernando.
Up north in Santa Barbara they have the first high goal game on Sunday probably an exhibition game as only Audi elected to enter the first tournament. It looks like the polo legend Memo Gracida will be out west to see his son play. He may join TJ Barrack and Matt Ladin for a little bit of fun in the Santa Barbara sun. Farther up north in the fantasy land called Calgary, the weather is about the same as the coast except for a little greener and a lot higher up. They have the the Silver tips of the Rockies shinning brightly. Calgary finished their first big weekend with Smokin’ Joe Henderson and the Julian Mannix taking down the Palomino (Jason Crowder) and the Ferg (Fergus Gould) in the finals.
Now if you are looking for good weather (some rain may happen) and total natural beauty, good polo fields check out Calgary. If someone in the family likes the leapers they also have Hunter/Jumper facilities about 3 miles away and it’s called Spruce Meadows. I hear is the greatest Equestrian Center on the glob. Its close to the Calgary Polo Club which is just south of the city of Calgary. They are amazing places in an amazing place on Earth.
The weather was a smooth 82 degrees on the coast in California this weekend and it was a brilliant summer weekend. It made polo the place to be and action was evident. It was a 4-game day with lots of happy people down south (San Diego) where things are slower, but a lot of people at the Polo fields for the parties and the ponies.
see ya @ POLO.
-Steve Crowder