Game # 4
Tupungato (11) vs Buena Vista (10) in sudden death overtime.
Let me give you a run down on the scoring for the chukkers…to give you a feel for how closely these two talented squads played each other.
Chukker 1, 2-2 (But Buena Vista rcd a goal on handicap, so 3-2, Buena Vista)
Chukker 2, 3-2 Tupungato
Chukker 3, 2-1 Tupungato
Chukker 4, 1-0 Buena Vista
Chukker 5, 2-1 Buena Vista
Chukker 6, 2-1 Tupungato…all tied up at 10 goals apiece.
Chukker 7 Martin Estrada nails the winner early in the 7th.
Both Teams played well and the win could have slid either way. Buena Vista had a great opportunity with moments left in the sixth and missed by a few feet. Luis Rinaldini’s Long Island squad is seasoned and tough with the combo of five goalers Mauricio Deverient and Martin Estrada, both contributing 4 goals. Christian Alem got two and Luis had the first score of the game for Tupungato.
Tatin Zubiaurre was nothing short of spectacular as he took the game high honors with 7 tallies. Sam Ramirez was looking high goal on an awesome score where he turned the corner and brought the ball along the end line at speed and found the goal with very little angle afforded him. Tough break for Buena Vista…they played very well.
Game #5
Longfield Farm (10) vs Bulltick Polo (7)
Longfield started out a goal down in handicap and with a lone score in the first by Juan Otharen, Bulltick was ahead 2-0. Agustin Zavaleta found the uprights in chukker two and then found them 7 more times for a game high 8 goals. Brothers Enrique and Augustine were telepathic.
Now people around here seemed to be pretty impressed with the way Augustine can hit the ball off the bounce at speed. I have had the pleasure of watching him do his thing for years. In fact, I had to smile when he told me that the ball bounces a lot at mashomack compared to Southern California. Now bouncing a lot is a problem for most, but we used to joke that Augustine should roto till the field in the night, because he would be one of the few players still hitting the ball at speed. Now you cant just talk Agustin when he is mounted on Argentine championship horses out of Duke Buchan’s barn. And you cant talk Duke Buchan’s barn without mentioning the incredible barn and string management by Juan Olivera. So give a great player…some great horses…..and the rest looks easy. The emphasis would be on the word looks.
Now Bulltick come to the field with another great…that would be Hernan Tasso. Hernan was nothing short of a magician as he was disappering and reappearing wherever he needed to be…and he and his ponies ran hard and ran well. The Bulltick team seems to like the second half of the game as this is the second consecutive time they mounted a comeback. One of their standout plays was when sponsor Javier Guerra drove a beautiful shot up to Juan Ghiralanda who scored a beautiful near-side. The game was a wild running wide open game.
Current Eddie Moore Bracket Standings
Bracket I
Stone Rows Farm 1/0
Tupungato 1/0
Buena Vista 0/1
Burnt Mills 0/1
Bracket II
Longfield Farm 2/0
Smithfield Farm 1/0
Polo Do/Supersize 0/1
Bulltick Polo 0/2
Play Continues Wed-4pm at Ten Mile River Farm in Amenia
The Eddie Moore will continue Wednesday when Burnt Mills and Buena Vista will face each other in the throw in over at ten Mile River Farm. That is Michael Levin’s beautiful field. Those of you that already know the history of the Eddie Moore, know that Michael Levin is the one who introduced this tournament into the US. So it is a fitting tribute to the late great Eddie Moore to have the Ten Mile River Farm in play. This is possibly the first year that Michael has not entered a team as he is doing a lot of business travel this summer, but it is wonderful to have his farm still in the mix.
The Coaching Chukkers on Saturday were threatened by some rain showers, so we took cover under the chalkboard and decided while we were there…why not talk some about rules. Kind of like the brussel sprouts of polo, but nobody fell asleep…some possible head bobbing, but the skies cleared just in time to wake back up, grab the horses, and have some real fun amongst a group of friends learning how to both play and trash talk at the same time.
Our Club Challenge match on Saturday was testimony that four players will win over three everytime. And that is just what we had, four players: Amy Wisehart, Chris Green, Maxi Langlois, and Parker Gentry Thorne (btw…she’s all one person). Well the foursome out hit, out galloped, and out scored the threesome of Abhay Singh, Faud Malik, and David Merena. Their supposed fourth was one of our newer recruits who thought he would be trying some horses of Michael Levin’s, but apparently Michael was schooling them himself in a practice at Ten Mile. What a day to have silver out on the table..and the foursome each has one. Now that silver is about 30 times larger than the USPA Governor’s Cup trophies supplied by the USPA, that are harder to spot in the Smithfield Farm trophy shot then waldo in a where’s waldo book.