Many of the regular polo spectators have taken note of a handful of young players making their way onto high-goal rosters this year, with a couple of holdovers from last year as well. Certainly most will remember the performance of Mason Wroe on the 2012 Coca-Cola polo team that won the Herbie Pennell Cup and the Joe Barry Memorial Cup. Well, Mason saw his handicap jump from three to four and is now taking the field as a member of the Orchard Hill entry. Julio Gracida, now playing with Valiente, also appears to be coming of age as he has shown great acumen on both offense and defense for the Colorado-based team.
Many were surprised a few years ago when Geronimo Obregon, rated at zero at the time, ably filled in for Camilo Bautista on the Las Monjitas team from Colombia. At the end of the season he saw his handicap elevated to one goal. During his tenure with Las Monjitas Geronimo was being mounted by the team. When he was through, he was fortunate enough to be able to share a string of family horses that were used to mount Marianito, Facundo and Juan Martin.
Matias Gonzalez is another case. Forgetting that Nic Roldan was 15-years-old when he played on a winning U. S. Open championship team, some observers have questioned his presence in 20-goal polo. With about three more weeks left in his “high-goal season, Matias Gonzalez will turn in the fine mounts that Zacara has provided to him and return to his family stable of two ponies (one of them very old).
What will become of Matias in the future is hard to determine. His American citizenship would certainly put him in consideration for possible participation in future Team USPA consideration. When approached with the subject former 7-goaler Charles Smith, the Chairman of the Team USPA Committee of the USPA said that they’d had their eye on young Matias for a couple of years. The subject of elevating his handicap has been bantered around, but without horses any major jump in his handicap would remove him from almost any team consideration in the near future.
What will happen in Matias’s future, we’re not sure, but we’re certainly going to enjoy watching him play for the balance of the Ylvisaker Cup.