The defending 2015 Monty Waterbury White Birch team (L to R)-Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre, Peter Brant and Santino Magrini will face Postage Stamp Farm I their opening Monty Waterbury Cup game of the season.
The Greenwich Polo Club will kick-off its 35th season of high-goal polo on Sunday with competition for the 20-goal USPA Monty Waterbury Cup. Established in memory of the American 10-goaler James Montgomery “Monty” Waterbury, Jr. (1876-1920), the cup was originally played for by teams competing in the United States Open Championship, later becoming a separate tournament.
The trophy carries some of the most esteemed names in the game from 9-goaler Louis Stoddard to 10-goalers J. Watson Webb, Tommy Hitchcock and Cecil Smith. The tournament was played at the Meadow Brook Club for over 30 years before bouncing around for a few years before settling in to Pete Bostwick’s Village Farms Polo Club (1981-1990). The Saratoga Polo Club hosted the tournament from 1992 (with two series played at the Potomac Polo Club in 1991 and 1993) until 2002. The Waterbury Cup was played at the Greenwich Polo Club in 2003 (won by White Birch) before moving to the royal Palm Polo Club in Florida (2004-2007), the New Bridge Polo Club and the 302 Polo Club in Aiken, South Carolina before making its way back to the Bridgehampton Polo Club (2013-2014) and back to Greenwich in 2015).
The defending championship White Birch polo team (Santino Magrini, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) will be returning intact to defend their title, joined by Airstream (Peter Orthwein, Matias Magrini, Kris Kampsen and Guille Aguero), Postage Stamp (Annabelle Gundlach, Brandon Phillips, Nick Manifold and Joao Paolo Ganon), Goose Creek (Maureen Brennan, Tomas Garcia Del Rio, Mariano Gonzalez and Marcos Garcia Del Rio) and Beluga (Chris Brant, Naco Taverna, Tommy Biddle and Salvador Ulloa).
The opening game of the tournament is slated to be played at 10am between Goose Creek and Beluga. The feature match of the day will take place at 3pm and will feature White Birch and Postage Stamp Farm
Players from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States will battle for top honors in the celebrated tournament as players and fans alike celebrate the Greenwich Polo Club’s 35th year of competition.
Polo matches are open to the public every Sunday June 5th – July 17th (no match July 3rd) and Sundays August 28th – September 11th. Tickets may be purchased online and range from $40 per car for lawn seating, $60 per car for grandstand seating, $300 for box seats (seats 4) and $500-$600 for VIP private cabanas (seats 8).
Gates open at 1:00 p.m. and matches start at 3:00 p.m. The field address is 1 Hurlingham Drive, Greenwich, CT 06831. Dogs on leashes are allowed.