The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
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Welcome to the world of Polo. About every 7th person on the USPA list does not come from a polo family. This statistic is the same as England, France, Argentina, Brazil does not matter that is the way it is first lifestyle,horses and then either it fits or it does not after that it becomes desire and opportunity. That is the way it is. Some names have been in polo for the last 6 decades and longer. The Uhliens, Rizzos, Butterworth, Barrys, Smiths, Coreys and Waymans to name a few. One family that is involved now is the Gracidas, who are from Mexico (the older generations), but the last two are mainly from the USA. This family has been in the American polo scene from at least the 1940’s from what I know.
Well, over the last three weeks the Gracida Family has been quite a big part of Santa Barbara Polo. Julio, the son of Memo Gracida, and Mariano, the son of Carlos Gracida, have had a very good season on the West Coast. About a week or so these two young guns gave Pop a thumping in a previous tournament, but today it was Pop’s day to thump his son and nephew. As you might say “he schooled them” a little. Earth Polo put a whipping on Cecil’s to head to the finals, but it is not over yet. There are a whole bunch of Walkers walkabout things got all turned around. Long Beach (the Walker Clan) and a old feller name Baker just pulverized Katrina/Mansour and with net goals eliminated them to send Mr. Cecils right back to the finals VS Pop and Mr Beniot. So it will be best of three and it will be fun to watch. You can bet at 3 pm Sunday afternoon.
If you’re a little farther south head to San Diego Polo Club where they have had a full house. With a couple of wild weekends behind them, they are totally in control of where the Surf meets the Turf with huge crowds and good times. If the sun is shining on the Gold Coast, life cannot get much better. So head to the big green fields where the kids can see the ponies run and hear the thunder of hoofs on the wide-open fields. If your in New York you can go to Guvenor’s Island and watch Prince Harry play polo or stop by the Hamptons. It’s polo time from coast to coast.
See you @ POLO.