Wildcats patron, Ryan Gilbertson.
Minnesota’s Ryan Gilbertson will be entering a Wildcat team in this year’s series of 20-goal tournaments at the Santa Barbara Polo Club as the struggled to fortify the ranks the high-goal teams.
The defections of Ben Soleimani (Mansour) and Lyndon Lea (Zacara) to England, and the retirement of Pat Nesbitt (Windsor Capital), Andy Busch (Grants Manor Farm), Tom Barrack (Piocho Ranch) and Geoff Palmer (Antelope) from the high-goal ranks have left Santa Barbara in the lurch looking forward, with high-goal polo manager Phil Heatley scouring the barns for patrons and high-goal teams.
It was recently announced, however, that Gilbertson’s Wildcats team will be joining this year’s teams that include Lucchese (John Muse), ERG (Scott Wood) and Farmers and Merchants Bank (Henry and Dan Walker).
Lea had established a polo operation in Santa Barbara a few years ago, with Scott Wood following suit just a couple of years later. Feuding and infighting splintered the high-goal teams into separate camps with the Santa Barbara Polo Club suffering as a result.
Herculean efforts by Heatley, however, managed to secure a fourth team for the 2014 season with Lucchese (Tommy Collingwood, Sapo Caset, Jeff Hall and John Muse), ERG (Scott Wood, Agustin Merlos, Sebastian Merlos and Martin Munoz/Remy Mueller), Farmers Merchants Bank (Dan Walker, Inaki Laprida, Lucas Criado and Henry Walker) and Wildcat (Ryan Gilbertson, Joseph Stuart, Santiago Chavanne and Paco de Narvaez).
Four 20-goal tournaments are on tap with play in the El Encanto Cup beginning on July 2nd and ending with the final of the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open on August 31st.