Santa Clara’s Nico Escobar (white jersey) attempts to ride-off Agua Clara’s Wes Finlayson.
(Photo courtesy of Liz Lamont)
By Whitney Webbe
Agua Clara (Mauricio Herrera, Wes Finlayson, Luis Escobar and Eloy Vallina) scored early wins in round-robin Wellington Cup competition on Thursday, downing Elegante Polo (Tito Robledo, Robert Kiger, Richard Dudman and Tom Blake), 8-4 and Santa Clara (Nico Escobar, Max Secunda, Ruben Gracida and Francisco Escobar), 4-3, but the first day’s gains didn’t hold up in Saturday’s final matches of the tournament at the Santa Clara Polo Club.
Santa Clara and Elegante Polo took the field for the first three chukkers of Saturday’s round robin, with the scores from Thursday’s matches carrying over. Although Agua Clara defeated Santa Clara, 3-2, it was a different story the second time around.
Santa Clara 3-goaler Max Secunda scored five times in leading his team to an 8-4 win over Elegante Polo. Adding the two match scores together, Santa Clara rode off with an impressive 11-5 victory.
Secunda’s five goals led all scoring with teammate Nico Escobar scoring twice and Ruben Gracida adding a goal for the win. Robert Kiger scored twice for Elegante Polo with Richard Dudman accounting for the other goal. Elegante Polo also received a goal by handicap.
AGUA CLARA 10, ELEGANTE POLO 9
Elegante Polo held the field for the second three chukker mini-match, losing 10-9, despite making up ground lost in Thursday’s head-on-head play.
Agua Clara had beaten Elegante Polo 8-4 just two days prior, but despite being outscored 5-2 on the day, managed to hold on for a narrow 10-9, two-day total for the win.
Robert Kiger and Richard Dudman scored two goals apiece with Tom Blake adding another in the loss. Wes Finlayson scored both goals for Agua Clara for the victory.
SANTA CLARA 10, AGUA CLARA 8
In a contest that had three generations of Escobars on the field, Santa Clara defeated Agua Clara 6-2, giving Santa Clara a two day, 10-8 win.
Playing for Santa Clara were Nico Escobar and his grandfather, Francisco Escobar. Battling against them on the Agua Clara roster was Nico’s father, Luis Escobar.
Santa Clara had narrowly lost to Agua Clara on Thursday, but wasted little time in the Saturday meeting. Max Secunda scored three of the four first chukker goals for Santa Clara with Nico Escobar chipping a single score. Wes Finlayson scored the only Agua Clara goal of the period.
Santa Clara piled it on in the second chukker with single goals from Max Secunda, Ruben Gracida and Francisco Escobar. Agua Clara managed a single goal from Luis Escobar.
Wes Finlayson scored the last two goals of the game while Agua Clara shut down the Santa Clara offense, but it wasn’t enough. Santa Clara rode on to win 10-8, their second victory of the day, for the Wellington Cup.
Agua Clara’s Mauricio Herrera was named tournament MVP for his six-goal production in Thursday’s competition. Luis Escobar’s Bolita (daughter of Carinosa and Picaro from Ellerstina) was named Best Playing Pony.