Tracee Mulvaney put up the most and in the end it paid off. A blown play nearly cost her the title, but a good friend came through for her. Tracee and the Gladiator Girls are the Champs of 2007. She deserved it! Tracee did the most and she was a big factor in scoring a couple of goals and helping her team to be the title holders for ’07.
It was a super time. There was a huge party with a cause . . . Ladies Polo. It came down to a very exciting finish with 9 seconds to go actually. On a perfect Fall day with the Santa Ana Winds in town. It was close to 80 degrees with a light breeze and true San Diego-style awesome weather. There were 33 ladies from around the globe who showed up to do one thing … win. Needless to say some did not, but action was hot from 10 am until the final seconds at about 3.30 pm.
In the C-flight it was a fired-up team called San Diego Girls showing yesterday is gone. They were back and it was down to the wire like right now. It was a dandy as these new Ladies to polo did so well. It was a perfect start for the day. In the second game it was the B flight and it was war time as Ranch Amistad was very unhappy about their performance 24 hours earlier. Susan Anthony proved it as she led her home club to the winners circle as they were one step ahead of Barbie, my favorite Lady player. She is so tough and the new world of polo really bothers her as she is not a superstar in 24 hours. They got so much better. Maybe in 7 days their handicap will change.
In the heavy weight flight and no I do not mean heavy, just a higher level of polo. It was defending Champs OC Polo showing yesterday is gone as well. They rode over A/P/O to win third place in the A flight. Therese Volmer was on fire in this one and she was on a mission. Then there was a break as all took off for a wonderful Lunch by Alisha Wray. We all saw a little of the Triple Crown of Polo on ESPN2. The very same announcer who commentated on Triple Crown, Steve Lewandowski, who also announced the A flight in our ladies tournament. All these Ladies wore super Jersey’s donated by Saratoga Saddlery and International Boutique and that is really cool. Thanks to both of them.
A little lunch and Triple Crown on the tube and its time to Kick A**. These Ladies had nothing else on their mind and it was a showdown. Madison Square/Monteverde came out fighting, but it was a friendly one as the Gladiator Girls had no plans of cruising the field. It was all tied up at the end of the second chukker. In the 3rd it was the Gladiators getting a big surge. In the 4th came Madison with a fired-up Lady Lisa Bosstick who made some big runs followed by MVP Kate Weber. It was down to 9 seconds when Ms. Ellie (Ellen Greenhill) got a big foul up close to goal and was rewarded by a #2, but failed to convert. Before the next knock in it was the final horn and Joy Bancroft in her first tournament became part of the 2007 Champions of the Gladiators Tournament. It was so cool. She made some big runs and left it close. but felt so bad. It was there for the JB to put it in and it was all over because Ellen did not want to go to OT.
Thanks are in order to a great tournament. Even Maggie Mitchell from Sarasota flew out to see it. The real people in all this were TRACEE MULVANEY DIRECTOR, SPONSOR AND CHAMPION, INTERNATIONAL BOTUIQUE AND SARATOGA SADDLERY and THE CLUB OF SAN DIEGO, JOE Strickland AND SCOTT Lancaster AND THE 100 OTHER PEOPLE THAT MADE IT WORK.
WELL DONE SAN DIEGO POLO NEW HOME OF THE TRIPLE CROWN OF POLO.
Also around the country and beyond Rain in Arg. Aiken no results as of yet. Check Monday. Up in Santa Barbara it was Dudley’s Casa Blanca out dueling Piocho and Gehache falling to Western Badge. At Will Rogers Open no report, but there is little live network there. Its in LA and electricity is hard to come by.
See ya.