There was something for everybody today at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, as the day started with the Avendano West Coast youth polo tournament, followed by the Western Badge and Trophy 20 goal Final (PCO Subsidiary), all under beautiful sunny skies.
The inaugural Avendano West Coast tournament was sponsored by the Avendano family in honor of their late father Carlos M Avendano. Twenty eight children participated. The walk/ trot group was first, and the action was fast and furious, especially when parents were jockeying for the best camera angle. After two chukkers the score was tied.
The intermediate group had three teams and played a round robin. In the first game, Xander Deutch got the scoring started for Padaro, but two goals by Conrad Kissling gave Ortega the win. Next Padaro played Linden, and despite a goal by Padaro, two goals from Nico Escobar gave Linden the win. In the final round, the teams battled end to end, and Ortega had a one goal lead from a Ben Avendano goal. But brother Santiage Avendano tied it up with very little time remaining.
The advanced group gave it a go next. Santa Ynes was very balanced and hitting the ball well, and distributed their goal scoring amongst Andrew Garcia, Andy Busch Jr, and Hank Uretz. Beverly Hills had a lot of shots go just wide, althought Tony Uretz did get a goal and did an excellent job setting up his teammates.
At the trophy presentation cups were presented to the participants, and Mackenzie Weisz was awarded MVP for the walk/trot, Santiago Avendano was MVP for the intermediate, and Tony Uretz was MVP for the advanced group.
After a fieldside barbecue, everyone returned to the field for the Western Badge and Trophy final between Melissa Ganzi’s Audi and Bob Jornayvaz’ Valiente. Both teams started off the game on the run, but the perfect penalty shooting of Kris Kampsen made the difference in the first half and helped Audi take a 9-6 lead into halftime. In the 4th chukker each team scored once, but Valiente exploded in the 5th chukker, outscoring Audi 4-1 to tie it up at 11 all leading into the 6th chukker. Nacho Astrada hit a deep neck shot early in the chukker to give Valiente a lead, but after a long series of plays Luis Escobar drove the ball down field to tie it back up for Audi. Astrada hit a wormburner of a shot through goal with 2:20 left to once again give Valiente the lead, but an unfortunate Valiente foul brought Kampsen to the penalty line to tie it up at just under a minute. As the grooms were running to the barns to talk up another horse for a possible overtime, Astrada hit a backshot out of the lineup to a hustling Federico von Wernich, who took the ball as straight as an arrow down to goal to give Valiente the win, 14-13.
Tomorrow at 2pm, Scott Wood’s ERG faces Andy Busch’s Grants Farm in the grand finale of the 20 goal season, the finals of the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open.
