Year of the tiger teams – l to r – winners – team Careyes Herb Falk, Giorgio Brignone, Raul Ramirez, Jim Giebeler, Miguel Landeros, President of Triunfo Tequila, Paulion Diaz, Isaac Sepulveda, Diego Velarde and Ramon Velasquez.. Photo by Beatrice Jacobs.
Year of the Tiger Polo Tournament
Costa Careyes, Mexico
By Susan Stovall
YEAR OF THE TIGER HAD SPECIAL FIREWORKS TO CELEBRATE THE OCCASION. Photo by Beatrice Jacobs
The Chinese New Year for 2010 is February 14 and is highly regarded by Sr Gian Franco Brignone, founder of Careyes, Mexico. This year is Year of the Tiger and so is Brignone’s sign. People from all over the World came to celebrate the occasion with over 350 guests at a fiesta that was elegant, tasteful and fun. The unique band, ISAAC, played for the evening entertainment as well as performers from Cirque du Soleil. The guests that were also born in the Year of the Tiger were given a brilliant gold and black jorongo. The same weekend Careyes Polo Club hosted a tournament for the visiting players. Monterrey Polo Club fielded a team with Paulino Diaz(0), Isaac Sepulveda-Fernandez(0), Diego Velerade(3), and Ramon Velsquez(1). Two of the players are third generation polo families – the Velardes and the Sepulvedas. Monterrey is about 20 hours by car from Careyes so they were mounted by Giorgio Brignone polo ponies which have been busy this season.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL TIGER DANCER. Photo by Beatrice Jacobs.
Match play was over two days with the Careyes team of Raul Ramirez(2), Giorgio Brignone(1), owner of the polo club, Jimmy Giebeler(1), Paris, France and Mane Yrena(0) and Herb Falk(0), Freno, California, splitting a position. The play was on the flat and the first chukker on Saturday was back and forth with each team scoring a goal and the second was the same ending 3 to 3. Monterrey took the lead in the third chukker with a goal by Ramon Velesquez. After the traditional TRIUNFO tequila divot stomp, the Careyes team seemed to come alive with one goal in the fourth by Giebeler and two goals by Mane Yrena in the fifth. Monterrey could only answer with one goal by Velesquez with the game ending 7 – 5 – Careyes.
GIORGIO BRIGNONE, OWNER AND PRESIDENT OF THE COSTA CAREYES POLO CLUB, AND SUSAN STOVALL, POLO MANAGER, SALUTE THE MONTERREY POLO TEAM. Photos by Beatrice Jacobs.
Sunday was finals day and time for the Monterrey team to get even. Diego Velarde, captain of the Monterrey team, had a game plan and was executed perfectly with a man-to-man defense that stopped the Careyes team the first four chukkers . Velarde had 5 goals, Sepulveda – 2 goals , Diaz and Velsquez each with one while the Careyes team was lead by Brignone with 2 and Ramirez with 3 – the score was 9 – 5 starting the 5th chukker. Major Hugh Dawnay, part time resident of Careyes and polo guru, suggested a few changes in the Careyes lineup and 5 goals later with 4 goals by Ramirez and an end to end run by Giebeler – the Careyes team won 10-9. The local spectators were thrilled and made for a great entre to the Year of the Tiger party that night.
YEAR OF THE TIGER TEAMS – L TO R – WINNERS – TEAM CAREYES HERB FALK, GIORGIO BRIGNONE, RAUL RAMIREZ, JIM GIEBELER, MIGUEL LANDEROS, PRESIDENT OF TRIUNFO TEQUILA, PAULION DIAZ, ISAAC SEPULVEDA, DIEGO VELARDE AND RAMON VELASQUEZ. Photo by Beatrice Jacobs.
The next tournament that Careyes has will be Alberto Ardissone’s Agua Alta tournament that draws players from all over the World. Ardissone has sponsors including Jose Cuervo Tequila. Scappino, BMW, Emilia Castillo, HSBC Bank and Lemus Real Estate. Please see www.careyes.com and www.agua alta polo.com.