The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
He is the best in the world and he showed it again as he will be in the finals of the Pacific Coast Open (PCO) along with one bad-a** team Lucchese as they continue their unbeaten run through the Gold Coast. Zacara gave them a battle as Z played by far the best game they have had this year and it was not to be. Lucchese is so tough and you never know where it is coming from. John Muse scored a goal and Andres and Jason never stop working. If they have the ball it could be the same problem and that is only 1/2 the team. The MAN (Adolfo Cambiaso) is still around and with the ball he is a PROBLEM because about 80% of the time it is a GOAL. It happens everyday, not just now and then. It was a good game for the spectators because it was close. The crowd was great. The weather included fog off and on, but the temperature was about 70 F so it was perfect for the horses who make the game.
Chukkar 1 ended at 2 to 2 with a good recovery from Lucchese to tie it. The 2nd chukkar Lucchese seemed to take control with several early goals, but Zacara came back to get a goal and end up down by 2 and still very focused. The third was a tied chukkar most of the way as Zacara kept fighting with some brillant plays from the Patron Lea and Carlos G. They ended the chukkar with the first 1/2 down by one 6 to 5. The 4th seemed like a signature chukkar and it was again today as Adolfo Cambiaso and his Magic wand just rolled over the Zacara team. It seems that he has it in his mind to win the 4th and to defend the next 2. And he did it again today. Cambiaso won the 4th and got his padding. He was happy to just stay in place the rest of the game. Often it looked as if Zacara would score, which did not happen much. When it did it was soon back to a safe 2-goal margin by Lucchese.
There were some big defensive plays by Jason Crowder who stopped Zacara on the line. There were some misses too, but in the end Zacara missed only 8 shots at goal and Lucchese 5. The fouls were close to even at 14 each. I think and both teams missed at least 1 # 4, so it was a crowd pleaser and Zacara goes home and Lucchese moves into the finals where they meet a red hot ERG, who also seem to be on a mission. They have been here lately … like last year. They were played Grant’s Farm, who beat them in the finals a year ago, but revenge was on their mind I guess. ERG came out on fire and they jumped on the ball often to head to goal. Jeff and Sugar kept up the pressure, but with a hurting Patron, Andy Busch, they got behind early and never could cacth up again.
It looked like in the 4th the Medics had fixed Andy Busch as Grant’s Farm roared back to close gap to 1 or 2, but Scott Woods lead force was we want to return to the finals and they did. With some very limited umpiring in this game, it did not help Grant’s Farm either. I thought a couple of big early goals were huge misses by officals and they can say look at the tape, but it was straight across from the video and will not show up. Their was someone who knows it was a M- – -calls. It will happen ,I know but it is also their problem to see that it has a consequence, a “I am sorry” does not seem like enough. It’s a few 100 grand out when you lose a big tournament. If you lost a couple 100 grand on a job and you will not have one anywhere else. Anyway, ERG never stopped firing and walked away with the win.
It was nother great day for California Boys with the big boys as both Santi Torres and Jason Crowder showed they can deal with ANYBODY. They meet on Sunday and it should be a great game with the greatest player in polo playing with them … Adolfo Cambiaso.
In the Consolation Finals on Sat. it will be Piocho Ranch and Tom Barrack taking on Big Ben and Mansour. Piocho did a tap dance on Audi to head to that finals. It is interesting the way things work. Audi swept the 3 big tournaments 2 years ago for the first time in like 15 years. Piocho was the the last one before them and now 2 years later it could happen again. Piocho and Audi play for the 3rd place. Some other interesting things from last year … Grant’s Farm beat ERG in the finals. Jeff Blake was on that team and now they switch and Jeff Blake is on Grant’s Farm team. Both games were sketchy with the stripes and Sugar, who was on the winners of the last 2 Opens and maybe in 3 in a row, has his streak ended.
It was a fantastic day with people from all over coming to Santa Barbara. We have Alan Meeker from Aiken, Texas and anywhere Charles Smith from Texas, Tom Biddle from Aiken, Lisa Bostick from San Diego, Jack Shelton from Wichita, KA, P. Rizzo from FL. It was a great day for Polo, so just imagine how good Sat. and Sun. will be ..
See ya