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Mix It Up wins Debii $ Dollar Memorial, Under the Lights

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                                                                     Mix It Up-winner of the 2018 Debii $ Dollar Memorial Cup at the Empire Polo Club. (Photos courtesy of Lynn Bremner)

The Debii $ Dollar Memorial Ladies Tournament final be held on Friday night, March 9th at 5:30 PM at the Empire Polo club with three teams competing.

Mix It Up (Meghan Gracida, Caroline Anier, Madelyn Cobb and Lynni Hutton/Kit Neacy) won the 2018 Debii $ Dollar Memorial Ladies Tournament under the lights Friday night at the Empire Polo Club despite losing their first mini-match of the competition.

Audry Persano (Mother Bears) earned MVP honors for her efforts.

Earlier in the week Mix It Up recorded wins over Luna Polo (Jenifer Alexi, Malia McCoy, Miranda Luna and Susan Adams) and Mother Bears (Carol

Caroline Anier’s Cheezi was honored as Best Playing Pony.

Farnsworth, Audry Persano, Catlin Dix and Sukey Forbes), setting up Friday night’s three-team round-robin as the final round of play.

Mother Bears received one-half goal by handicap from Mix It Up, but opening goals from Audry Persano and Catlin Dix had them on top, 2½ -2 (Friday night’s goals were added to their Wednesday totals in the evening’s two-chukker mini-match).

Mix It Up stormed back onto the field in the second period of play.  Caroline Anier opened the scoring with a 30-yard penalty conversion followed by a goal from the field from teammate Madelyn Cobb, 4-2½.  Two more goals from Caroline Anier and shutout defense gave the game to Mix It Up, 6-2½.

Mother Bears 3, Luna Polo 2

With Mix It Up sitting down for the ensuing two chukkers, Mother Bears faced Luna Polo, a team they tied in a 1-1 contest on Wednesday.

A scoreless first chukker was followed by a tightly-contested second and final period.  Audry Persano scored back-to-back goals for Mother Bears as

The Mother Bears team finished in 3rd place in the tournament.

Luna Polo fought to get back into the game.  Jenifer Alexi finally broke through the Mother Bears defense to score what would end up as the last goal of the game in a 3-2 final (Friday night’s goals were added to Wednesday’s team totals).

Luna Polo 4½, Mix It Up 4

The battle between Mix It Up and Luna Polo turned out to be the match of the night.  Mix It Up had edged Luna Polo 2-1½ in Wednesday’s mini-match and was poised to atone for the narrow loss.

Malia McCoy scored the first goal of the final two chukkers of the night followed by Mix It Up goals from Madelyn Cobb and Caroline Anier.  Adding the evening’s goals to Wednesday’s totals, Mix It Up had the early lead, 4-2½.

Luna Polo turned the tables on the previously undefeated Mix It Up foursome As Jenifer Alexi added two more goals in the final seven minutes of play (one on a 40-yard penalty conversion).  The Luna Polo defense held solid, blanking Mix It Up in the final chukker and lifting them to a 4½-4 victory.

Luna Polo finished in second place in this year’s Debii Dollar tournament.

With each team ending the evening with 1-1 records, Mix It Up claimed the title on the basis of net goals scored.

Audry Persano earned MVP honors for her efforts with Caroline Anier’s Cheezi being honored as Best Playing Pony.  Mix It Up’s Kit Neacy received the Dorie Forstmann Sportsmanship.

Kit Neacy (Mix It Up) received the Dorie Forstmann sportsmanship Award.

Polo action will continue on Saturday at the Empire Polo club in the 4-goal USPA Congressional Cup competition, with Empire (Rob Scapa, Erik Wright, Jim Wright and Kiki Hiller) facing Prima Polo (Robert Payne III, Jenny Alter, Toto Socas and Todd Randall) in a noon match.

The 2017-2018 Empire Polo season attracts players from across the country and around the world and offers fourteen weekends of fast-paced polo in the beautiful and relaxed setting of California’s winter playground.

The Empire Polo Club is located at 81-800 Avenue 51 in Indio, CA.  For further information go to the club website at http://empirepolo.com or call 760-342-7755.

Tournament play slated for Friday in the USPA Constitution Cup and the USPA Congressional Cup

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US team member Shane Rice will be joining Evergreen for the Constitution Cup tournament after competing in England in international cup play last week.

Action resumes at the Empire Polo Club this weekend with a total of nine teams competing at the 4-goal and 8-goal level.

Five teams will be competing at the 8-goal USPA Constitution Cup as a strong Spindrift team (John Bickford, Luis Saracco, Tan Khan and Iggy Deltour) attempting to win back-to-back trophies, following their USPA 8-goal General Patton Cup win two weeks ago.  Spindrift will open with a Friday match against Lockton (Tim Kelly, Bryan Middleton, Andres Gonzalez and Alejandro Gonzalez).  The second match of the day will pit ReMax (Dayelle Fargey, Jared Sheldon, Gordon Ross and Matthew Fonseca) against Granite Bay (Eric Hammon, Alvaro Tadeo, Marcos Llambias and Catlin Dix).  Evergreen (Tom Sprung, Carlitos Galindo, Juan Jo Gonzalez and Shane Rice) received a first round bye.

Sunday will see Evergreen face Spindrift while Granite Bay and Lockton lock horns in he second round of Constitution Cup play.

Two of the four 4-goal teams will take the field on Friday in the USPA Congressional Cup with La Herradura (Caroline Anier, Gina Padilla, Meghan Gracida and Carlos Hernandez) playing the Buffalos (Ross Adam, Tim Rudy, Felipe Sordelli and Riley Jordan) to get the tournament underway.

Empire (Rob Scapa, Erik Wright, Jim Wright and Kiki Hiller) is scheduled to battle Prima Polo (Robert Payne III, Jenny Alter, Toto Socas and Todd Randall) in Saturday’s only 4-goal game.

A full compliment of four games at both the 4-goal and 8-goal level will be featured in Sunday competition.

The 2017-2018 Empire Polo season attracts players from across the country and around the world and offers fourteen weekends of fast-paced polo in the beautiful and relaxed setting of California’s winter playground.

The Empire Polo Club is located at 81-800 Avenue 51 in Indio, CA.  For further information go to the club website at http://empirepolo.com or call 760-342-7755.

Evergreen takes home the USPA General Patton 4-goal Cup

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Empire Polo Club

By Alex Webbe

There seems to be no stopping the Evergreen polo team (Tom Sprung, Carlitos Galindo, Juan Jo Gonzales and Bayne Bossom) as they scored wins over both Empire (Rob Scapa, Eileen Duffy, Erik Wright and Jim Wright) and C & R Farms (Cheryl Shindell, Luis Saracco, Ross Adam and Alonzo Cruz) over the course of the last two weeks on their way to the 4-goal USPA General Patton Cup at the Empire Polo Club.

Evergreen: Tom Sprung, Juan Jo Gonzalez, Bayne Bossom and Carlos Galindo.

Carlitos Galindo, tournament high-scorer, continued to lead the Evergreen attack against Empire, but every member of the team got on the scoreboard in the Sunday afternoon match.

Evergreen edged themselves to a 4-3 halftime lead on the strength of two goals from Galindo and single goals from teammates Tom Sprung and Juan Jo Gonzalez.

The two teams exchanged goals in the fourth with Galindo adding his third and Sprung scoring for the second time on the day. Empire matched them goal for goal but continued to trail, 6-5.

Two fifth period Empire goals leveled the score at 7-7 but sixth chukker goals from Sprung, Blayne Bossom (who earned MVP honors for is efforts) and Gonzalez canceled Rob Scapa’s fourth goal of the game and carried them to a resounding 10-8 win. Ice Man, owned and played by Carlos Galindo won Best Playing Pony.

Bayne Bossom won MVP

Trophies were presented by Indigo Auto Group. MVP won Leisure Society sunglasses.

With seconds on the clock, Spindrift scores for 10-9 win in USPA General Patton 8-goal final

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The 2018 USPA General Patton 8-goal Cup winner (L to R) Leslie Tims, John Bickford, Juan Curbelo and Luis Saracco.

A large and enthusiastic crowd was on hand and it was a back-and-forth battle that put an exclamation mark at the end of an exciting day of polo at the Empire Polo Club Sunday afternoon.  In the final game of the day, Spindrift (Leslie Tims, John Bickford, Juan Curbelo and Luis Saracco) rebounded from a last chukker rally by STG (John Ziegler, Tommy Costello, Max Menini and Francisco Guinazu) to win the 2018 USPA General Patton 8-goal Cup.

Scott Walker with MVP John Bickford.

Juan Curbelo opened the scoring with a goal from the field for the early Spindrift advantage, but fouls proved costly in the early goings.  Penalty goals from STG’s Max Menini and Francisco Guinazu closed out the chukker with STG on top, 2-1.

Curbelo tied it at 2-2 with his second goal of the game, but STG countered with a 40-yard penalty goal from Guinazu for a fragile one goal advantage, 3-2.  Leslie Tims scored the final goal of the period, leveling the score at three goals apiece, 3-3.

The Spindrift defenders were on their game in the third.  Shutout defense coupled with a pair of 40-yard penalty conversions from John Bickford gave the lead to Spindrift, 5-3.

Two more penalty goals from Bickford and a goal from the field from Luis Saracco and a second consecutive scoreless chukker for STG saw Spindrift expand their lead to five goals, 8-3, with just two periods of regulation play remaining.

The STG offense came alive in the fifth with Menini opening with a goal from the field followed by two penalty goals from Guinazu, 8-6.  Bickford converted a penalty shot from the 30-yard mark, 9-6, with Menini adding the final goal of the period.  Spindrift continued to lead but a storming STG team appeared to have morphed into attack mode, and trailed by just two goals, 9-7.

The momentum remained with STG as the final chukker got underway.  Guinazu’s fifth goal of the day had STG within a goal of the lead, 9-8, and Tommy Costello’s first goal of the afternoon had it all even at 9-9.  Both teams pressed frantically for the winning goal and with 13 seconds on the clock it was Saracco executing the winning shot for the 10-9 win.

All five of Bickford’s five goals came on penalty shots and earned him MVP honors.  Saracco and Curbelo each scored twice and Tims added a goal for the Cup.  Guinazu was STG’s top scorer with five goals (four on penalty conversions).  Menini scored three times (twice on penalty shots) and Costello was credited with a goal in the loss.

Curbelo’s Curbelo’s Briza was named Best Playing Pony.

Following a weekend off, polo returns to the Empire Polo Club on March 9th with the 8-goal USPA Constitution Cup and on March 19th with the USPA Congressional Cup.

General Admission and tailgating are free with a $20 parking fee. VIP is $30 per person with a reservation. Call 760-393-7298 for VIP reservations. Entrance is on Ave. 50 between Madison St. and Monroe St. Visit http://www.EmpirePolo.com for more details

The 2017-2018 Empire Polo season attracts players from across the country and around the world and offers fourteen weekends of fast-paced polo in the beautiful and relaxed setting of California’s winter playground.

The Empire Polo Club is located at 81-800 Avenue 51 in Indio, CA.  For further information go to the club website at http://empirepolo.com or call 760-342-7755.

Friday Night Polo Cancelled for Feb. 23rd

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This is a reminder that Friday night polo has been cancelled this week and rescheduled to March 9th.  Friday night “Polo Under the Lights will take place in March on these dates:

March 9th at 5:30 PM – Debii Dollar Memorial Ladies Tournament

March 16th at 6:30 PM – Exhibition Match

March 30th at 6:30 PM – Exhibition Match

Sunday Polo

For Spectators

Learn to Play Polo

Learn to Play Polo

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Contact Us

Polo Office & Playing Memberships:
760-342-7755
Daily Game Schedule:
760-342-9111
Social Memberships & Reservations:
760-393-7298

81-800 Ave. 51, Indio, CA 92201