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You are here: Home / Archives for Robert Payne III

La Herradura takes home $45,000 with a Champions Cup final victory

April 1, 2018 by Empire Polo

The Empire Polo Club cashes out the season with a $60,000 money game for the Champions Cup.

Former 10-goaler Memo Gracida had guided his La Herradura (Meghan Gracida, Carlos Hernandez, Memo Gracida and Catlin Dix) through their first three Championship Cup wins but was forced into a coaching position in the tournament final against the imposing Evergreen lineup (Tom Sprung, Carlitos Galindo, Juan Jo Gonzalez and Shane Rice).

La Herradura (L to R) Santi Torres, Carlos Hernandez, Catlin Dix, Meghan Gracida and Memo Gracida celebrate a $45,000 win in teh final of the Champions Cup.

Evergreen had ruled the fields at the Empire Polo Club since the beginning of the year, taking top honors in 4-goal competition in the Stagecoach Challenge, the USPA Circuit Players Cup and the USPA General Patton Cup.  The Evergreen lineup changed for the 8-goal USPA Constitution Cup in March as they went undefeated once again, but for the season-ending $60,000 Champions Cup they ran into Memo Gracida’s La Herradura entry.

Both La Herradura and Evergreen bowled over their first three opponents before facing one another in the tournament final.  A fall suffered by Memo Gracida on Friday, March 30th, however, sidelined the Hall of Fame legend, forcing La Herradura to bring in 6-goaler Santi Torres in an effort to fill out the lineup.

A tenuous start saw Evergreen take advantage of a foul by La Herradura, with Shane Rice converting a 30-yard penalty shot for the early lead.  Carlos Hernandez, who had been a scoring powerhouse for La Herradura, tied the game with his first goal of the day.  Back-to-back goals from Santi Torres ended the first period with La Herradura on top of a 3-1 lead.

Fouls continued to plague the La Herradura lineup with, Rice converting two 40-yard penalty shots.   Hernandez scored his second goal of the game, keeping La Herradura in the lead,4-3 as the second chukker ended.

Torres scored the first goal of the third, extending the La Herradura lead to two goals, 5-3.  Two goals from Rice (one on a 30-yard penalty shot) leveled the score at 5-5, and Juan Jo

Shane Baum of Leisure Society presents the MVP trophy to La Herradura’s Carlos Hernandez.

Gonzalez scored the go-ahead goal for Evergreen to end the first half with a 6-5 advantage.

Memo Gracida might not have been on the field but he was in the team tent at the end of the field.

“It was more about Santi (Torres) and Carlos (Hernandez) talking to one another and coordinating their play on the field,” he said.  “I told the girls (Catlin Dix and his wife, Meghan Gracida) to continue pushing forward and to utilize the horses.”

The direction appeared to take hold.  Hernandez tied the game with a goal from the field followed by a penalty goal for a 7-6 lead.  Torres scored the final goal of the chukker as a solid defensive effort shut down the talented Evergreen attack and edged La Herradura ahead, 8-6.

Hernandez and Torres traded goals with Galindo and Rice in the fifth, with La Herradura maintaining their two goals lead, 10-8, with one chukker left in regulation play.

Playing as if the score was tied, La Herradura exploded in the sixth.  Meghan Gracida took the opening throw-in and raced 150-yards down the field for her first goal of the game and a three-goal, 11-8 lead.  Rice responded with a goal for Evergreen that cut the lead back to a manageable two goals, 11-9.  The teamwork between Torres and Hernandez continued to pay off. Torres scored twice from the field with the two La Herradura players taking turns passing the ball to one another and blocking out opponents for a 13-9 edge.  With time running out, Rice scored on a 60-yard penalty shot but it was too little, too late.  Torres scored the last goal of the game on a 40-yard penalty conversion as La Herradura celebrated the 14-10 win and a check for $45,000, the winner’s share of the purse.  Evergreen suffered their first loss of the winter season but were comforted with a check for $15,000 for their second-place finish.

Shane Rice with Midget, winner of the Best Playing Pony award.

“It was a tough match“, said Meghan Gracida after the game, “but our team played as a team and pushed hard.  Our horses were amazing and so was our coach (Memo Gracida)“, she added, “So happy”.

Torres led all soring with eight goals.  Hernandez scored five times and earned MVP honors while Meghan Gracida added a goal for the win.  Rice’s six goals (three on penalty conversions) led the Evergreen attack.  Galindo added three goals and Gonzalez scored once in the loss.

Rice’s horse, Midget, was named Best Playing Pony.

Buffalo 6, Vancouver/Mother Chukkers 3

La Herradura and Evergreen weren’t the only teams going home with money in their pockets as the Buffalos (Ross Adam, Tim Rudy, Felipe Sordelli and Riley Jordan) took the winners share of an $8,000 purse while the Vancouver/Mother Chukkers (Jay Garnett, Nicolas Maciel, Robert Payne III and Sukey Forbes) settled for $2,000 for a second-place finish in the 4-goal Lions Cup.

The Buffalos won the Lions Cup Final and $6,000. Ross Adam, Riley Jordan, Felipe Sordelli and Tim Rudy.

Robert Payne opened the scoring in the 4-goal Lions Cup final with a goal from the field for the Vancouver/Mother Chukkers.  Tim Rudy converted a penalty shot to tie it at 1-1 and teammate Felipe Sordelli added a goal from the field for a 2-1 Buffalo lead.

MVP was Felipe Sordelli.

Shutout defense by the Buffalos in the second period of the four chukker final was nearly all defensive in nature.  Riley Jordon scored the only goal of the period, giving the Buffalos a 3-1 halftime lead.

The two teams exchanged goals in the third, matching one another goal-for-goal.  A pair of goals from Payne were countered by single goals from Sordelli and Rudy (penalty goal).  The lead remained with the Buffalos, 5-3.

For the second time in the match, Vancouver/Mother Chukkers were unable to mount a successful attack.  Rudy’s third goal on the day accounted for all of the fourth chukker scoring as the Buffalos left the field celebrating the 6-3 win.

Rudy scored a team high three goals for Buffalo.  Sordelli added two goals and Jordan accounted for a single goal in the win.  All three Vancouver/Mother Chukkers goals came from Payne (two on penalty shots).

The Lions Cup and the Champions Cup were the final polo tournaments of the season at the Empire Polo Club and signaled the end of a 14-week season that included women’s competitions and Friday night polo under the lights as well as regular Sunday afternoon tournament action.

BPP was Renatta, owned and played by Robert Payne III.

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. Entrance for Friday night games is on Ave. 50 between Madison Street and Monroe Street.

Filed Under: Club News Tagged With: Alex Webbe, Carlitos Galindo, Carlos Hernandez, Catlin Dix, empire polo club, Felipe Sordelli, Jay Garnett, Juan Jo Gonzalez, Meghan Gracida, Memo Gracida, Nicolas Maciel, polo, polo games, Riley Jordan, Robert Payne III, Ross Adam, Santi Torres, Shane Rice, Sukey Forbes, Tim Rudy, Tom Sprung, tournament, tournaments

La Herradura rallies to win USPA Congressional Cup at the Empire Polo Club

March 18, 2018 by Empire Polo

La Herradura (L to R)-Carlos Hernandez, Caroline Anier, Meghan Gracida and Gina Padilla, winners of the 2018 USPA Congressional Cup final at the Empire Polo Club.  Photos courtesy of Lynn Bremner.

Prima Polo (Robert Payne III, Jenny Alter, Toto Socas and Todd Randall) rode onto the field like gangbusters in the final of the 4-goal 2018 USPA Congressional Cup at the Empire Polo Club Sunday afternoon, but it would be a last chukker rally by La Herradura (Caroline Anier, Gina Padilla, Meghan Gracida and Carlos Hernandez) that would take the day in a hotly-contested 7-5 win.

2018 Congressional Cup MVP, Robert Payne, III.

Toto Socas scored the first two goals of the day for Prima Polo followed by a goal from Todd Randall.  Shutout defense kept La Herradura off of the scoreboard in the opening chukker as Prima Polo ran up a 3-0 lead.

A reorganized La Herradura team put together a coordinated offensive attack in the second period.  Caroline Anier scored first followed by a pair of goals from Carlos Hernandez (one on a penalty conversion).  This time it was the La Herradura defense that set the tone for the chukker by shutting down the Prima Polo attack.  At the end of the first half of the four-chukker match it was all even at 3-3.

A determined Prima Polo team got their attack back in gear in the third.  Robert Payne, III scored once from the field and once on a 40-yard penalty shot to make it 5-3, Prima Polo.  Meghan Gracida got her team on the scoreboard with the final goal of the chukker, but it was Prima Polo with the one-goal lead, 5-4.

Robert Payne, III, with his mare Renata, who earned Best Playing Pony honors.
2018 USPA Congressional Cup runner-up, Prima Polo (L to R)- Robert Payne, III, Jenny Alter, Toto Socas and Todd Randal.l

La Herradura needed a stellar final chukker to salvage the win, and they got it .  Another solid defensive effort was complimented by three consecutive goals from Hernandez (the last on a penalty shot) for the 7-5 victory.

Hernandez led all scoring with five goals (two on penalty conversions).  Anier and Gracida each scored once for the win.  Socas and Payne scored two goals apiece for Prima Polo, with Payne receiving MVP honors for his efforts.  Randall added a goal in the loss.

Payne’s mare Renata was named Best Playing Pony on the day.

Filed Under: Club News Tagged With: 2018 USPA Congressional Cup, Alex Webbe, Carlos Hernandez, Caroline Anier, empire polo club, Gina Padilla, Jenny Alter, Meghan Gracida, Robert Payne III, Todd Randall, Toto Socas

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

March 7, 2018 by Empire Polo

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.

Filed Under: Club News Tagged With: 2018 USPA Congressional Cup, 2018 USPA Constitution Cup, 4-goal polo, 8-goal polo, Alejandro Gonzalez, Alvaro Tadeo, Andres Gonzalez, Bryan Middleton, Carlitos Galindo, Carlos Hernandez, Caroline Anier, Catlin Dix, Dayelle Fargey, empire polo club, Eric Hammon, erik wright, Felipe Sordelli, Gina Padilla, Gordon Ross, Iggy Deltour, Jared Sheldon, Jenny Alter, Jim Wright, John Bickford, Juan Jo Gonzalez, Kiki Hiller, Luis Saracco, Marcos Llambias, Matthew Fonseca, Meghan Gracida, polo tournament, Riley Jordan, Rob Scapa, Robert Payne III, Ross Adam, Shane Rice, Tan Khan, Tim Kelly, Tim Rudy, Todd Randall, Tom Sprung, Toto Socas, tournaments

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