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

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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.

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 cruises to a 2-0 record in USPA Circuit Players Cup

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Crlitos Galido continues to lead the competition in scoring, adding eight goals to his growing total in Evergreen’s 12-6 win over C & R Farms in USPA Circuit Players Cup play at the Empire Polo Club Sunday afternoon.

Evergreen (Tom Sprung, Bayne Bossom, Juan Jo Gonzales and Carlitos Galindo) have had a successful 4-goal season at the Empire Polo Club, recording wins in both the Stagecoach Challenge and the USPS Sportsmanship Cup, and appear poised to add the 2018 USPA Circuit Players Cup to their trophy room.

Scoring their second win of the tournament, Evergreen remains the only undefeated team in this year’s competition.

After handily dispatching Empire (Rob Scapa, Eileen Duffy, Erik Wright and Jim Wright) on Saturday, Evergreen took the field at 9:30 Sunday morning and throttled a foul prone C & R Farms team (Cheryl Schindel, Luis Saracco, Ross Adam and Alonzo Andrade), 12-6.

Eight first chukker fouls put C & R Farms on the ropes in the opening chukker with Evergreen’s Carlitos Gracida converting on three penalty shots.  The Evergreen defense was just a s focused as they shut down the C & R attack for the 3-0 lead.

C & R got on the scoreboard in the second with a 60-yard penalty conversion from Luis Saracco to make it 3-1.  A goal from the field from Bayne Bossom was the only other score in the chukker as Evergreen rode off the field on top of a 4-1 lead.

C & R bounced back in the third with Ross Adam scoring twice from the field and teammate Alonzo Andrade adding a 40-yard penalty goal to tie the game at 4-4.  Galindo scored on a 60-yard penalty shot to end the first half with Evergreen in front by a single goal, 5-4.

Saracco’s second goal of the day leveled the score once again, 5-5, but Galindo and Evergreen were just getting started.  Galindo scored two of his three goals on penalty conversions with Bossom adding a goal from the field.  After four periods of play, Evergreen held a four-goal advantage, 9-5.

Defense was the key to fifth chuker play with Evergreen holding C & R scoreless.  Evergreen only managed a goal of their own, but increased their led to five goals, 10-5, with one period remaining in regulation play.

Saracco opened the sixth with a goal from the field, but the C & R rally was short-lived.  Goals from Bossom and Galindo ended the game with Evergreen riding away with the 12-6 win.

Galindo scored six of his game-high eight goals on penalty shots.  Bossom added four gals for the Evergreen victory.  Saracco’s three goals led the C & R attack.  Adam scored twice, and Andrade added a goal in a losing effort.

The win was Evergreen’s second of the tournament and left them atop the standings at 2-0.  The C & R loss was their first, falling to 1-1.

Hanalei Bay 16, Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine 5

In a noon USPA Players Cup match, Hanalei Bay (Krista Bonaguidi, Ian Schnoebelen, Taylor Freeman and Ashton Wolf) embarrassed Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine (Tanweer Khan, Victor Lopez, Cameron Smith and Warwick Prendiville) with a healthy dose of offense and defense that carried them to a resounding 16-5 victory.

The 3-goal Hanalei Bay team received one goal by handicap and quickly added to it with every member of the team getting on the scoreboard in the first chukker.  Taylor Freeman and Krista Bonaguidi scored the first two goals of the game, 3-0, with Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine answering with a single goal from Warwick Prendiville, 3-1.   Ian Schnoebelen and Ashton closed out the scoring in the opening chukker with single goals as Hanalei Bay raced out to an early 5-1 lead.

Wolf scored his second goal of the day in second chukker action followed by a pair of goals from Freeman.  Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine was unable to score and fell behind by seven goals, 8-1.

Wolf and Bonaguidi each added a goal in the third with Schnoebelen converting a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal. Prendiville and Victor Lopez scored the final two goals of the period, but it was Hanalei Bay who was in control of the game with an eight-goal advantage, 11-3 at the end of the first half.

The Hanalei Bay attack continued to roll unabated in second half play. Bonaguidi’s third goal of the day came on a 30-yard penalty shot with Wolf and Schnoebelen adding single goals. A stellar defensive effort by Hanalei Bay blanked the Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine offense for the second time, extending their commanding lead to eleven goals, 14-3.

Two more goals from Freeman in the fifth were answered by a single 40-yard penalty conversion from Prendiville. After five periods the Hanalei Bay lead stood at 16-4.

With Hanalei Bay resting their horses in the final chukker, Prendiville scored the only sixth chukker goal in a 16-5. Hanalei Bay beat-down.

Freeman’s five goals led the field with teammate Wolf accounting for four goals and Bonaguidi and Schnoebelen adding three goals apiece. Hanalei Bay received one goal by handicap. Prendiville scored four times for Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine with Lopez adding the only other goal in the loss.

The win was the first for Hanalei Bay (1-0) while Tanakhanda/Sandalford Wine suffered their second setback in as many games, 0-2.

USPA Players Cup competition will continue next weekend with the finals set t be played on Sunday, February 11th.

Two Sunday wins give World Gym league title

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The World Gym team of (L to R)- Tom Schuerman, Todd Randall, Claudia Uretz and Wiley Uretz finished two days of competition with an undefeated record for the title in the week’s 1-goal competition at the Empire Polo Club Sunday.

In the second day of 1-goal league competition at the Empire Polo Club, World Gym (Claudia Uretz, Sydney Jordan, Tom Schuerman and Wiley Uretz) recorded wins over the Flaming Chickens (Joey Gallemore, Devon Gallemore, Victor Soto and Hayward Pardue) and Grande Prairie (Ross Adam, Lolo Payan, Craig Nelson and Suki Piper) to take first place in the six-team field Sunday afternoon.

The Flaming chickens opened the noon round-robin scoring a narrow 3½-3 win over Grande Prairie behind the offensive push of Victor Soto.

Soto and Grande Prairie’s Lolo Payan exchanged goals in the opening chukker of the four-period mini-match with Soto giving the lead to the Flaming Chickens with the final goal of the chukker for a 2½-1 lead (Flaming Chickens received one-half goal by handicap).

Soto’s third goal of the match had the Flaming chickens on top, 3½-1 before Grande Prairie responded.  Consecutive goals from Payan ended the game with the Flaming Chickens riding off with the win, 3½-3.

World Gym 5, Grande Prairie 2

World Gym exploded for four first chukker goals against a shell-shocked Grande Prairie lineup.  Two goals apiece from Wiley Uretz and Tom Schuerman were complimented by shutout defense as World Gym went up, 4-0.

Tod Randell’s first goal of the day made it 5-0, World Gym with Grande Prairie struggling for an answer.
Grande Prairie got single goals from Craig Nelson and Payan in the final period, but it was World Gym riding off the field at the end of the contest with a 5-2 victory.

World Gym 4, Flaming Chickens 2½

It was Wiley Uretz with the hot hand as the final two chukkers of the round-robin got underway.  He former college All-American scored the first three goals of the chukker while the World Gym defenders held the Flaming Chickens scoreless.

Soto and Devin Gallemore scored the first two goal of the final chukker, cutting the World Gym lead to one -half goal, 3-2½.  Tom Schuerman scored the final goal of the game for a 4-2½ win.

Club Polo Cabo takes consolation

Earlier in the day, Club Polo Cabo (Tony Yahyai, Scott Walker, Domingo Questel and Alyssa/Ella/Clair) defeated Gold Rush (David Barnett, Manny Rodriguez, Jeffrey Rewald and Zinta Rewald) and Vashon (Stephanie Davidson,  Kim Bergman and Jessica Bailey) to win the consolation 1-goal round-robin.

Club Polo Cabo got first chukker goals from veteran Domingo Questel and Club Polo Cabo team captain Tony Yahyai while Gold Rush had to settle for a 30-yard penalty conversion.  After the first seven minutes of play Club Polo Cabo held a narrow 2-1½ advantage (Gold Rush received one-half goal by handicap).

Questel’s second goal of the match extended the Club Polo Cabo lead to 2-1½, with Gold Rush in hot pursuit.  Disciplined defense held Gold Rush to another penalty goal that had Club Polo Cabo escaping with the 3-2½ victory.

Vashon 4, Gold Rush 2½

In the second mini-match of the morning, Vashon handed Gold Rush their second defeat of the day in a 4-2½ bout.

Vashon rattled off the first three goals of the opening chukker with JMG coring twice and Kim Bergman adding a goal, 3-½ (Gold Rush received one-half goal by handicap). Jeffrey Rewald got Gold Rush on the scoreboard with his first score, 3-1½.

Jeffrey Rewald cut into the Vashon lead with his second goal of the match, 3-2½, but it wasn’t to be. JMG scored the final goal of the match for the 4-2½ win.

Club Polo Cabo 4, Vashon 3

The final two chukkers of the round-robin pitted Club Polo Cabo against Vashon, with the winner capturing the consolation round-robin.

Club Polo Cabo picked up goals from Yahyai and Questel while Vashon countered with a pair of goals from Gutierrez.  After their first chukker the two teams remained tied at 2-2.

Bergman’s second goal of the day and first of the game had Vashon on top, 3-2, but Club Polo Cabo wasn’t through.  Two goals from Questel (one on a penalty conversion) ended the game with Club Polo Cabo riding of with the win, 4-3.

Flaming Chicken, Grande Prairie and World Gym record Saturday wins

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Club Polo Cabo’s Tony Yahyai made his 2018 debut in league play at the Empire Polo Club Saturday afternoon.

Six teams lined up for the second 1-goal league of the season at the Empire Polo Club Saturday, with the competition getting started with a 10:15AM game on Field 9.

Grand Prairie (Ross Adam, Lolo Payan, Craig Nelson and Suki Piper), Gold Rush (David Barnett, Manny Rodriguez, Jeffrey Rewald and Zinta Rewald) and Club Polo Cabo (Tony Yahyai, Scott Walker, Domingo Questel and Alyssa/Ella/Clair) joined last week’s World Gym (Claudia Uretz, Sydney Jordan, Tom Schuerman and Wiley Uretz), Vashon (Stephanie Davidson, JMG, Kim Bergman and Jessica Bailey) and Flaming Chicken lineup (Joey Gallemore, Devon Gallemore, Victor Soto and Hayward Pardue) as the Empire Polo Club kicks off the season with its official Opening Day.

Flaming Chicken 11, Gold Rush 6

Flaming Chicken got the ball rolling as they scored the first three goals of the game on their way to an 11-6 win over Gold Rush in the morning match.

Consecutive goals from Joey Gallemore, Hayward Pardue and Victor Soto were answered by a single goal from Gold Rush’s Zinta Rewald as Flaming Chicken took the early 3-2 lead.

Soto added two more goals in the second.  Goals from Joey and Devin Gallemore expanding the Flaming Chicken advantage to four goals, 7-3.  Jeffrey Rewald scored the only goal of the chukker for Gold Rush.

Both defenses stepped it up in the third and goals were scarce.  Zinta Rewald added her second goal of the game, 7-4 with Soto recording the only other goal of the period.  With one period left to play, Flaming Chicken continued to lead by four goals, 8-4.

Two more goals from Joey Gallemore and a single goal from Pardue boosted Flaming Chicken to an 11-6 win in spite of goals from Gold Rush’s Jeffrey Rewald and David Barnett.

Soto and Joey Gallemore led the Flaming Chicken attack with four goals apiece.  Pardue added two goals and Devin Gallemore added a goal for the win.  Jeffrey Rewald and Zinta Rewald each scored twice for gold Rush.  Barnett added a goal in the losing effort.

Grande Prairie 8, Club Polo Cabo 7

Lolo Payan scored four first chukker goals, giving Grande Prairie built an early 4-1 lead over Club Polo Cabo in first period play.  Club Polo Cabo came up with a single goal from veteran Domingo Questel in the chukker.

Club Polo Cabo fought their way back into the game in the second.  Club Polo Cabo scored consecutive goals from Questel, Scott Walker and team captain, tony Yahyai to level the score at 4-4.  Payan scored the final goal of the first half for Grande Prairie for a narrow 5-4 halftime lead for Grande Prairie.

Questel tied the game at 5-5 with the opening goal of the third, but back-to-back goals from Payan gave the lead back to Grande Prairie, 7-5.  Questel closed out the period with his fourth goal of the day, but trailed Grande Prairie, 7-6.

Craig Nelson’s first goal of the afternoon had Grande Prairie in front by two goals, with Club Polo Cabo struggling to stay alive.  Questel scored the final goal of the match to bring Club Polo Cabo to within a goal of the lead, but that was where it ended as Grande Prairie held on for the 8-7 victory.

Payan was top scorer in the game with seven goals.  Nelson added a goal for the Grande Prairie win.  Questel cored a team-high five goals for Club Polo Cabo.  Yahyai and Walker each added goals in the loss.

World Gym 4, Vashon 3

World Gym and Vashon fought to a 2-2 halftime tie before World Gym managed to eke out a 4-3 victory in the final 1-goal game of the day.

JMG scored the first goal of the game, giving Vashon the 1-0 lead when the World Gym defense clamped down.  Tom Schuerman countered with a goal for World Gym in a hotly-contested opening chukker that ended in a defensively-dominated first chukker, 1-1.

JMG and Wiley Uretz exchanged goals in the second period as both sides struggled to generate an effective attack, but the defenders won out.  At the end of the first half the score remained tied at two goals apiece.

Goals continued to be elusive in third period play, with the only scoring coming from penalty conversions from Wiley Uretz and Sydney Jordan.  Vashon was unable to score, and fell behind, 4-2.

Both defenses continued to set the pace for fourth chukker play.  A single goal from the field from Jessica Bailey was the only score of the period as World Gym held the lead in a 4-3 victory.

Wiley Uretz scored twice for world Gym with teammates Jordan and Schuerman each adding a goal.  JMG was credited with two goals for Vashon with Bailey accounting for the team’s only other goal in the loss.

The 1-goal competition will field two round-robin matches on Sunday with Gold Rush, Club Polo Cabo and Vashon meeting at 10AM followed by a noon contest featuring Flaming Chicken, Grande Prairie and World Gym.  Both round-robins will take place on Empire Polo Club’s Field 9.