Along the Sideboards
By Alex Webbe
February 16, 2009
The English have landed and in spite of obvious effects of jet lag, attended the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner Dance in force. Luke Tomlinson, Mark Tomlinson and Andrew Tucker flew in to Florida Friday morning. James Beim arrived Thursday evening after spending 20 hours in the air on his way back from Australia. Alternates Sugar Erskine (7) and Julian Daniels (6) were on hand as well. All were eager to get to work on organizing horses and getting in a practice. An early morning stick and ball session on Friday was followed by a practice against a 26-goal Audi team on Saturday. In acknowledgement of the largesse of Melissa Ganzi offer of 30 horses, a positive response was offered by the team members when asked about the state of their mounts. However, they will continue to solicit additional mounts for the February 21st Westchester Cup.
Eduardo Astrada and Javier Astrada chose not attend the black tie event.
Black Watch will become the eighth high-goal team who will compete in this year’s USPA Piaget Gold Cup and United States Open Championship. The team is composed of Nacho Figueras (6), Sugar Erskine (7), Fred Mannix, Jr. (6) and Luis Escobar (7).
Fred Mannix, Jr. will play in the C. V. Whitney Cup as a member of the Audi polo team. He will join Marc Ganzi (1), Gonzalito Pieres (9) and Facundo Pieres (10). He will be replaced at the end of the season’s opening 26-goal tournament by Nicolas Pieres (6).
Injuries have plagued the early polo season at IPC. Mt. Brilliant’s Gaston Lisioli led of with a broken collarbone. He was replaced by 6-goaler Julian Daniels. Daniels was filling in admirably until a stretched tendon in his right elbow forced him to the sidelines. Kelly Beal suffered a separated shoulder (which he re-located on his own, ala Mel Gibson in his Detective Riggs roles in the Lethal Weapon movies). Hector Galindo suffered a polo mallet to the mouth, which took him out of play on the BTA for a single goal. He returned only to extend a muscle in his lower stomach. And recently, Nicolas Espain suffered a pulled jockey muscle, an injury that brought Tomas goti on to the Lechuza Caracas team.
The Outback 40-Goal Challenge Cup wasn’t necessarily well attended, but a good time was had by all who attended.
Lucchese’s Paul LaVoie, president of the storied Texas boot maker was present for his team’s latest contest (which they won in overtime) as were Catena’s Bill Kraft and EFG Bank’s Keith Gapp as corporate sponsors arrived in town to support the 40-goal as well as check on the progress of their teams (Lucchese and EFG Bank).
Miami Beach Polo’s Bruce Orosz is becoming a regular at IPC. He showed up again for the Sunday matches hoping to catch a glimpse of last week’s celebrity polo fan, Madonna. This Sunday’s prize guest was Miss America, Katie Stam, who sang the Star Spangled Banner and split some announcing time with our own Tony Coppola. Also in attendance was equestrian artist/model/freelance writer Melissa Hornung, down from her New York home on Skaneateles Lake to partake in some polo action.
Lechuza team captain Victor Vargas was forced to miss an Iglehart as he returned to Venezuela for an important constitutional referendum that would allow Chavez to become president for life. Filling in for him during his absence was son-in-law Louis Alphonse de Borbon, Spain’s Duke of Anjou. He is a great-grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and first cousin once removed of King Juan Carlos I of Spain. He is also a great-grandson of Francisco Franco. Scoring a goal and helping teammates to down EFG Bank 15-10, he has to be credited with a strong and successful effort on his father-in-laws behalf.
Victor will return, however, but Louis will be nearby and ready. Louis has been busy playing in the Outback 14-Goal Invitational with Juan Martin Obregon (3), Jorge Rodriguez (4) and Tomas Goti (7) this winter with Lechuza
On Monday, February the Gulfstream Polo Club will host the 2009 Avendano Memorial that will showcase youth polo in the United States. Eighteen teams will be present for the event.