Along the Sideboards
By Alex Webbe
September 14, 2009
White Birch scored a 10-8 win over Ikepod in the finals of the 2009 Piaget Fall Classic Sunday afternoon at the Greenwich Polo Club to end the fall 20-goal season for the Connecticut club.
“It was a great team win,” said White Birch 10-goaler Mariano Aguerre, reflecting on the team’s earlier fate at Bridgehampton where they suffered losses in both the finals of the Mercedes-Benze Cup and the Hampton Cup.
“We couldn’t let that happen again,” he said.
Down by three goals in the fifth chukker, 8-5, White Birch rallied for five unanswered goals to win the cup as a frustrated Ikepod was unable to score in the final chukker.
“We had our chances,” said Ikepod 9-goaler Nic Roldan, “we just couldn’t score a goal in the last chukker.”
“The horses went well and I think we played well as a team,” offered Nacho Figueras, “but Mariano (Aguerre) really got it going in the final chukker.”
Aguerre’s eight-year-old liver chestnut gelding Serpico won Best Playing Pony honors while teammate Santiago Torres was recognized as MVP.
Shane Rice led all scoring in Saturday’s consolation round of the Piaget Fall Classic, scoring the winning goal in overtime for the 10-9 win as Airstream took third place with a come-from-behind win over Heathcote.
While teams and horses are preparing for the start of the Aiken 20-goal season, John Flournoy’s Columbus Polo Club is hosting the 20th Annual Upatoi Cup in Columbus, Georgia, attracting five 16-goal teams for the annual fall competition.
In the early going Clearwater/First View (Joe Meyer, Francisco Bilgao, Julio Arellano and Chip Campbell) and Crestview Farm (Alan Meeker, John Eicher, Owen Rinehart and Alan Martinez) looked to be the frontrunners.
Clearwater (2-0) scored opening wins over Upatoi Green (John Flournoy, Ruben Coscia, Shane Rice and Eddy Martinez) and a Sunday win over the Young Guns (Jake Flournoy, Horacio Onetto, Julian Daniels and Tom Uskup) while Crestview Farm downed Upatoi Blue (Apolinar Baez. Juan Martin Baez, Valerio Aguilar and Mason Lampton) the Young Guns before losing to Upatoi Green on Sunday.
Tournament play is scheduled to continue this week with Upatoi Blue facing Upatoi Green I the first match on Wednesday followed by a showdown between Clearwater and Young Guns. Friday’s games feature Crestview vs. Clearwater followed by a contest between Upatoi Blue and the Young Guns.
The tournament finals are scheduled to be played on Sunday, September 20 at 2pm and will be preceded by the consolation match.
The Grand Champions Polo Club has indicated that it will be sending a team to The Villages Polo Club in Central Florida to compete in the Morris Cup this season in an exchange that will bring a team from The Villages to compete in either the Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup or the US Trust Cup. The exchange will be the first of its kind for The Villages and is expected to pave the way for future exchanges with other clubs.