In the last 12 months, top women’s player, Nina
Clarkin has won three Ladies Opens. In December
she will return to Palermo as captain of La Dolfina
Brava playing with Mia Cambiaso and sisters
Milagros and Candelaria Fernández Araujo.
C H U K K A S
Empire Polo Club has appointed former 10-goaler
Memo Gracida as its new polo director. He will help
to recruit teams and players, coach and watch over
the 14 grounds at the club. Most weekends the club
hosts 1-goal tournaments as well as 4- and 8-goal
polo leagues at the start of the year.
In early September, Mariano Aguerre won the East
Coast Open for the 12th time in his polo career.
His first win came back in 1988 playing with Peter
Brant and the legendary White Birch team. This
year, he lifted the trophy after playing with Peter’s
son Christopher Brant.
The 54th Jockey Club Open had nine teams. Poroto
Cambiaso made his debut into the high-goal – the
youngest player ever at 12 years old! In 2006, Nico
Pieres won the Jockey Club Open at 15 years old
playing with his father and two older brothers.
The Argentine Polo Association tested some new
rules in the San Jorge and Jockey Club Opens that
saw teams change sides after three chukkas, fouls
being counted, and players restricted to bringing
50%more ponies than the number of chukkas.The
changes are being considered for the Triple Crown.
AAP president, Eduardo Novillo Astrada has
announced his retirement as a high-goal
player after an illustrious career. He won the
Triple Crown in Argentina playing with three
of his brothers, and won two British Opens
and a US Open with his brothers Ignacio and
Javier respectively.
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T H
F I P A M B A S S A D O R S C U P
Plans for the 100th FIP Ambassadors Cup at the Helvetia Polo Club first began last
December, in honour of Farouk Younes (pictured below). Local families opened up their
homes to receive players and lent ponies to the visitors. Carlos Mansour hosted a
fantastic dinner at his house, during which team shirts were presented to the 20 teams
made up of two local players and two foreigners from over 20 countries.There were five
tournaments with each team playing three games of five chukkas.Vico and Mara
Coutinho hosted a Brazilian-style party, where lots of fun was had by all.
DAVID LOMINSKA , ROBSON SENNE
hurlinghampolo.com
K L E N T N E R R A N C H
After losing in double overtime last year, local Santa Barbara team Klentner Ranch
claimed an 8-6 victory over Lucchese in the final of the 2018 Silver Air Pacific Coast
Open. A hand injury in the semi-final game against Sol de Agosto sidelined Justin
Klentner for the final, but his eldest son Jake stepped up and secured the win for his
father’s team, scoring the most field goals for Klentner Ranch. Remy Muller was awarded
Most Valuable Player for his defensive efforts that helped secure Klentner Ranch’s
triumph, and the Best Playing Pony award was won by Jesse Bray’s mare Venice.
