Along the Sideboards
By Alex Webbe
January 4, 2010
The opening of the winter polo season at the International Polo Club Palm Beach got underway in unseasonably cool weather for South Florida as The Wanderers/Isla Carroll downed Bendabout 16-13 in the opening round of the 20-goal Iglehart Cup. The new tap rule had am immediate impact on the game as both teams made long and fluid runs up and down the field, scoring nearly 30 points in the match.
In the second game of the day, EFG Bank outlasted Zacara 13-11 to set the brackets for Wednesday’s semifinals that will see Patagones meet The Wanderers/Isla Carroll in one bracket while Fred Mannix, Jr.’s Hawks team (with 10-goaler Mariano Aguerre) faces the EFG Bank team. The winners will meet in Sunday’s finals.
The International Polo Club’s 14-goal Wanderer’s Cup will begin on Saturday, January 9th with six teams competing in the cross bracket competition. The opening game will pit the Metal Tech team of Robert Orthwein, James Armstrong, Stevie Orthwein and Will Johnston against Jan Pamela (Wayne Garrison, Steve Dalton, Owen Rinehart and Brad Scherer.
The 12-goal South Florida Challenge Pro-Am at the International Polo Club will be getting under way on Friday, January 8th when Mt. Airy/Cinque Terre (Alessandro Bazzoni, Nicolas Manifold, Adrian Wade and Garrick Steele) and Faraway/Willow (Mike Egan, Brandon Phillips, Hutton Goodman and Jeff Blake) faceoff.
The Gulfstream Polo Club will bring in the new season with the start of the George Haas Windswept Cup January 12-goal League. The finals of the four team field are slated for Sunday, January 31st.
The Hobe Sound Polo Club is looking at pumping some life into its Martin County operation when play begins in its January 8-goal Outback League. Eight teams will be competing in the Norman Brinker Memorial Cup that will run from January 15-30. After the opening round of play, four winners will advance, with semifinals scheduled to be played in the third week of the month. The losing teams will compete in the Hobe Sound Polo Club Tournament with semifinals that same week.
The La Herradura team of Mariano Gracida, Alejandro Gonzalez, Andres Gonzalez and Julio Gracida took the 10-goal flight of the Port Mayaca Polo Club’s 10-goal Holiday Family Tournament with a 12-10 win over Mike Egan’s Willow Farm lineup while South 40 scored an 11-7 win over Blanco for the club’s 6-goal Holiday Family Tournament.
The area’s newest offering, the Sunlight Ranch Polo Club offers four tournament fields, practice fields arena polo and a polo school in suburban Stuart in Martin County. While the finishing touches are being put on the polo arena for polo’s newest suitor, the club’s series of polo lessons and club chukkers will be enhanced by its Friday night women’s arena polo league and the introduction of “one horse polo”.