James Colt Classic 8 goal
The James Colt Classic 8 goal final at Santa Barbara Polo Club had quite the international flavor, with Austrian patron Ivan Weiss leading a Santa Barbara team to victory against Dark Horse. Young Chilean player Felipe Vercellino led the scoring for Santa Barbara with five goals to add to the global effort. Team captain Santiago Trotz, who hails from Argentina most of the year but considers himself a Santa Barbara native after 20 years competing here, ran the team in his usual clever fashion, and Tony Uretz stepped in to replace the injured Liam Lott and performed brilliantly, marking older brother Patrick on Dark Horse with determination.
Dark Horse led through the early stages of the game off strong play from Max Menini and led 5 -4 going into the half. The 4th chukker was all Felipe Vercellino for Santa Barbara though, going coast to coast on a speedy blaze faced horse and scoring 3 goals to regain the lead 7-6 at the end of the 4th. The teams held steady through the 5th and Santa Barbara entered the 6th chukker with a slim 8-7 lead. But in the 6th chukker Santiago Trotz, who had been sending Vercellino up front, opened up play with some big runs himself to take charge for Santa Barbara. Dark Horse had a chance to come back after Santi Tahier scored an amazing goal out of the air, but Trotz promptly took the ball coast to coast again to kill any comeback attempt. Final score was 10-8 in favor of Santa Barbara
MVP was Felipe Vercellino and Santiago Trotz’s mare “Veo” was selected BPP