St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship 2016

Arianna Delin, Sharon Robb for Aspen Valley Polo Club

After four hours of thrilling, action-packed polo, Flexjet and the U.S. Polo Assn. will meet in the St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship final Saturday at Rio Grande Park.

In one of the most competitive round-robin doubleheaders in tournament history on Thursday, U.S. Polo Assn. knocked off Audi, 7-5, and ChukkerTV, 10-5, in Bracket A play and Flexjet defeated One Sandy Lane, 8-4, and St. Regis, 6-3.5, in Bracket B play.

The winners will play Saturday after the opening subsidiary game featuring St. Regis and ChukkerTV.

Grant Ganzi of U.S. Polo Assn. getting ready for the final round robin.  Photo by Nick Tininenko

In front of a good crowd at the state-of-the-art Aspen Valley Polo Club Indoor Arena and worldwide ChukkerTV audience, the two 14-goal teams with the most chemistry survived the hotly-contested round robin games.

U.S. Polo Assn. with Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini and Nic Roldan and Flexjet with Melissa Ganzi, Jeff Hall and Juan Bollini will now play for the much-coveted Cup.

“We played really hard, very competitive polo and the horses let us do that,” Juancito Bollini said. “It was just a lot of fun. It’s going to be tough going up against my dad. I am going to try to get him as worked up as possible, that’s how you beat my dad.”

In U.S. Polo Assn.’s opening game against Audi (Marc Ganzi, Ricky Cooper, Tommy Biddle), Bollini led scoring with the first four goals of the game in the opening chukker. Grant Ganzi’s goal gave his team a 5-0 advantage, forcing Audi to play catch-up the remainder of the two-chukker game.

Mariano Gracida of ChukkerTV drives past Audi defenders.  Photo by Nick Tininenko.

After an hour’s rest, U.S. Polo Assn. was even more dominant against ChukkerTV (Bernie Uechtritz, Martin Pepa, Mariano Gracida). Roldan’s 15-yard penalty goal gave U.S. Polo Assn. a 3-2 lead which the trio never relinquished for the remainder of the game.

“I felt really comfortable on the horses,” said Gracida, who scored seven goals for the day. “My team clicked and we had a good time.”

Flexjet was just as dominant in its wins against Sandy Lane (Bash Kazi, Martin Estrada, Brandon Phillips) and St. Regis (Brian Boyd, Carlitos Gracida, Nacho Figueras).

Flexjet’s Jeff Hall reaches for the ball despite being double-teamed.  Photo by Nick Tininenko.

Against Sandy Lane, Hall went on a scoring spree by scoring all eight of his team’s goals, building leads of 5-1, 6-2 and 7-3. Flexjet, with key goals from Ganzi and Bollini, continued its all-around play in its second and final game which turned out to be a defensive, physical game.

“It was a great day,” Figueras said. “The horses were great, the field was perfect and the teams were even.”

The opening day action was sponsored by La Patrona Polo & Equestrian Club based in Mexico.

In Saturday’s final, Roldan and Hall, members of last year’s winning Piaget team, will be pitted against each other in addition to mother-and-son Melissa and Grant Ganzi and father-and-son Juan and Juancito Bollini for a much-anticipated heated matchup.

Nacho Figueras of St. Regis working his horse past defender.  Photo by Nick Tininenko

Melissa and Marc Ganzi, co-founders of Aspen Valley Polo Club, along with Figueras, polo ambassador and St. Regis Connoisseur, are hosting the tournament and final stop on the World Polo Tour for the third consecutive year.

Returning sponsors Audi, Flexjet and U.S. Polo Assn. along with new sponsors One Sandy Lane and Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., join St. Regis Hotels & Resorts as major sponsors of North America’s only snow polo tournament.

During Saturday’s action, polo fans can relax and watch world-class snow polo from the VIP Pavilion while enjoying mountain fare from The St. Regis Aspen Resort, including the brand’s signature Afternoon Tea Service and cocktails.

St. Regis teammates Carlitos Gracida and Nacho Figueras watch the indoor arena action. Photo by Nick Tininenko

ChukkerTV, worldwide leaders in polo broadcasting, is exclusively live streaming the entire tournament for the first time.

ChukkerTV, an independent media company based in Wellington, Fla. is capturing the glitz, glamour and excitement of the three-day tournament. Entertaining polo announcers Toby Wayman and Dale Schwetz are providing play-by-play, colorful commentary and post-game interviews.

All proceeds benefit Sopris Therapy Services and Aspen Sister Cities.

Sopris Therapy Services is a non-profit organization that provides Equine Assisted Therapy and rehabilitation in a ranch-setting to children and adults with various disabilities.

Aspen Sister Cities’ mission is to share ideas and cultures through the international exchange of students and community members from Aspen and its respective sister cities.

For tickets and more information, go to www.worldsnowpolo.net.