Vic Garber memorial
by Wiley Uretz
We had a rare occurrence this past week at Santa Barbara with two consecutive Sunday finals in the middle of the season. This unexpected treat was one that we do not have very often but when we do it is always very fun. The finals of the Vic Garber memorial were no exception with a newly reformed and hungry Mansour team taking on a battle tested and fierce Cotterel team. Both of these teams won their single round elimination games on Friday to get in to the final with Mansour winning a round robin against Lucchese and Antelope and Cotterel wining a match game against Farmers and Merchants Bank.
In the first two chukkers Mansour shot off to a commanding 7 to 1 lead thanks to 3 good goals and great overall play from their patron Ben Soleimani. It looked as if the Cotterel team had finally started to pay the price of making it to three consecutive finals and the toll that, that took on their horses. However in the third chukker Cotterel was able to keep the possibility of a come back alive by beating Mansour 2 to 1 in the chukker and decreasing their leading margin to 5. In the fourth chukker it was more of the same with Mansour trying to sneak away and Cotterel battling back to stay with in striking distance. In the fifth chukker all Cotterel’s fighting paid off and they were able to decrease the Mansour lead to 3, 11 to 8. Smelling blood in the water Cotterel brought back their 2nd and 3rd chukker horses to try and capitalize on there momentum. At first it looked like this plan was going to work perfectly scoring the first 2 goals of the chukker to come within 1. However the Santi’s of Mansour (Van Wernich and Wulff) had other plans answering each time Cotterel got with in 1 and then stopping Cotterel in the mouth of the goal with under a minute left to seal the victory by a score of 13 to 12. Mansour’s Ben Soleimani was named MVP and Santi Wulff’s horse Parka won best playing pony.
After the 1pm finals we had an exhibition match that featured Farmers and Merchants Bank against Antelope. This game was very exciting and fast with Antelope jumping out an early lead in the first four chukkers thanks to 3 goals off the mallet of Geoff Palmer. However Farmers and Merchants Bank were not going to go down easy even though it was an exhibition game and they were able to rally back in last chukker to overcome a four goal deficit and end the game at a 10 to 10 tie. Overall it was another great weekend at Santa Barbara Polo club and if you missed it make sure you clear date on your calendar to make it out some time during this exciting 12 goal season