PPCO Twist System - Wine Country Polo Club

N O V E M B E R 2 01 4
A very good year
for Hilario Ulloa
$5.00 US/$5.50 Canada
POLO REPORT
DISPATCHES FROM THE WORLD OF POLO
STEVE JENNINGS, WIRE IMAGE
PAC I F I C C OA S T
FIGUERAS
LEADS
ST. REGIS
TO VICTORY
I
n a hard fought St. Regis Polo Cup at
the Wine Country Polo Club this fall,
international polo connoisseur Ignacio
(Nacho) Figueras led his St. Regis polo
team to a 7-5 victory over Hamel
Family Wines, a team of roughly equal
talent, captained by fellow Argentine,
Maximilian Menini. Menini and
teammate Collin White looked like a
winning combination, especially in the
first and second chukkers.
This was no easy feat, however, as
Erik Wright, playing in the No. 4
position for St. Regis, was quick to
challenge White every time he received
Menini’s pass and tried to shoot to goal.
While St. Regis’ Figueras scored two
goals in quick succession in chukker
one, Hamel was firmly in the lead by 42 at the end of the second chukker, with
goals by Menini (2), White, and Jef
Graham. Hamel’s lead would have been
even more were it not for Wright
standing guard.
At the halftime break, the
momentum was clearly in favor of
Hamel Family Wines. Hamel supporters
48 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
Nacho Figueras turns the ball in St. Regis Cup action at the Wine Country Polo Club.
could not hold back their enthusiasm
and boisterously cheered their team to
hold the lead for the remaining
chukkers.
St. Regis sensed its predicament.
The St. Regis players knew that they
would have to play better as a team for
the rest of the game and not rely solely
on the star power of their 6-goaler from
Argentina. By the end of the third
chukker, two goals by Nacho and
another by John Ziegler versus one goal
by Hamel’s Menini placed St. Regis and
Hamel in a tied game at 5-5.
So, it came down to the fourth and
final chukker. To win, St. Regis needed
to block Hamel at every opportunity,
take possession, and send the ball to
Figueras, who would use his speed and
mallet handling skills to place the ball
between the uprights. This strategy
worked. While Hamel played excellent
defense, Figueras and company were
just a split second faster to the ball; and
in polo, as every player knows, being a
few inches ahead of and slightly quicker
than your opponent makes all the
difference between making a shot at
R E P O R T
TOPHER RILEY
STEVE JENNINGS /WIRE IMAGE
P O L O
The St. Regis San Francisco General Manager Toni Knorr, center,
presents trophies to the St. Regis team of John Ziegler, Nacho
Figueras, Rafael Hernandez and Erik Wright.
goal or being hooked or blocked. To the
delight of the many fervent Figueras
fans (of all ages), Nacho picked up two
more goals and sealed the win at 7-5.
Veteran play-by-play announcer
Kevin Ettig commented on Nacho’s
role. “He arrived in from Argentina the
day before and led his team to victory
against an equally rated team whilst
riding first-time mounts from the local
players’ strings. Now that’s impressive.”
Ettig was equally impressed with the
club setting, which enabled a sell-out
audience of polo aficionados and St.
Regis clients and sponsors to view polo
from a tree-shaded raised berm running
almost the entire length of the field.
This offered safe and spectacular
viewing, and plenty of opportunity for
tasting some of the best wines from
Napa and Sonoma.
The Bay Area location also caught
the eye of Ms. Toni Knorr, general
manager, The St. Regis San Francisco,
who championed the Wine Country
Polo Club as the host of the first polo
event St. Regis has supported on the
West Coast of the United States. Henry
Trione, 94, owner of the field, former
polo player and member of the Hall of
Fame, could not have been happier.
St. Regis polo also partners with
philanthropic organizations. This event
served as a benefit for the Giant Steps
Therapeutic Equestrian Center of
Petaluma, California. Giant Steps uses
50 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
Twin Palms’ Chris Maloney, Gaston Von Wernich, Alvaro Tadeo and
Ryan Robertson celebrate their USPA Spreckels Cup victory.
horses to heal young and old with
physical, cognitive, emotional and
developmental challenges and depends
mainly on private sponsorship to
support its operations. The event was a
great success, raising over $40,000 for
Giant Steps.
Teams from the Wine Country and
Menlo Polo Clubs battled for bragging
rights in the early game. Gotham Club,
led by Steiner Schaufel, and generously
sponsored by the San Francisco Giants
baseball franchise, took on Restoration
Hardware, also a major sponsor of the
event, captained by Ashton Wolf.
As often occurs with two balanced
teams, umpires’ rulings changed the
dynamics of the game, in this case by
mostly disfavoring some robust plays by
Hardware. This resulted in a number of
Gotham’s goals coming from penalties,
including successive Penalty 6s from
Hardware’s defensive moves gone awry.
The mother-daughter duo of Bonnie
and Raeann Magill played well together
and scored the remaining goals for
Gotham, assisted by Schaufel and his
son Hunter. The end result was 6-1 in
favor of Gotham.
Honors were bestowed on Hunter
Schaufel and Maximilian Menini for
MVP in the first and second games,
respectively, and John Ziegler’s
Mandarina, ridden by Nacho Figueras,
won Best Playing Pony.
—Paul Griffin
TWIN PALMS WINS
USPA SPRECKELS CUP
The San Diego Polo Club in Rancho
Sante Fe, California ended its 28th
season with the USPA Spreckels Cup
on September 28. The Cup was
presented by Woodford Reserve and
benefitted San Diego Youth Services.
Five teams competed over several
weeks for the chance to take the title
in the 105-year-old tournament. Twin
Palms and Starmeadow/Roseville
settled at the top and took the field for
the final.
Starmeadow’s big gun, Graham
Bray struck first but Twin Palms’
Gaston von Wernich responded right
away. Von Wernich scored three more
in the second, before Ashton Wolf
answered with a pair of goals. Ryan
Robertson split the uprights early in
the third for Twin Palms but Colton
Bancroft fired back. Robertson got the
last word leaving Twin Palms on top 64 at the half.
After participants in the “Pretty
Woman” divot stomp helped put the
field back, the teams got back to work.
Robertson and Von Wernich scored in
the fourth, and Robertson and
teammate Alvaro Tadeo scored in the
fifth to enter the sixth with Twin
Palms sporting a comfortable 10-4
lead.
Starmeadow had its work cut out