IGLEHART CUP
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Iglehart Cup is a national 12- to 16-goal tournament named for Philip L. B. Iglehart. As a boy at the Aiken Preparatory School and later at St. Paul's School and Yale University, he was steeped in polo culture from a young age. Leaving polo after graduation to pursue a business career, Iglehart was already rated 7-goals and after a 20-year hiatus returned to reclaim his old rating, which he held for 13 years. Some of Iglehart’s accomplishments include a U.S. Open Polo Championship (1953), leadership at Meadowbrook Polo Club in Medford, New York, and the creation of Gulfstream Polo Club (Lake Worth, Florida - now defunct).
Inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame in 1993, Iglehart has been enshrined not only as an inductee but bears one of the Hall of Fame's highest honors in his name. The Philip Iglehart Award was established in 2001 to acknowledge exceptional lifetime contributions to the sport of polo. Vicki Armour, Richard "Dick" Latham and A.D. "Don" Beveridge were selected as 2024 inductees.
Traditionally held as a stand-alone USPA-sanctioned tournament in Wellington, Florida, the Iglehart Cup joined the ranks as a national tournament in 2023. Recent champions include Equine Liquid Biocell (2017), Pilot (2018), Stable Door Polo (2020), Beverly Polo (2022) and Iconica (2023).
The Iglehart Cup will serve as the third qualifying leg of four prestigious national tournaments (Joe Barry Memorial, Ylvisaker Cup, Outback Cup) culminating in the NPC 16-Goal Championship. Qualifiers will be played across multiple clubs, with the championship final hosted on Sunday, April 14, at the National Polo Center – Wellington (NPC). Participating clubs include Port Mayaca Polo Club (Okeechobee, Florida) and the Wellington Polo Tour (WPT) led by Patagones Polo Club (Wellington, Florida) and a series of private fields falling under the WPT umbrella.
Each of the four national tournaments serve as a qualifier for the NPC 16-Goal Championship, with each winning team (Forbes Plunkett, Clearwater) moving on to the final event. Should a team win more than one qualifier, that team will automatically advance to the NPC 16-Goal Championship final.
To reinforce the idea that all participation is encouraged, players may compete in as many events as they would like on either the same team or on different teams. Yet, if a player triumphs in more than one event but on different teams, that player must choose which team he or she would like to represent in the NPC 16-Goal Championship and the other team may use a substitute. Qualifying teams must maintain at least two of their original members in order to play in the Championship.
In 2023, an unstoppable Iconica (Maureen Brennan, Mariano "Peke" Gonzalez, Lucas "Luckitas" Criado Jr., Santos Merlos) went head-to-head against a sharpshooting BTA (Ignacio "Nachi" Viana, Jesse Bray, Steve Krueger, Kelly Beal). Trailing by one at the end of the fifth chukker, Iconica's defense emerged for a spectacular shutdown sixth, as goals from Criado Jr. and Merlos lifted Iconica to a 10-8 comeback and their third consecutive 16-goal title.
Hosted and managed by the WPT and Patagones Polo Club, this year's competition will feature a deep field of 11 competitive teams vying for the prestigious title. Las Brisas, Palm Beach Equine, Pilot and Tonkawa will join seven teams (90210 Polo, BTA, Copperline Farm, Flying H, La Fe/Dazos, Mayer Ranch, Novo Polo) competing in the Ylvisaker Cup for the opportunity to advance to the Championship.
Representing Team USPA is Active Member Lucas Escobar (Copperline Farm), Graduating Member Nico Escobar (Copperline Farm) and alumni Jesse Bray and Geronimo Obregon (90210 Polo), Steve Krueger (BTA), Santino Magrini (Flying H) and Costi Caset, Matt Coppola and Jared Zenni (Mayer Ranch).
Patagones Polo Club will be taking advantage of the USPA's Bridge to High Goal Initiative (B2HG) for the Iglehart Cup, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs three USPA Professional Umpires (two mounted officials and one third man) at 50% of the regular cost to the club.
The Bridge to High Goal Initiative (B2HG) has been created to support polo between 12 and 16 goals. The goal of the program is to build a bridge from low-goal polo to high-goal polo that provides a safe environment for competition which will allow for the cultivation of team owners and the advancement of aspiring professionals.
2023 Iglehart Cup Champions: Iconica - Santos Merlos, Lucas "Luckitas" Criado Jr., Mariano "Peke" Gonzalez, Maureen Brennan. ©David Lominska.
