Jan 19, 2021 4:21 PM
Ten teams, six competing in the Border Circuit Congressional Cup and four in the Copa de Careyes, came to Costa Careyes Polo Club (Jalisco, Mexico) located on the Pacific Ocean south of the lively city Puerto Vallarta. The new Costa Careyes Partners, led by Chris Falk and Brian Boyd, and club president Giorgio Brignone invited players to the newly furbished fields to enjoy camaraderie and polo. Although the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the usually festive climate, the polo was fast and furious. U.S. Polo Assn. provided performance team jerseys in different colors for each of the 10 teams, representing players from twelve countries.
The Border Circuit Congressional Cup was divided into a cross bracket format with El Careyes (Miguel Gomez de Parada, Carlos Hernandez, Isaac Hernandez, Adam Justin), Cabinet Connection (Will Falk, Josh Falk, Chris Falk, Federico Uribe), and Dundas 2 (Gary Magness, Nico Millan, Mariano Fassetta, Juan Marcos Cruz) in the first bracket. Bracket two featured Dundas 1 (Cable Magness, Jason Crowder, Tony Uretz, Domingo Aldaco), Quinto Sol (Manuel Matos, Valerio Aguilar, Guillermo Jimenez, Joel Acosta), and La Karina (Brian Boyd, Patrick Boyd, Benito Hernandez, Carlitos Gracida). Dundas 2 and Quinto Sol came out on top in their brackets and faced off in the final for the championship title.
Dundas 2 came to play from the first chukker, preventing Quinto Sol from scoring until the second chukker. Dundas 2 led 5-1 at halftime. In the third chukker, Acosta scored two goals and Matos one for Quinto Sol but Fassetta added one more for the Dundas 2 tally. In the last chukker Dundas 2 again scored twice to end the game with a final score 8-5.
Mariano Fassetta was named Most Valuable Player. Best Playing Pony was awarded to Bonita, a mare owned by Gary and Sarah Magness and played by Fassetta.
All four Copa de Careyes teams played each other with semifinals games to determine the finalists. Participants included an all Colombian team, Las Piratas (Mateo Espitia, Martin Espitia, Juan Martin, Marco Cabal), Los Hermanos (Chrissy Falk, Katie Falk, Sydney Falk, Patrick Boyd, Ace Boyd, Benito Hernandez), Agua Alta - Club 51 (Milo Ardissone, Gian Carlo Brignone, Coco Sandhu, Luis Perez) and the father-son combo Palomir/Polo House Prive (Miguel Gomez de Parada, Mariano Gomez de Parada, Dante Munguia, Adrian Pia, Juan Chi). The finalists were Los Hermanos and Palomir/Polo House Prive.
Los Hermanos was off to a strong start in the first chukker with three opening goals, but Palomir retaliated with two in the second and third. Ultimately the game ended with a final score of 8-6.5 in favor of Los Hermanos.
Martin Espitia was named Most Valuable Player. Kiss, a lovely mare from Mexico played by Patrick Boyd, received Best Playing Pony honors.
Costa Careyes Polo Club will host the 6- to 8-goal Border Circuit Constitution Cup March 27 -April 3, 2021. Playing polo from January through March, Costa Careyes Polo Club welcomes all players to the facility. There are many beginner-friendly polo ponies and play is offered three days a week. Please visit www.careyes.com or contact club manager Susan Stovall at susanstovall@careyes.com.mx for more information.
Effective Date: Saturday, May 16, 2020
The suspension of USPA Tournaments and Events will be lifted for USPA Member Clubs in locales where hosting polo matches and tournaments is permitted under applicable state and local laws, executive orders and similar decrees. The USPA Member Clubs in these locales are encouraged to follow all such requirements of their state and local authorities with respect to polo operations. In addition, we also encourage all USPA Member Clubs to take the precautions recommended by the CDC. We are preparing a detailed list of best practices for USPA Member Clubs as they return to hosting USPA Tournaments and Events and plan to circulate these guidelines within the next week. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and will notify you if we determine a different course of action is necessary.
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