Los Amigos Red Tops Audi For Basalt Handicap Title; Grant Ganzi Sweeps MVP, BPP Honors

CARBONDALE, Colo., July 22, 2024---Los Amigos Red was red hot Sunday at Aspen Valley Polo Club's McClure River Ranch Stadium.

By Sharon Robb

Los Amigos Red (Paul Foster, Grant Ganzi, 3, Nic Roldan, 8, Hilario Figueras, 5) took off in the second chukker and never looked back for an impressive 15-8 victory over Audi (Marc Ganzi, 1, Martin Jauregui, 6, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Jimmy Seward, 3) for its first win of the summer season.

Grant Ganzi, 26, was named Most Valuable Player after playing well at both ends of the field. Ganzi shared leading scorer honors with Nic Roldan with five goals and was four-for-four from the penalty line.

"It's been a while getting MVP," Ganzi said. "I'm happy about it. I'm just grateful to be recognized. I'm having fun out there. I am more happy to get another blanket for my mares. I'm really happy with the way my horses are playing. They are all from my mom's breed."

Bay mare China Clay, played by Ganzi and bred and owned by Wellington, Fla.-based Santa Rita Polo Farm, was the American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony.

Bay mare JM Misteriosa, played by Martin Jauregui and bred and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm, was the AVPC Best Playing Pony.

Los Amigos Red's foursome worked well together as a team with great chemistry and anticipation to win the five-team tournament.

"We started off pretty well and maybe didn't play our best at the end of the first and start of the second but we had a really strong third chukker and fourth chukker," Ganzi said. "That kind of made the game easier. In the third, fourth and fifth our defense played well. I thought it would be closer especially at the beginning. We were a little more disciplined on the man and we played a lot more simpler than they did."

Audi won the opening chukker behind Ganzi's 30-yard penalty from the spot and Jauregui's goal for a 2-0 lead. With no sign of panic, Roldan reared back and scored from 120-yards out with 1:06 left in the chukker.

Figueras opened the second chukker with back-to-back goals to tie, 2-2, and take the lead 3-2. Marc Ganzi scored another goal to tie the game 3-3. It was the closest Audi got to regaining the lead for the remainder of the game. Los Amigos Red ended up winning the chukker 3-1 for a 4-3 lead and continued controlling the momentum with a 4-1 third chukker and 8-4 halftime lead.

"It's always tough going into halftime after playing the kind of third chukker we did. and playing a good fourth was a big relief," Ganzi said. "Being able to carry that into the fifth and still playing pretty solid we got to the point where we knew we were going to win."

Los Amigos Red's dominance continued in the second half, outscoring Audi, 7-4, including a shutout in the sixth chukker.

"It was great to play with Paul again," Ganzi said. "I don't think I've played with him for a year or two now. He is a really good teammate and nice guy to play with. I'm grateful for the weekend with Nic. I can't say enough great things about Nic. He makes the game a lot easier and creates a lot of space for the team. Playing with Hilario, a good friend of mine, is always fun. I think we played well together and had the team lined out the way it should have been."

Los Amigos Red had balanced scoring from its lineup. In addition to Ganzi's five goals, Roldan had five goals including a 120-yarder, Figueras had four and Foster added one goal. For Audi, Marc Ganzi had four goals including three penalty conversions. Jauregui had three goals and Pieres added one.

After only four tournaments, it's obvious the quality of play bar has been raised across the board.

"I think the caliber of players is very high," Ganzi said. "I think the horse flesh is very strong. There are a lot of nice horses out here. People are showing up very well-mounted. I think we are playing a nice open breed of polo games that make it better for the players and spectators like. The level of play is just going to keep rising. It raises everyone's game and makes people want to compete a little bit more."

In the Just For The Love It subsidiary round robin, Maltese Falcons (Melissa Ganzi, Vinny Sangaline, 1, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, Nacho Novillo Astrada, 8) won. Los Amigos (Alejandra Foster, Sugar Erskine, 6, Santi Toccalino, 7, Santos Bollini, 2) was second and Santa Rita (Fran Spinacci, 1, Jason Crowder, 5, Pablo Spinacci, 5, Juan Bollini, 3) was third.

Aqua Marine, played by Nacho Novillo Astrada, making his Aspen debut, was selected AVPC Best Playing Pony. The mare is bred and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm.

On Friday, in the Basalt Handicap qualifying games, Los Amigos Red won the opening round robin, defeating Maltese Falcons, 4-2, in the third leg of the round robin. Audi edged Los Amigos Blue, 10-9, in the second regulation game. Marc Ganzi had four goals and Jauregui three for Audi. Melissa Ganzi had five goals for Maltese Falcons. Figueras and Foster each had four goals.
 
On Saturday, in the Just For The Fun Of It which was fun, Ricky Bueno scored the winning goal at the buzzer to give the World Polo League (Anthony Devrient, Santos Bollini, Ricky Bueno, Grant Ganzi) a 4-3 win over Santa Rita (Silver Novillo Astrada, Phil Gutman, Leana Walker, Juan Bollini) at the AVPC Barn Field.

After the polo action and awards ceremony, there were plenty of smiles among kids of all ages celebrating Melissa Ganzi's Christmas In July party that featured dozens of gifts for boys and girls, food and face painting.

The Basalt Handicap honors the former railroad town which was named for the basaltic rock formation on Basalt Mountain. Basalt is known as a vacation mecca for families and sports enthusiasts in water sports, fishing, camping, hiking and more.

Last season NetJets dominated most of the game to capture the Basalt Handicap. NetJets (Ale Poma 1, Nacho Figueras, 3, Marc Ganzi, 1, Nic Roldan, 8) won the two-day, six-team tournament with an 11-8 victory over ST8 (Melissa Ganzi, Dominic State, 2, Nacho Novillo Astrada, 8, Juan Bollini, 3) in front of a good crowd. Nic Roldan was named Most Valuable Player.

So far the season-opening tournaments have been won by Santa Rita (Haley Schaufeld, Grant Ganzi, Tomacho Pieres, Juan Bollini) in the Independence Cup; Casablanca  (Marc Ganzi, 1, Martin Jauregui, 6, Nic Roldan, 8, Grant Ganzi, 3) in the ChukkerTV Challenge Cup, and Casablanca (Marc Ganzi, 1, Santos Bollini, 2, Grant Ganzi, 3, Nic Roldan, 8) and Casablanca again, this time the Craig Sakin Memorial with an 8-6 in over Maltese Falcons (Alejandra Foster, Melissa Ganzi, Santi Toccalino, 7, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7).