Casablanca Captures Craig Sakin Memorial; Nic Roldan MVP

CARBONDALE, Colo., July 15, 2024---Casablanca won its second tournament of the summer polo season Sunday at Aspen Valley Polo Club's McClure River Ranch Stadium.

By Sharon Robb

In front of a good crowd, Casablanca (Marc Ganzi, 1, Santos Bollini, 2, Grant Ganzi, 3, Nic Roldan, 8) led from start to finish to defeat Maltese Falcons (Alejandra Foster, Melissa Ganzi, Santi Toccalino, 7, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7), 8-6.

Nic Roldan, the second highest ranked American, was named Most Valuable Player. Roldan has won the most MVP titles at both Aspen Valley Polo Club and its sister club Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington, Fla.

Amiga, a bay mare owned and played by Alejandra Foster, was AVPC Best Playing Pony. Moon Quartz, a dark bay mare played by Grant Ganzi and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm, was the American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony.

The two evenly-matched teams put on a show from start to finish. Casablanca controlled most of the game after a 1-1 opening chukker.

Casablanca took a 2-1 lead on Roldan's lob goal early in the chukker and never trailed after that. The game was fast and furious and did not disappoint. Inside the 60, both teams were relentless.

Casablanca led 4-2 at the half, 6-4 after the fourth and 8-6 after the fifth. The teams were defensive in the final chukker playing to a 0-0 tie with Roldan playing with great anticipation as a defensive wall.

Marc Ganzi and Roldan shared scoring honors, each with three goals. Santos Bollini and Grant Ganzi each had one. Toccalino led Maltese Falcons with three goals, Astrada had two including a 120-yarder and Melissa Ganzi added one.

Maltese Falcons and Casablanca advanced into the championship after two exciting semifinals on Friday.

In the opening game, Maltese Falcons spoiled the season debut of Los Amigos (Paul Foster, Sugar Erskine, 6, Jason Crowder, 5, Hilario Figueras, 5) with an impressive 13-10 victory. Melissa Ganzi scored a game-high seven goals. Alejandra Foster had four goals and Toccalino added two. Sugar Erskine led Los Amigos with four goals. Hilario Figueras had three goals, Paul Foster added two and Jason Crowder had one.

In the second game, Casablanca (Fran Spinacci, 1, Santos Bollini, 2, Grant Ganzi, 3, Nic Roldan, 8) rallied in an an exciting second half for a 11-10 win over Tonkawa. Up-and-coming young stars Santos Bollini and Fran Spinacci shared leading scorer honors, each with four goals. Roldan, the team's field general playing from the back, had two goals and Ganzi added one. Tomacho Pieres led Tonkawa with four goals. Jauregui had three goals including a safety and 60-yard penalty conversion. Seward had two goals and Hildebrand had one.

JUST FOR THE LOVE OF IT

In the subsidiary game, Tonkawa edged Los Amigos, 8-7. After dominating most of the game with leads of 2-0, 4-0 and 5-1 i the first half, Tonkawa held off Los Amigos in the second half. A 60-yard penalty conversion by Figueras cut Tonkawa's lead to one (7-6) before Pieres scored an insurance goal with 39 seconds left.

Hildebrand scored a game-high five goals. Pieres had two and Jauregui added  a 130-yard goal. Foster and Figueras each had three goals and Erskine added one. Alice, played by Sugar Erskine and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm, was selected Best Playing Pony.

The tournament is named in honor of Craig Sakin, who passed away on Feb. 11, 2014 at age 52. The former president of the Homeowners' Association of Sopris Mountain Ranch, was instrumental in helping Marc and Melissa Ganzi secure their first polo field. In 2015, some of Sakin's ashes were released over the polo field.

Last season M.A.G. Polo held off NetJets to capture the Craig Sakin Memorial. M.A.G. Polo (Govinda Quish, Dominic State, 2, Nic Roldan 8, Jason Crowder, 5) defeated NetJets (Santos Bollini, 2, Marc Ganzi, 1, Nacho Figueras 5, Hilario Figueras, 5), 8-7, to win the two-day, five-team tournament. American 8-goaler Nic Roldan scored a game-high four goals and came up with key defensive plays in the final minutes to earn Most Valuable Player.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

On Saturday at the AVPC Barn Field, Ryan Shank made his Aspen debut in style. Santa Rita (Haley Schaufeld, Santi Toccalino, Grant Ganzi, Juan Bollini) defeated McClure River Ranch (Ryan Shank, Fran Spinacci, Tomacho Pieres, Pablo Spinacci), 6-4.  Shank, a Polo School alum, scored three goals and was named Most Valuable Player. Santa Rita jumped out to 3-0 leads in the opening chukker and 6-1 in the third chukker before McClure River Ranch rallied and made a run before time ran out.

So far the season-opening tournaments have been won by Santa Rita (Haley Schaufeld, Grant Ganzi, Tomacho Pieres, Juan Bollini) in the Independence Cup and Casablanca  (Marc Ganzi, 1, Martin Jauregui, 6, Nic Roldan, 8, Grant Ganzi, 3) in the ChukkerTV Challenge Cup.