Rocky Mountain Open, Silver Queen Invitational, Triple Crown Of Polo-Aspen Highlight Season-Ending Weekend At Aspen Valley Polo Club
CARBONDALE, Colo., August 22, 2024---Aspen Valley Polo Club's most successful summer polo season comes to a close this weekend with a tournament tripleheader.
By Sharon Robb
The Rocky Mountain Open, Silver Queen Invitational and Triple Crown of Polo-Aspen will highlight action on Friday with preliminary qualifiers at McClure River Ranch and High Mesa and finals on Sunday at McClure River Ranch Stadium.
On Friday, two games are scheduled. The first is the Rocky Mountain Open at 10 a.m. at High Mesa. The top two teams play the final and third place team play in the Triple Crown of Polo.
The teams are Audi (18) with Marc Ganzi, 1, Santos Bollini, 2, Martin Jauregui, 6, and Gonzalito Pieres, 9; Tonkawa (17) with Jeff Hildebrand, 1, Grant Ganzi, 3, Nic Roldan, 8 and Hilario Figueras, 5; and Mountain Chevrolet (15) with Michael Payne, 1, Vinny Sangaline, 1, Sugar Erskine, 6, and Santi Toccalino, 7.
The afternoon match, the Silver Queen Invitational, is at 1 p.m. at McClure River Ranch Field One. The two teams are Los Amigos (16) with Paul Foster, Pablo Spinacci, 5, Tomacho Pieres, 6 and Jason Crowder, 5; and Maltese Falcons (15) with Melissa Ganzi, Alejandra Foster, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, and Nacho Novillo Astrada.
Sunday Funday will be special with the Rocky Mountain Open and Triple Crown of Polo (round robin game) tournament finals at McClure River Ranch Stadium at 11 a.m. Special guest will be Mr. Brainwash, a French-born Los Angeles-based street artist who rose to fame after a documentary film by Banksy. Mr. Brainwash designed the beautiful "Polo Is Beautiful" art sculptures at Aspen Valley and Grand Champions Polo Clubs. The awards ceremony and summer's third Wheelie Game will close out the season. An after polo party will be held.
On Saturday, the Just For The Fun Of It begins 10:15 a.m. at the AVPC Barn Field with one game and Kidz Polo. Mr. Brainwash will take a polo lesson at the Polo School.
In last year's Rocky Mountain Open, Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, 0, Marc Ganzi, 1, Gonzalito Pieres, 9, Nic Roldan, 8) held off Santa Rita (Melissa Ganzi, 0, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, Polito Pieres, 10, Stewart Armstrong, 2), 14-12, to win the Rocky Mountain Open presented by NetJets. Gonzalito Pieres swept the MVP and BPP honors.
The last time the Triple Crown of Polo-Aspen was held was in 2022 when Los Amigos (Paul Foster, Jason Crowder, Grant Ganzi, Nic Roldan) defeated defending champion Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Marc Ganzi, Tomacho Pieres, Juan Martin Nero), 5-4, to win the coveted Triple Crown of Polo-Aspen trophy. Grant Ganzi was MVP.
The Rocky Mountain Open is named after the the Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, formed 80 million years ago. They are a major mountain range and largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 miles in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States. Of the 100 highest major peaks of the Rocky Mountains, 78 (including the 30 highest) are located in Colorado.
The Triple Crown of Polo trophy is comprised of three separate trophies that fit perfectly together to create an entire polo scene that is breathtaking in sterling silver with tournament winners' names inscribed on the trophy.
The Triple Crown of Polo, an ESPN2 television series, was created in 2005 by David McLane, known for Pro Beach Hockey, Women of Wrestling and Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, to help promote polo in the U.S. The show was seen in 129 countries.
The spectacular trophy was created for the event that had stops at the Sarasota Polo Club, Las Colinas Polo Club in Dallas and Santa Barbara Polo Club the first year in 2006 and Sarasota and New Bridge Polo and Country Club in Aiken, South Carolina in 2007 during its heyday before it went on hiatus.
So far tournament champions are:
Santa Rita (Haley Schaufeld, Grant Ganzi, Tomacho Pieres, Juan Bollini) in the Independence Cup.
Casablanca (Marc Ganzi, Martin Jauregui, Nic Roldan, Grant Ganzi) in the ChukkerTV Challenge Cup.
Casablanca (Marc Ganzi, Santos Bollini, Nic Roldan, Grant Ganzi) in the Craig Sakin Memorial
Los Amigos Red (Nic Roldan, Hilario Figueras, Paul Foster, Grant Ganzi) in the Basalt Handicap.
Los Amigos Red (Alejandra Foster, Santi Toccalino, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Juan Bollini) in the Emma Challenge Cup.
Mountain Chevrolet (Fran Spinacci, Michael Payne, Pablo Spinacci, Gonzalito Pieres) in the High Alpine Cup.
Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Grant Ganzi, Nic Roldan, Hilario Figueras) in the Carbondale Classic.