The Agency Captures St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship; Grant Ganzi Sweeps MVP, BPP Honors
ASPEN, Colo., December 21, 2024---On a perfect day for snow polo, first-year team The Agency left a lasting impression at the St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship Thursday at Rio Grande Park.
By Sharon Robb
With a stunning backdrop of the snow-capped Colorado Rockies, The Agency (Grant Ganzi, Jason Crowder, Pierre Henri Ngoumou) knocked off hometown favorite St. Regis (Tony Calle, Nacho Figueras, Alejandro Novillo Astrada), 9-7, for the coveted trophy.
Grant Ganzi, 26, was named Most Valuable Player for his outstanding play including "the goal of the tournament" with a 35-yard angled shot through the air and over a defender's mallet in the final chukker. He finished with a game-high seven goals including four penalty conversions.
It was the fifth time in its 12-year history that Ganzi has won the snow polo title including the last three years.
The snow polo final was the first of three games Ganzi competed in. He also won the Maroon Bells Cup with teammates Miles Rich and Ngoumou and played in the second annual Potamkin Charity Chukker winning with Potamkin Black teammates Alex Potamkin and Geronimo Obregon in honor of his grandfather Robert Potamkin who died in November 2023.
One of Ganzi's favorite horses, Onyx, a 13-year-old bay mare, was Best Playing Pony. Orangina, a 13-year-old Chestnut mare played by Crowder, was the American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony. Both horses are bred and owned by Wellington-based Santa Rita Polo Farm
"I'm thrilled with the win, thrilled with the event, thrilled with everything on and off the field," Ganzi said. "It was the best snow polo yet. The social events were great. The VIP tent was amazing. The brands were great. The jerseys were great. The high goal and low goal tournaments were awesome. Everything was just knock-it-out of the park, ten out of ten."
St. Regis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before hit with penalties which enabled The Agency to tie 2-2 midway through the chukker. Ganzi converted the first of four penalties to put The Agency up 3-2 with 2:37 left. From then on, The Agency never trailed.
The balanced team worked for each other clicking on all cylinders, executing a textbook three-man rotation to perfection and keeping St. Regis off the penalty line.
The Agency led 4-2 after the first chukker and 6-3 at the half. St. Regis had scoring opportunities but The Agency seemed to always have an answer defensively. Going into the fourth quarter, The Agency led 8-4, that included a 50-yarder by Crowder that curved through the goal posts.
With 1:10 left in the game and The Agency leading 8-6, Ganzi scored his spectacular goal which turned out to be the insurance goal for a 9-6 lead. "That's when I had an indication we were going to win," Ganzi said. "Three-goal lead with a minute left, I thought we sealed the deal."
Former teammate Hilario Figueras was hoping to play for a third title with Ganzi but is nursing an injury in Argentina. Ganzi managed to give his friend a shout out after the game.
"The only thing missing was my back-to-back teammate," Ganzi said. "He's like a brother to me and we are wishing him the best. I miss him and I want to dedicate this to him.
"I was proud of the win and being able to share it with Mauricio," Ganzi said. "It was an amazing day. It was a pleasure to play with my teammates. Jason was just a beast and Pedrito never gave up. The crowd went wild and fueled us. It was an honor to play for The Agency."
In Wednesday's semifinals, The Agency held off Aspen Valley Polo Club 9-8. In the other semifinal, St. Regis looked impressive with a 13-7 victory over Edmiston.
The Aspen event is the first of three snow polo tournaments for Ganzi. He will compete in the 22nd Bendura Bank Snow Polo World Cup Jan. 16-19 in Kitzbuhel, Austria and 40th Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz Jan. 24-26 in Switzerland.
The Agency, led by founder and CEO Mauricio Umansky, is a full-service, luxury real estate brokerage and lifestyle company with a vast global reach representing clients worldwide since its inception in 2011.
In other Thursday finals:
High Alpine Cup: Edmiston (Teo Calle, Nic Roldan, Sugar Erskine) 10, Aspen Valley Polo Club (Sarah Siegel-Magness, Jesse Bray, Geronimo Obregon) 8.
Potamkin Charity Chukker: Potamkin Black (Grant Ganzi, Geronimo Obregon, Alex Potamkin) 2, Potamkin Yellow (Billy Stolz, Stephen Alexander, Sugar Erskine) 1.
Maroon Bells Cup: Casablanca (Miles Rich, Pierre Henri Ngoumou, Grant Ganzi) 3, Petrossian (Kevin Schmeits, Becky Schmeits, Sugar Erskine), 1.
Aspen Cup: Hennessy Paradis, (Taggart Mills, Jason Crowder, James Byrd) 4, Arhaus (Britt Burtz, Vinny Sangaline, Nacho Figueras) 3.
For the second day in a row, the hard-packed, fast surface was perfect for the players. The event attracted a Who's Who in players and VIP guests to kick off the social season. Among VIPs were five-time Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, Rebel Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Sterling Jones, Kelley Jakle, Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Riley Keough.
The 12th annual snow polo event also marked a significant milestone for its title sponsor and one of the most renowned luxury hotels in the world, the 120th anniversary of the St. Regis brand. St. Regis has long been associated with polo, dating back to the turn of the 20th century when matches on NYC's Governors Island.
"This event in particular is very special because it has grown so much over the years," Figueras said. "It's an event that I'm always looking forward to playing with this background. It's a lot of good feelings."
For the 12th consecutive year, Aspen Valley Polo Club owners Melissa and Marc Ganzi hosted the world-class event which has joined St. Moritz as one of the world's top snow polo tournaments and one of Aspen's major international sporting events.
The event is one of the world's top snow polo tournaments, only snow polo tournament in North America and final stop on the 2024 World Polo Tour.
Last year Casablanca won its first World Snow Polo Championship. In front of a soldout crowd, Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, 3, Hilario Figueras, 5, Nic Roldan, 9) held off Aspen Valley (Jason Crowder, 6, Marc Ganzi, 1, Adolfo Cambiaso, 10) for an 8-6 victory.
Go Rentals, the sole preferred rental car provider for the World Polo League, is also a major sponsor for the St. Regis World Polo Snow Polo Championship. The premier provider of elite vehicle rentals tailored for private aviation and luxury travel, was recently nominated for the 2024 Los Angeles Business Journal Disruptors Award signifying its approach to enhancing the travel experience and reshaping personalized service.
With a vision for the community and surrounding areas, philanthropists Marc and Melissa Ganzi resurrected the club and polo in 2014. Since then polo has increased in popularity in Aspen and surrounding cities during the summer.
The club's offerings are various weekly grass and arena tournaments, Arena & Asado Nights, Kidz Polo, Kids Wheelie Polo, Gymkhana, Christmas In July, The Polo School at AVPC and Polo On Demand. In addition, the club offers practice sessions for teams competing in the club tournaments on more than six world-class fields. There are also indoor and outdoor polo arenas. There is the Polo School for all ages and ability levels and operates in Carbondale.