April 25th, ‘05: The Winter Is Over! The U.S. Open Ends the winter season in Florida.  Out West it is the Jackson Hole Tournament that puts the season to rest.  

In the Jackson Hole it was the muscle wining. It was the power of Wiley and Michael and they were just a little too strong as the big man on the team, Antonio Juarez, was down right dominating. He sliced the opponents apart with slashing runs and pinpoint passing. A little like Mariano Aguerre down South in the U.S. Open. Mariano also has a 1 on his handicap.  It just happens to be followed by a 0 or like 10. 

It was a fun weekend in the desert at Eldorado Polo Club.  The campers came from San Francisco with Michael Downing. From LA Max and they came to play. They blistered the goal today as GO FISH ran the route.  If you need some help finding something on the Internet it is gofish.com. It is a jewel to the world of entertainment of the Internet.

Down South it was a very unusual finals as I have said all along.  One of them will win, Peter or Skeeter.  It did not happen as Skeeter did not win and neither did Peter as he did not play.  It was sad that a 4 pro team won, but it is the way it should be I guess. Pros are polo playing dudes and Patrons are working men who play polo and who should be best? Peter is so competitive that if he could have played he would have been there. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. Del Walton substituted for him. Del is very young American and he has an Open, but the best part is Julio Gracida.  Julio is 16 or so and he was always on the team. His dad, Memo,  has won 16 U.S. Open Tournaments, but he never won one when he was 16, so that was cool for Julio.  Now I think these players may have been the youngest 2 people at the same time on a U.S. Open winning team. They are both Americans so that is so nice, even though it was at the expense of Skeeter, who as one of America’s premier sponsors does truly deserve a U.S. Open win.  Like the Chicago Cubs, it is just around the corner. Buy a video.  It will be so good.  During the U.S. Open finals the Skeeterville was down by 2 at 1/2 time, up by 1 in the 5th tied in the 6th.  It takes 27 1/2 in overtime to do it.  More details on the U.S. Open finals will be posted on PoloBARN soon.

See ya.

April 20th, '05: The U.S. Open Semi’s Are A Family Affair - White Birch and Skeeterville, they both had a family feud more or less. White Birch played and beat Catamount with Carlos Gracida playing against the White Birch # 1 Julio Gracida.  He is a super young gun at 16.   His Father, Memo, has won 16 U.S. Opens.  Now Julio starts his streak after beating Uncle Carlos.   White Birch has never won the U.S. Open and have been second 3 times. White Birch takes on a team who also has not won the Open yet.  Skeeterville has been second, but they have on field experience in both Julio Arellano and Owen Rinehart who have some in their trophy cases. Skeeter Johnston,  who is one of the premier Patrons of U.S. polo beat his sister Gillian in the semis. She does have an Open trophy in her case either.  Gillian and Skeeter, who are the children of Mr. & Mrs. polo USA.  Skeeter and Gillian will be on fire on Sunday with 2 of the best organizations in the game today. Peter Brant is very hands on, but often sits out and puts a 4th pro in.  Skeeter, who is like Peter, is also a working patron who is always on the go.  He will get there by airplane, by sea or maybe even walk to play. Skeeter sleeps the next day, but he will play.  By all accounts he is the reason they are in the finals. Boone may organize, but Skeeter will put the pedal to the metal every day he does play. So one of them will lift their first and well-deserved Open trophy come Sunday night.  And one will be second again.

Be there if you can.  It will be a down home battle to the end.  Three gringos and a Southerner against two Yanks. Double trouble dual of Southerners and the only 10-goaler to make it to the final day.

See ya

April 20, ’05: The Final Trip - We are looking at the final trip to Indio this weekend as next weekend is concert time. The concert is coming to town and is just about to happen as the big machines are starting to fill the parking lot at Empire Polo and then you will see 50,000 people at the polo fields. Not many or any horses, but it will be a huge crowd and its the way it is. Have soccer, rugby or music and you get a crowd. We need some big names in Polo and they do not have to play. Just show up with the press and get the papers and TV.  That is the American way.  We want to be seen and it is the polo way to help pay.  It is the way I think. If we had crowds, we could fix things up. Who knows.

Well in the Polo World it is semis time in Florida at the U.S. Open.  In Indio its time for the Jackson Hole Open.  In Santa Barbara its time for the 6-goal finals with a monster turn out of 4 teams, but its polo. We got a new Pope and we will have a handful of new handicaps on Monday and we need to play polo somewhere on the coast this summer. You have polo where the Surf meets the Turf at San Diego Polo Club.  It is an absolutely perfect place for the family to enjoy everything from the Beach to Lego Land, good polo and a big city atmosphere in a country ranch setting. Or you can be at Santa Barbara where it’s so nice, but a little quiet for the younger generation. Or for a wild wild world, wait a month and go to Petaluma home of the Cerro Pampa Polo Club where you will meet the wild side of life as soon as you arrive. Then if you’re looking for simple beauty the prettiest place in polo head to the Rockies in Calgary. It is Awesome from the Moose in the fields to the giant peaks of the Rockies and the fast moving river like the Bow. It is time to play polo somewhere, so grab your tacos and head to the green grass of somewhere.

Drive on the left and pass on the right and save all the gas you can as Mr. Bush is setting up retirement funds for the poor boys in the oil business. I guess it is their turn. When his Daddy was president they said oil was going to 50 or 60 it went south instead, but the new generation is fixing that. Next will be telephones as they all get taken over by a few and our computers will be next as they set us up for the kill on that. They like to say it is to make things better or to consolidate to smaller #'s like no independent oil companies and no local grocery stores no simple hardware stores.  Your electric bill went up it isn’t ever going down again . So just be happy.  These things are never going to change . JUST PLAY POLO.  It is not going down in price either as horse groceries went up 30 % this past year.  See ya.

April 17th, ’05:  It was a DDD D-day. There were lots of D's in the finals of the women’s tournament today.  It might have been a big day down South in the quarter finals at the U.S. Open, but it was finals time here too. It was Dayelle - Dayelle and double that and double OT as well. It was just a double day and a great day. At 10 a.m. the ladies were rolling. There were out-of-towners from every where even a couple of Texas Boys dropped in. One is a rookie like yesterday and he may be on the way to the U.S. Open in '07. He has that much talent and desire. As Tony says put this in your back pocket. He may be there like a real f a s t. His name is Bo (Not Boo) Lasatier and he was born to play polo. We had players from Canada to Buenos Aires and all in between. They were here to play polo, not to watch it. They played about 10 games of it and it was wild from the get go. Kim Garced and the Wild Women from Ca. POLO Club jumped on Poway early and often as Kim led the charge scoring goals. Virginia closed the door. The boys from Phoenix brought a new Young Gun to town by the name of Tom Dunmire or Tomas as the argy's say. He is feeling the bug, a polo bug, as he rocked for the first time on green grass and he will be back.  He has Gary and Libby helping him and they know the game, but Libby did not leave with all the silver today. They were struggling to find a path and a player or two. It's  for sure the Men's Only. It was really young men or boys so it was the Gray Ghost (Demsey Mork) doing the leading with Uretz Rockets by the names of Patrick and Wiley. They are guns Uzis maybe. They flew with Bobby Puetz and the Gray Ghost followed their lead to the trophy cart as World Gym are the 2005 champs of the Men's Only tournament.

In the B flight it was a battle between 2 women who know the back of a horse better than most men and they battled it out for about 4 hours in the B flight finals. It came down to the wire and a tie, but it was Hanalei Bay winning on net goals over the French Fries and Rado's. Then it was time for a real cat fight as Playa Grande/Abby Dobb and Ms Geiler's gang took on Pami Sue and the Larsen Golf Cars gang. It was downright exciting and it just did not end. Dayelle got tough in the first 2 and they kicked butt and were up by 3 with 2 to go. The French Lady (Caroline Anier) reorganized her troops and kicked butt the last 2 and it was tied. At the end of 1 OT chukker it was still tied and about 3 minutes into double OT after a huge run by Ms. Anier just missing by a foot they came back the other way and Rocket Roxy (Roxy Keyfauver) put the nail in and closed the door to help the Lady's in Blue and Pami Sue win the biggest one of the year.

Down South it was a few big battles as Lady Gillian Johnson and Bendabout came from behind to hang them as they head to the Semis where she will meet Brother Skeeter. One of them will be in the 2005 finals. In the other game it was Jr. Polo's old man Jeff Hall all of 24 going down to the Double 10's of Catamount Carlos & Milee.

Now they have to deal with a real problem, White Birch, who were there last year and plan on another trip like next Sunday. So tune into PoloBARN.com and see the results. After 4 weeks of the U.S. Open, over 8 million dollars spent and 15 teams competing. There are only 4 left and in 3 days there will only be 2 teams left. It's a different World, like Sean Keyes told me the other day. Here on the West Coast it is another World. Go to Florida and see it, you will believe your eyes and wonder where did we get lost on this road. See ya. 

April 13th, '05: No Southern Comfort - Down South ( or back East whatever) was not a fun place to be for the West Coast Boys as they were buried. Of the two main groups Millarville and Orchard Hill it was 1 & 7. The only win was when one played the other which is not what we expected, but there is always next year. Jeff Hall, one of our former Jr. polo players, is an old man at 24. He is still in the hunt as he heads to the quarters with a big win over the super tough White Birch. So Old Pueblo and White Birch are in. Skeeterville is in. They have Bryan Murphy's son-in-law, Julio Arellano, and the 2004 champs Isla Carroll went 0 & 4. They are finished. The 2003 winners have 1 more shot and it is tommorrow. Lechuza Carcas still has a shot or are in as they boiled Millarville today. So those 5 are in. Airstream, Catamount, C Spear, Las Monjitas and Bendabout all have a chance and they get it tommorrow. Catamount is sitting on the boards with a good shot even though they are in a bracket with 2 already in the quarters.

Here in the Desert the Ladies are in town and they do not care what's happening in Fl. The Ladies are Prime time this week and we will give you a rundown as soon as we know what's up . So whether your headed to Florida or the Indio Way drive on the right and pass on the left. Gas is nearing $3 a gallon. Save it by being efficent and friendly. See ya.

April 11th, ’05: Taking time to see Polo as it is – What are your thoughts?  Have you ever watched a Polo game, I mean really watched it? I doubt it unless your wife was playing or your husband or a child of yours.  That is probably the only time. It’s a sport that few really watch other than those who do it for a living. If you ask 100 people which horse Adam played in the fifth chukker, chances are 3 know the answer and they are the only 3 who care. I’m not saying this to be mean.  It is just a fact.  It is hard to get the crowd there on the field and it is a social event to most not a sporting event. Why?  It is without a doubt the fastest team sport in the World and also one of the most exciting and dangerous sports in the World.  The problem is nobody knows about the sport and they do not care because nobody else knows. Why?  What do we do for the public? Most people do not think they are welcome and others think they need a tux and a rose to enter the club.  I guess it was true in 1920, but there were a class. There were were no pros, no poor boys and no wannabes.  They were who they were.  The 4oo Club. Now 90 % are wannabes and 10 % rich and we still get no respect because nobody knows about the sport or when and where its happening.  It’s just an unknown and we remain unknowns . We never help ourselves. That is for sure. Like driving on the right and passing on the left.  It would help everyone, but no way its not my problem. It is the same attitude with polo. If it was not for a few generous vigorous people we would play polo at Ned’s or Fred’s or polo Joe’s and just complain that there is no longer a club.  Along comes John Goodman or someone like him and they just step up and do it. Then everyone wants in because it’s my Club now which is BS because they pay dues $6,500 a year for a 10 million dollar deal. Why can polo not be like golf? It cost at many country clubs 500 grand to join and they have waiting lists and yearly dues. We are complaining about $6,500 dues for a year and God forgive, we pick up our garbage or tape from horses after game. No Way. Well the cure for this is a positive cash flow and the upside is a polo field in the path of the future which is an investment.  A retirement fund . . . sort of, so how come nobody knows? Because we do not care? I think so.

Look at the price of gas.  It is up to $2.70 a gallon.  If you drive 60 miles a day to work and back 5 days a week it is 52 bucks a week for gas. Just think 1/2 a day of work is now just for gas every week.  We still drive in the left lane so we slow the guy who makes more down and everyone else. Why? Nobody knows, but we will start knowing at $3 a gallon because it’s a mental deal. Oh no, its $3 a gallon and my SUV holds 50 gallons. All this has nothing to do with polo, but we are not paying attention to anything and polo is for fun for many, but will it be if we continue to not bring it to the table and fix it?  See ya and I do Know.

April 10th ’05: World Class Polo with World Gym Juniors - They came, they played and they smiled at the end of the day.  They did what they needed to do.  They played POLO and did it well with 24 kids from 6 to 14 years old, all polo players, met for 2 days and fought it out on the polo field the old fashion way.  They worked for each other.  They were everywhere and they were on horses.  Some fast and some not, but all on horses. They came from Canada, California, Argentina, Mexico and even Philadelphia.  It was very good event put on by Pappa Uretz to support such a great event. Everyone had fun and they all promised their new found friends to be back to kick butt next year. This is what it is all about. We had a very big surprise from back East as 2 young guns from Philadelphia showed up and proved they were like Rocky. They were made to join the mix.  They are brothers and their names are Karem and Jaber Rosser. They are already famous from a Spots Illustrated article published a few months ago, but they were new to the desert. They came from the winter weather and arena polo and did so well on the grass. Something I am not sure they have ever done.  I plan to feature all of the kids in a Polo for Junior's article soon. They are new and very enjoyable.  Much like all the building and growing of the sport of polo. These kids are players of the future. Well done to all the people who made it happen. See ya 

April 10th, ’05: Maith thu Ore-Pac/Ore-Pac - It means well done in Irish I am told. It was well done as they were the normal Irish Cup winners. They took no prisoners and it was that way all weekend. They were down by 4 on Sat. with Mercari and returned to plunder and did so as they escaped by 1. Nick Winters showed his mettle along with two hard-riding Northern boys, both Irish or Scottish I would guess in the form of Glenn Hart and Cam Diggons. They just kept coming and they did it. The final game was the same.  They were down then up and non stop as the old Irish saying “Men are like Bagpipes no sound until they’re full.” Cameron was full at the end of the day and so was his bagpipe as the sound was great to a very good day here in El Dorado. In their waning moments of the 2005 season. While Ore/Pac was disabling Storm Cat and Shoot for the Moon there was also a thriller in the 2-goal as the GRAY Ghost, Dempsey Mork, hired a bunch of young guns and then showed them how to do it. Dempsy led La Mancha to the trophy table and at his age is probably more than the total of the other 3 teammates, but it was pure Irish as he went to the whip to stop a hard charging Fish Creek pro on the way to the goal line in the fourth to turn it into OT. He then organized his troops to end it soon as they put a dam in the creek’s run to the title of the 2005 Irish Cup finals. The Winners are;

High Goal finals ----- ORE-PAC/ROUGE
Low goal finals  ----- La Mancha

They earned it as there were 15 teams in town for the Irish Cup.  It was a huge turnout for a perfect Desert weekend. See ya next Friday as the ladies get to town

The Bob Skene Most Improved Player of 2005 went to the Smiling Man, Curt Hughes. He deserved it. Curt has played very well and continued to run a huge business.   While doing all this he also had a little open heart surgery about a year ago. Curt is like the ad “ONE TOUGH TRUCK.” I think he sells Dodges as well as Chevys. It was Laith carrying home the big one as in the Governor’s Cup platter for the second year in a row. The Riceman could not beat them last year so he joined them this year. Shane had a very big day as he also led Casa Blanca to their first John Deere Classic 8-goal win.  This year was a swap from last year for him. Just last year he lost both finals. Sunday was a better day.  He won them both and Casa Blanca was heads up against a fiesty couple of pretty Ladies Lauren Sherry and Shelley Geiler, who were in their first 8-goal finals.  They may have been a little nervous playing on field 1 in an adventure in prime time, but they did well and that’s why they were there.  Dudley is not complaining, but his Casa Blanca squad is the 2005 8-goal champs.

In the Tackmart 4-goal finals it was another war and probably the best finals of the day. Geri Dardi is back in polo for a while and she joined up with Dina Stuart to take on a couple of monsters of the North Sir Sean Keyes and Wild Bill Freeman.  These two like to party and play polo. They do both at mach speed and they just out ran the girls by a small margin.  Rumor is that Wild Bill did go home by midnight on Sat. night, a very unusual occurrence if true, but he was rocking for sure on Sunday.  Sean is looking for a little turnout to heal a very sore wing ASAP.  He is on a mission of Polo Legends.  Will get all the results later as I lost the list somehow last night.  Could have been alcohol robbery of brain cells as it was a heck of a party

See ya.

April 1st, ’05: We Are Going Down Town. It’s down to the big time as now there are 3 and going down this Sunday afternoon it will be one. They will go down in history as the last one standing is the 2005 Champion.

Today (Friday) was like this:

At 10 30 AM it was Big Mike Hakan showing as usual he knows polo players and how to win. He just needs the time which he did not have to open it all. He lost the first, but none since. Hakan heads to the finals of the Lt Gov. Cup at a high-rate of speed.  They sped by Melody today in the 8-goal.  It was General Lee Pettigrew reaching form again as they did a job on Fountain View and did away with them in a quick fashion. In the big one of the day it was the Smiling Man Curt Hughes and son Lance leading the charge for Ernie Ezcurra  and Topo Mendez.  Friendly Chevrolet head to the finals of the Governor’s Cup with a no nonsense attitude.  Both Hughes are playing well and the one-eyed fellow  Ernie Ezcurra working with Topo do well. It is a tough team to deal with.  It’s a Ram tough truck even though they call them Friendly Chevorlet. They were too tough for a Sooner Wagon.  It was sort of like the Orange Bowl this year.  A California conquest.

It was a down town brawl with Bad Brad Schlei, who I now call “no see ‘em” for his speed to polo. He was going by and then he was g o n e in a drive yesterday down I-10. It was BTA going on by Corleone in the 8-goal.  It is now up to gross goals. Dudley kept them in sight as Casa Blanca was too much for Storm Cat.  In the final of the day it was Kentfield keeping Summerland dry as they stopped the storm from the trophy. It is on to Saturday and we will be standing by waiting for the big one at 10 a.m. when White Oak takes on Jake Devane and his G&L Ranch . So be there and cheer them on !!

See Ya there.

March 29th,’05: With thrills, speed, excitement comes danger. We do things in life that we love to do, but few of those things we love to do are safe like eating, drinking, driving too fast or flying.  They all have become part of our lives.  Some necessary.  Playing polo safely is what? On video maybe it is a wild and crazy sport.  Like most exciting things it brings danger and sometimes injury, but we need to help make it safer all the time.  I read about mouth guards in pro football.  They said it cut something like 50 to 60 % of concussions which are the most dreaded of polo accidents. I have had many concussions over the years and I think the last thing I remember sometimes was that clashing of my teeth which is what sends that shock and impact to the skull. So why do we not wear them? Who knows?  It is the same as goggles. I guess hardly anyone wore them 10 yrs ago only the one-eyed polo players, but now about 60% of the players probably wear goggles. Maybe we should take that step toward a new idea. Look it up or ask your doctor about mouth guards.   A few player’s use them now. Safety is an issue like driving in the left lane.  It is for passing.  So think about it. Have you noticed the millions of butterflies in the desert? I have never seen this before. They are sometimes on the coast or in the mountains, but in the desert are lost or is it another nature course? Well this is just something that comes to mind again with 2 big concussions in the last weekend of play. So lets play polo and have fun.  Pass on the left driving and drive on the right.  Make it a nice trip to polo this week .

See ya