Jan. 2006

Jan 30th, ’06: Monday Morning Polo - Everybody knows everything the next day, but it’s always the way it is. It was a good month to start polo and it was the end of Jan. 2006 wherever you were.

In Florida at Royal Palm Polo it was finals time and it was young Frederick Mannix “Little Mac” leading the Audi charge as they beat Morga Creek to win the Sunshine League.

In the Outback League it was San Saba and Dawn Jones with sometimes Californian Hector Monserat winning the Jan. league over Detroit in a big one.

At IPC (International Polo Club Palm Beach, FL) in the Joe Barry Cup Finals it was the Gringos & a Canadian taking the big title as the Double J's (Jeff Blake and Jeff Hall) continue to carry the flag across the country now winning the America Cup in California, the Silver Cup & Texas Open in Texas and now the Joe Barry Finals in Florida.  They joined up with the Michigan Magic Man Scott Devon and Sarg. Offen and they call themselves Catamount.  They beat defending champs Lechuza.

Out west it was 4 on the floor all for big bronzes  and 4 finals.

in the 4-goal /4 chukker Finals it was Fish Creek taking the bronze.  Fish Creek had Ladies Susan Susan Stovall and Julie Roenisch leading the Fish past the Corleone squad by a few.

In the 4-goal /6  chukkers it was A French Lady (Caroline Anier) leading Vista Santa Rosa past Big Al and Empire Polo.

In the 8-goal finals for the bronzes it was the West Coast set of double J's (Jason Crowder  and Joseph Stuart) joining Geri Dardi and MCPOLO with hard-working Alvaro ruining Sir Sean’s day as they beat Corleone in overtime to start a big run for Josey (Joseph Stuart) and the Palomino (Jason Crowder).

In the 12-goal Finals it was on with the show as these double J's joined Bad Brad and Stone Canyon and the only other Argy to win a title on Sunday. Flying Augi, as in Agustin Zavaleta, took down the Golden Falcons in a barn burner where speed was a factor and the day was a double bronze for Josey & the Palomino.

Jan 25th, ’06: Double J’s down South too! Well some things seem to be the same anywhere they go.  It was a huge upset down South in Florida as Matias Magrini and Sir Adolfo beat up Memo & Carlos, but ran into A double J with a Michigan stick today (Catamount) and came out in second place.  It was Jeff Hall & Jeff Blake of Catamount stopping Adolfo Cambiaso for the first time since The Tortugas Open. With the help of Sarg. Offen and the Michigan Prince, Scott Devon, Catamount stopped New Bridge and head on to the first 22-goal finals of Florida’s High-goal season. The Double J’s (Jeff Hall and Jeff Blake) were responsible for many of the wins out in Santa Barbara this past summer.  They then did the same in Texas in the late Fall. Feb. started already in Palm Beach as they got going on Friday and it starts here this coming Friday so look for action on the green anywhere there is grass. 

On the down side it was Steve Dalton, the Redhead, and the Iceman  (Chris Nevins) losing out to Tommy Lee Jones and San Saba in the semis of the 14-goal Outback League.

Here in Indio, CA there are some big games.  In the 12-gaol it’s Stone Canyon in a big one against Friendly Chevrolet and Lady Suzanne Figi has one last chance for the finals, but has to beat Mr. Amin, Jr (Khaled Badri Al Din) to get there of the Golden Falcons. In the 8-Goal it’s Casa Blanca in and down to Mc Polo and Antelope working for position #2.  So head to the deep South or the Southwest and see some Polo this week, because next Sunday its football and it seems to draw a bigger crowd than Polo on Super Bowl Sunday.

In Indio its like this:

12 noon

Friendly Chev. Vs. Stone Canyon
Corleone vs. Casa Blanca

2 p.m.

Gypsy vs Golden Falcons 
McPolo vs. Antelope

See ya.

Jan 21st, ’06:  Polo that’s what it is!  Ten games that is and its a big deal.  Even Steve Lane is here from the U.S.P.A . Even if the USPA sees no future, the future sees it through Jr. Polo. Eldorado Polo Club’s Junior Polo Program is smokin’ every Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. Tell them there is a USPA and they know its polo and care little about anything else. The  future is before their eyes. It is a solid round piece of plastic that when hit moves and they move it.  So no land values, lack of organization or time matters. They will play polo and that’s the way it is. Try to stop them. Stopping a train is the same. It will not happen. So lets look at the future its here. Just do IT!

Saturday action was like this at 10 a.m. I was asleep so I do not know who won, but at 12 noon it was JHHE over Phoenix.  Fish Creek moved to 6 & 0 as they tortured Rancho Santa Fe/Ohana.  It was the long tall and sexy Shelley Geiler that is and Dad (Denny) doing a tap dance on DMI and moving on.  Rapid Robert Kiger and TRUE CHOICE joined the win side with BOLKO Kissling who is providing new power to rock them as they went by Fountain View. It was Geri Dardi and MCPOLO doing away with The Carpet Man (Ben Soleimani) and Mansour at 3 PM.  There were also four 2-goal games, but I know nothing about their results at this time. 

The weather was awesome, the fields great and a whole bunch of new faces in town.  From New York it was Michael Rothbard and Jasmine Batis, from St Louis Andy Busch, from Los Angeles, Justin Klentner and a whole herd of Argies. got dropped off.  A few Mexicans made it as the U.S. Govt. continues to play God with working people.  They still think they are going to make the locals work, but all they have to do is look in the mirror to see that won't happen. Like they say “just be happy.” We are on top of the grass and not pushing it up.

See Ya.

Jan 20th, 06:  Undefeated “No Mas.” It all started at high noon on what Tony would call an absolutely perfect polo day.  For some it stayed that way and for some it did not. Action was live at high noon and this is the way it was.  Ms. Figi and Gypsy took on Bad Brad Schlei and Stone Canyon.  It was Super sub Jessica Bailey-Mano filling in for Bad Brad for the first two chukkers and doing a great job.  Then the black Rocket arrived with a new dent, but here and away they went. Bad Brad was a little out of it for a while, but he got rolling in the fifth and it was Stone Canyon getting the “WIN.” During the game we had a special demo on why to use an OVERGIRTH put on by the Wolfman (Ashton Wolf). Check out the video (coming soon). Also at high noon on the other side of the Clubhouse it was Wild Bill Freeman and Sir Sean Keys of Corleone drubbing Dandy Dan Horn and Palm Desert.  Corleone roll to 1 & 0.  Over at the Cantina Field it was Ore Pac & Mr. Rouge (Cameron Diggons) blasting by the tall beauty from Playa Grande (Shelley Geiler) as she and Dad (Denny) came down to OPCR. At 2 p.m. it got exciting. It was the Golden Falcons in a defensive war with Friendly Chevrolet, but coming out with their perfect record of 5 & 0 intact. Amin Badr El Din, Jr. kept smoking and their hot shot front end with Jr & Carlitos Crebrera putting them on the board at a steady Pace to get the win.

Also at 2 PM, two more teams remained perfect as Dudley's Casa Blanca remains unbeaten and Danny Boy and Mr. Antelope remained at 0 on the 'win' side of things. Bilo where are you? In a dandy at 2.30 it was 2 teams with 20-goal horses and 4 and 0 records meeting for a match.  It is a perfect situation to see what good horses do to any kind of polo along with a little handicap help. It was a 4-goal game between Corleone & Fish Creek.  They got it on and it was Senior Susan Stovall  who fired the missiles to lead Fish Creek to a big win.  Some might even say it was the upset of the day as in an 8-goal/ four chukker game stopped the undefeated run of the big Red Machine and now its a big Yellow machine pulling the field. Its time to see the Saturday edition at Eldorado Polo Club.  There will be a handful or ten games today.

Down south The Red Head Steve Dalton and the Iceman (Chris Nevins) are 3 & 0 in the Outback League. Polo's Superstar Cambiaso took right off from his ARG. Open win to lead Mr. Mcall and New Bridge to their first win on their first day in the 22-Goal Joe Barry Tournament way down south at IPC (International Polo Club) . So if your looking for polo, it is happening somewhere around you if its sunny enough to grow grass.   See ya at polo.

January 19th, ’06: Twenty Days Have Gone by in ’06 - We have had no rain, no bad wind or big cold, so as we go its been a very good season thus far.  There are few holes in the fields, some broken pipes, a couple of players injured,  a fist fight on the field I heard,  but nothing too bad.  So it is a nice way to start off the 2006 seasonDown south Little Mac (Frederick Mannix) lost, but it was a good game for him and the first one this season. They are into their finals next week I think and they are trying to get 14 teams through Feb. 22, so there will be a lot of polo. The horse show is about to start and the real money horse people are driving into town from everywhere.  There are some high-dollar rigs pulling into the dusty roads. The horse world loses another high-flying man where speed counts. Jerry Bailey calls it quits. He is the third of racing's superstars to hang it up in the last 10 months. Pat Day & Gary Stevens were just ahead of him.  All of these riders are about the same age as some of the polo superstars like GP, CG, MG, OR, PA, and EH.  There maybe some big time Polo stars calling it a day soon. We shall see, but here in Indio where old is new there is a whole bunch of big sticks hitting the Eldorado Polo Club parking lots.  In 2 days I have seen the FAST_ETTA (Mariano Fassetta), the Doctor (Gaston Von Wernich), Brother Freddie (Federico Von Wernich), and newcomer Marcos Uranga.  I have not seen Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) or the Lama (Llambias) yet, but there will be some action big time as we head into the bronze action this weekend and its like this . . . 

Friday

MS. Figi & Gypsy come out swinging against Bad Brad Schlei and Stone Canyon at 12 noon. 

Palm Desert & Dandy Dan try to get a win, but won't vs. Sir Sean Keys, Wild Bill Freeman & the Corleone Squad at 12. 

Playa Grande & ORE/PAC/Rouge at 12 

Mr. Amin, Jr. hits the turf & tries to show KC the way as the Golden Falcons vs. Friendly Chevy at 2pm 

The Antelope or Ants try, but will not win vs. Casa Blanca unless we have a Tsunami from the Salton Sea 2 pm 

A barn burner at 2.30 as Fish Creek go for a big win vs. Corleone in the 4-goal, but they will have to earn it. I hear this is on the clubhouse field.  Both of these teams have slaughtered there opponents thus far. There is a lot of talk.  Both involve handicap committees and management. So start your whining now as Feb. lineups are coming soon.

Polo is here are you ???????????????

Jan 15, ’06: 0 & 5, A Great Start!!! Our barn had the good luck to be in 2 of the 3 finals today, but we should have stayed home.  It was a bad day for IPC (International Polo Connection).  We lost 5 of 5 and its just a real pain in the a_ _ to have this kind of a day, but that’s the way it is or at least how it was today. The teams put together by IPC win over 85% of their games and usually 90% of their finals and we were 100 % to the negative today as Mc Polo was second to a hard riding Casa Blanca in the finals of the 8-goal.  Juan Jose Gonzalez, one of the true young guns, came to play and did great.  They call him Juan Jo (Ho) so you expect a good day any day.  In the 12-goal finals, we should have watched football as like the Colts we lost. BTA and KC Beal and Carlitos Crebrera had a very happy New year and blistered Stone Canyon who looked like the new team in town the way we were we going. Well the other way would have been nice.  It was windy and a bit cool, but also cold for our teams as should have stayed home.  It was great day for polo and the teams that were meant to win did as Dudley's horses excelled in the 8-goal, the first finals of the day.  KC Beal was awesome in game 2 (12-goal) which was the main game as she stripped the field with flying runs to goal. It was a great day for the other teams and they earned it.

Other than my whining here it the way it was today:

Friendly Chevy beat Gypsy early in the 12-Goal.  In the 4-goal/4 chukker league Phoenix continued to get adjusted as they lost to Ore Pac also an IPC team.  World Gym was better than Rancho Santa Fe ( I hope this info is right). Fish Creek devoured DMI in an unfriendly fashion. Corleone and Sir Sean Keys did away with Shelley Geiler and Playa Grande in a thriller. Fountain View/Rancho Esperanza was the winning team as they took the 4-goal /6 chukker title home over Empire Polo at high noon. Corleone and Sir Sean drilled the Antelope. There is one game I do not know the results for and that is Mansour vs. Palm Desert.  It was a tossup I am sure.  Both teams were looking for a second "win" for the season.  The 2 finals (8-goal & 12-Goal) you know . . . Casa Blanca rolled Mc Polo in the 8-goal  and BTA walloped Stone Canyon in the 12-goal final, but its only 1/2 way over.  So next week its a brand new affair in town and its a Bronze on the line. There were some bright spots today as KC Beal played outstanding and Jesse Bray continued to be exciting. Sean Keys continues to hate missing the finals. Grooms and MR. Bush continue to be Polo's biggest problems as they want us to hire Americans. Find a working American and I will hire him before he tells me he does not work weekends and only till 5 pm. Get a grip.  If he is a American he won't do it.  If he was born in America he probably does not know how. I had a funny conversation the other day with a Black Man.  He said he was African American and I said how is that? Where were you born?  He said in Los Angeles and I said “how the hell are you African when you are as American as me?” I am German – English, but really just an American. I do not know squat about England or Germany and he said he had never been to Africa, so tell it like it is. We are just Yanks and proud of it. What are we going to do?  Hey its not that bad,  We could be A- - - - - - - - - so we’re still ahead of the game. So get back to town.  We will be there and look for Josey (Joseph Stuart) & The Palomino (Jason Crowder) they are not history!  See ya.

Jan 14th, '06: Sunday . . . Its finals time. - For some leagues that is like the 12-, 8 -and 6-chukker/4-goal.  Here is the way it is in the consolation of the 12-goal.  It is Gypsy vs. Friendly Chevy. It will not be as friendly in the finals of the 4-goal/ 6 chukker with Fountain View/Rancho Esperanza vs. Mr. Hagen and the Empire and its at high noon at field 1 at Empire. In the conolation for this league its True Choice vs. Vista Santa Rosa. Want to see a couple of massacres? Be at field 3 at noon as Corleone takes on the Antelope.  Or you can drop over to field 4 or just turn around.  There will be another as Mansour takes on Pam Desert in the 8-goal.  Antelope, a power here, is not on target for a win in January ’06 as best as I can tell.  They lost to Palm Desert today. 

In the finals of the 8-goal it will be Mrs. Dardi and Mc Polo taking on Dudley's Casa Blanca who are smoking so far this year.  They burned the burgers last time they met, but Geri Dardi was home and the Palomino (Jason Crowder)  was wounded, so we shall see. The finals of the 12-goal has some repeats as Josey (Joseph Stuart) and the Palomino leave 1 finals and go to another as they join Bad Brad Schlei and Augi Dawgi (Agustin Zavaleta) and try to recover the thrashing applied to them by BTA/Falcons a few days earlier.  Again, it was a no need with nothing to gain Sunday.  Its show time and Bad Brad likes the show.

Some special highlights thus far in ‘06 has been the showing of the Young Guns. The hottest stick award so far goes to the “Mini Missile” who goes the name of Patrick Uretz.  We have seen some real smoke come from Jesse Bray of Corleone and Juan Jose Gonzalez of Casa Blanca, so watch them grow into the future of U.S. Polo. So be there if Mother Nature does not interfere.  There will be a very exciting day on 1 - 15 – 06.  So have a cool sip of c __ _ _ _ and enjoy the day.  Monday is a holiday.  See ya  where the Turf does not meet the Surf

Jan. 13, ’06: Friday The 13th was not much more of a disaster than normal.  At Eldorado Polo Club we continue to deal with Mr. Bush's agenda of using untrained and brained workers from the local menu. Polo, however, goes on.  There are just a few people keeping it ticking, but its obvious its not the same.  Many unclipped horses, few shiny smart looking ponies, many dirty stalls, and uncovered hay. Take a look its not just me.  The more legal we try to be the worse it gets.  Its important to stop the workers who walk here because we train the ones that fly here to bomb us or rob us of something.

Well back to Polo.  Its Stone Canyon & BTA/Golden Falcons in the finals of the 12-goal and its Casa Blanca in the 8-goal final and one waiting to get in I think the 4 –goal/6 chukker is still on the floor as there are a bunch of games Saturday to fix the finals in both.

Down south Florida way they are just about to turn the big boys loose as the 22- starts on Sunday at the International. Boca and Gulfstream fly into week 2 as well. We are looking for more teams for Feb. so if you are interested let us know.  We can find you somebody to play maybe not groom, but they will play.

See ya at Polo.

Jan. 9th, '06: Rabbits, Houses, Trees, Cars and Trucks . . . that’s the way it was on opening weekend at Eldorado Polo Club in Indio, CA.   They hosted a balloon festival and the balloons were in the form of Rabbits, houses, trees, cars and trucks.  It was so cool outside, not temperature wise.  For the last two mornings at Eldorado Polo Club the balloons were rising at sunup and they were flying high in the sky. Polo is special when you think you are doing 30 mph on a 1200 lb horse and in full flight in 4 seconds.  Balloons weigh between 150 and 800 lbs and pack 2000 lbs in air and fly away.  Why can’t we get them to run?  We could use balloons to play polo, have two of them and park them without feed when we are not playing. Of course this is not possible, but we still had a great weekend of polo along side of the balloon festival.
 
In the 12-goal it was Ms. Beal, CASEY that is or maybe KC?  She was running wild as her team BTA/Falcons blew by Friendly Chevrolet and are now heading to the finals next Sunday.  BTA/Golden Falcons will meet Bad Brad Schlei and Stone Canyon as they slid by Ms. Figi and the Gypsy's (with a score of 14-13). Stone Canyon played with super sub Fergus Gould who is just in from the island down South called Aussie Land. He is playing for Jason Crowder who is out on the injured list.

In the 8-goal it was McPolo and Mrs. Dardi showing her cut shots. She also added a neck shot to be the leading scorer of the day. McPolo did a tap dance on Mr. Horn and company to go to 2 and 0.
 
Dudley’s Casa Blanca kept the house intact as they ran by Sir Sean Keys and Corleone Polo to head 1 step closer to the finals.
 
The Turbo Ben Soleimani and his team Mansour finally found a win as they smoked the 3-Patron team Antelope to send a message "that’s why there are pros."  Their argument was “we never get to hit the ball.” Well they now never see it.  Call me and I will bring you one. And yes its free.
 
In the 4-goal it was Ore/Pac bleeding CMI for a Sunday matinee.  Fish Creek got a win as they strolled by World Gym.  Rancho Santa Fe fell to Corleone's other team in a smoker in the 4-goal.
 
Empire Polo did away with Vista Santa Rosa and Phoenix fell to Playa Grande as did True Choice in the 4-goal/6 chukker league.
 
It was a very good weekend and a fantastic one for the balloons and parties. It was also a party to support the Red, White and Blue for all those soldiers fighting overseas without Armour (from what I hear).  We can pay some of the big companies millions to fix up commander Jeeps from the 2nd World War garages must be owned by some oil company.
 
On the Crash and Burn list it was the Palomino (Jason Crowder) buying turf as well as Laura Wilson from Canada and Kit Neacy and her Appy.  I hear someone fell off a truck and I think there were a few more coming down, we just have not heard about them yet.  As the Govt. continues to keep the Grooms who are legal in Mexico and let anybody with a bomb into the U.S. Polo will become a dangerous sport (Major shortage of qualified polo grooms due to delayed visa interviews) So if you do not recognize the man holding your horse, check your tack.  Its a good bet he does not know what he is doing very well, but that’s our Govt. They are always helpful when you need them. So lets get ready to play Polo all winter long. See ya.

Jan. 7th, '06: 30,000 People . . . Maybe? I do not know if there were 30,000 people, but there were a heck of a lot of them at Eldorado Polo Club and they did not all come by balloon.  There were at least a hundred hot air balloons on the Club property as well. From 9 am to 9 pm it was polo, balloons and party time at Eldorado Polo Club.  If you got bored there was another party next door at the dog show held at Empire Polo Grounds.

Here is a rundown on opening weekend thus far:

Friday it was:

In the 12-goal BTA/Golden Falcons dropping the Gypsy's minus Diego Cossio the Surfer into the L column.  Stone Canyon and Bad Brad Schlei jumped on the Friendly Chevrolet and kept them down. In the 8-goal Casa Blanca beat the 3-patron Antelope team as expected. Antelope gets a loss for the day.

Saturday was big and after the balloons took off it was like this:

In the 8-goal Sir  Sean Keys and Corleone got off fast and pounded Palm Desert.  Wild Bill Freeman & Sir Sean joined up in this one and Sir Sean rode again at noon in the 4-goal league and drilled Phoneix in their first trip to town.

In the 4-goal Playa Grande slid by Rancho Santa Fe in a tight one. McPolo slaughtered Mansour, but Mansour had a new star on the field in the form of young Patrick Uretz.  This showed the crowd he is on the trail of Little Mac (Frederick Mannix) with style.  He played as smooth as silk.  It was Patrick’s was his first 8-goal game and he must weigh 80 lbs. and be approx. 4 ' 8" tall.

Vista Santa Rosa was just a little bit faster than True Choice today.  World Gym/JHHE jumped on CMI and got a win for the day.

In the Celebrity games it was a wild day.  There was a big wreck in the Ladies game.  They showed us why the Indians lost.  The Painted pony went down when the Thoroughbred bay hit the Paint.  In the final game of the day it was the Governor (Pat Nesbitt) and Griffin Ranch putting the stop on Ford trucks.

Sunday is scheduled with more Balloons and a whole bunch of Polo all day long.  It all starts at sunup at about 6.35 a.m.

The fields are playing great, look good and are in need of some hole repair.  Its looking good for polo in ’06.  So come on out and lets have a party.  See ya Sunday.

Jan. 6th, '06: The Longhorns left with the Crystal now here comes the horses and they’re running for the Red, White & Blue this Friday – Sunday. It will be a wild time.  Opening Day is today for 2006 at 12 noon and here we go. It will be two Northwest teams at noon Fish Creek 2 from Calgary, Canada and Oregon/Canada mix from Ore.Pac/Rouge and they get it going in the 12-goal. It will be Ms. Figi and the Gypsy's (the Team who always seems to win the 8-goal league) move up to the 12-goal.  This move is a kind gesture for the Club from Ms. Figi. It probably helps matters in two ways: they really needed the team to fill out the 12-goal league and it gives Casa Blanca and many others a chance in the 8-goal.  Gypsy takes on Mr. Amin back to defend his big 12-goal title from Santa Barbara.  Amin won the big 12-goal USPA Tournament titled the Inter-circuit in June, but they will have a little more competition here as well. Stone Canyon and Bad Brad Shlei will be taking on Friendly Chevrolet and Mr. Hughes “Polos Mr. Nice Guy.” Sometimes this is not a friendly team, but its a new year so we shall see.  In the 8-goal at 2 pm is Dudley's Casa Blanca taking on the Antelope at field 3.  This could be a dandy from 20 to 8 and a 3 patron team against Mr. Palmer is doing what? Dreaming of a long weekend.  Bilo Zarif is taking the step up from his many 4- goal titles. 

Come on down to the desert.  If Friday does not work see us on Sat. There are hot air balloon rides, 12 polo games and a few golf cart polo game, a dog show and a taste of the desert from 6.30 am on.  See ya.