Avatar Financial Captures Pride Polo Music Fest At Grand Champions
- Candace Ferreira
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
WELLINGTON, FL., April 29, 2025---With great music playing throughout the day by four guest DJs, Avatar Financial won the fifth annual Pride Polo Music Fest at Grand Champions Polo Club.
By Sharon Robb
Avatar Financial avenged last year's loss to World Polo League with a 7-3 victory. Avatar Financial (Sterling Jones, Jonathan Hays, Ryan Cronin-Prather) led from start to finish against World Polo League (Jason Alexander-Mohr, Talbot Logan, Gonzalo Llosa, Vinny Sangaline).
In front of a packed house, guests and fans enjoyed a fun, festive atmosphere of music, polo and great food. Guest DJs Eliad Cohen, CARTFISH, Michael Navarro and DJ Webb entertained the crowd with various music genres while watching four chukkers of polo.
Avatar Financial jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening chukker, highlighted by the first of four goals by Cronin-Prather, who scooped up a back shot pass and scored.
Cronin-Prather continued his scoring barrage with back-to-back goals in the second chukker, one from 60 yards out and the other through his horse's legs for a 4-0 lead. Llosa scored WPL's first goal in the third chukker.
Avatar Financial continued its dominance in the second half, never allowing WPL back into the game. Sangaline got hot in the fourth quarter with two goals and a steal but ran out of time to rally.
Cronin-Prather, who started playing polo at age 10, scored a game-high four goals and Hays added one.
"The game was fantastic," Cronin-Prather said. "Jonathan and Sterling were amazing additions to our team. They are really positive people but also amazing players. We just came together as a team, which is great.
"The music was amazing. All four of them brought amazing music and four different vibes. We had people there from 3:30 to 8:30 packed. It was fantastic. People weren't there just for the polo or music, they were there for the party."
The main reason for the Pride Polo Music Fest was not lost on Cronin-Prather, his teammates and the fans. It was just not about great food, music, polo, rainbow-colored wrapped goal posts and partying. The annual event creates a culture of togetherness and equality to inspire and empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals in sports and beyond while inspiring awareness for inclusiveness.
"We have been trying to get this off the ground for a while," Cronin-Prather said. "We kind of changed it this year to a polo tournament and musical festival. To have Melissa Ganzi behind that and supporting us means more than words can ever express.
"To be able to show Florida and the polo community that gay and queer people are not a laughable issue. We're real athletes, we're real people. We're real individuals trying to have a fun time, trying to play team sports and just make the world a more fun, open and loving place. To show that to the amount of people that came as well as Melissa's support was absolutely amazing."
The LGBTQ community comes together every year for various Pride events throughout the country.
"We have come so, so, so, so far from where it used to be and we still have miles to go," Cronin-Prather said. "Unfortunately, there is still a push and stigma against the queer community.
"Melissa is definitely supportive. I cannot say thank you enough times to her for supporting this and supporting us and having a tournament that just so happens to be a Pride tournament. It gives us a platform to just say, 'yes, it's not because we're gay, it's because we just want to have fun and bring awareness maybe more to it."
Cronin-Prather added he is excited about future events and can see the Polo Pride Music Fest growing each year.
"We would love to grow this into a bigger music festival, with multiple polo matches over multiple days, whether that's in South Beach or Wellington, to highlight the queer community," he said.
A special thank you to event sponsors Avatar Financial, World Polo League, Chrome Horse Tequila and Ornare. Melissa Ganzi provided the world-class horses for the players.
"The horses are our biggest need and advocates out there for making us shine and they certainly did that," Cronin-Prather said. "They were absolutely amazing."
During the winter polo season, Grand Champions Polo Club, the nation's largest and most innovative USPA-sanctioned polo club nestled in the heart of the world's winter equestrian capital, celebrating its 18th anniversary, hosts a wide range of tournaments: 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 26-goal leagues, The Polo School Women's Polo League, WCT Finals, PTF youth tournaments, World Polo League, World Polo League Pride Music Fest and Sunset Chukkers & Cocktails at both Grand Champions and Santa Rita. During the spring season the club continues the action hosting five medium goal tournaments.
Grand Champions and Santa Rita Polo Farm is the largest and most unique private 102-acre polo facility in Wellington with 212 stalls in nine self-contained barns, two tracks, five climate-controlled tack rooms, vet room, staff quarters, guest house and four polo fields with state-of-the-art underground irrigation and short work arena. The club has 10 well-manicured world-class fields at GCPC and Santa Rita.
The Polo School, now located at the former Pony Express facility, operates in Wellington January through May and September through November. The stand-alone USPA-sanctioned polo club is dedicated to teaching polo to all ages, particularly grass roots youth. Its mission is to provide individuals opportunities in polo at every economic and ability level. The Polo School has nurtured several junior, men and women polo players now playing in the pro and amateur ranks since its inception.
For more information on leagues or Polo School contact Polo School Director of Operations Juan Bollini at 561-346-1099 or Polo Manager Cale Newman at 561-876-2930.
