WELLINGTON, Fla., January 15, 2024---The much-anticipated winter season kicked off Saturday with 90210 winning the Aspen Valley Cup opener at Santa Rita Polo Farm.
By Sharon Robb
Photos by Candace Ferreira
90210 (Sarah Siegel-Magness, 0, Finn Secunda, 1, Juan Cruz Marcos, 3, Tatu Gomez Romero, 4), was impressive and looks to be the favorite in the six-team tournament after defeating The Polo School (Govinda Quish, 0, Jason Crowder, 5, Benji Daniels, 1, Leo Mandelbaum, 2), 14-6.The second game of the scheduled doubleheader, Quite on Z and Bentley Estates was postponed because of rain and will be rescheduled at the end of the tournament on Thursday, Jan. 25th. 90210 is named after patron Sarah Siegel-Magness' zip code in Beverly Hills, Calif., where she lives with her family.It didn't take long for the 7-goal team to click, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage, including four goals by Siegel-Magness, in the opening chukker and 8-1 halftime lead. 90210 outshot The Polo School, 11-5, and dominated throw-ins, 7-3, in the first half."I thought we came together pretty darn good," Siegel-Magness said. "I'm super happy with the win."90210 showed no signs of letting up in the second half extending its lead to 9-1 early in the fourth chukker before The Polo School regained its composure with Mandelbaum scoring and Crowder converting two penalty shots with The Polo School winning the fourth chukker, 3-2, but still trailing 10-4. The Polo School was unable to claw its way back for the rest of the game. Each team scored a goal in the fifth chukker with 90210 still in command, 11-5, going into a rain-soaked sixth chukker.Siegel-Magness, playing the best polo of her career, finished with a game-high six goals. Marcos had four goals and Secunda had three goals. The team picked up one goal on handicap. Crowder led The Polo School with a team-high four goals and Mandelbaum added one.Siegel-Magness has improved greatly since she picked up a polo mallet. She is coming off competing in three high goal women's tournaments in Argentina where she won two awards at La Ensenada including MVP of the final and Breakout Player. She also played in Mexico. "I am extremely happy because women's has always been so hard for me and I finally feel like I am now really getting a groove," Siegel-Magness said. "I just work hard every day," Siegel-Magness said. "I never skip stick-and-ball. I always do penalty shots before the games. It's just consistency, that's it. I have literally been doing the same routine for three years and it's finally paying off."I always feel like I just have to get better and better so I just continue to work hard every day. I've been waiting for it to pay off and it's starting to. I am so thankful."Siegel-Magness plans on fielding a team in the 12-goal league at Grand Champions in addition to competing in several mixed tournaments and U.S. Women's Open.In last year's 8-goal tournament, Loudmouth won its first-ever tournament at Santa Rita Polo Farm. Loudmouth (Scott Sorbaro, -1, Nick Manifold, 3, Kris Kampsen, 6, Michael Armour, 0) dominated Dracarys (Chetan Krishna, -1, Joseph Schwartz, 1, Leon Schwencke, 3, Brandon Phillips, 4) for an impressive 12-8 victory on Buenos Aires Field.During the winter polo season, the nation's largest and most innovative USPA-sanctioned polo club nestled in the heart of the world's winter equestrian capital, hosts a wide range of tournaments: 6, 8, 12, 20, and 26-goal leagues, Polo School Women's Weekly League, WCT Finals, several PTF junior tournaments, World Polo League, World Polo League Pride and Sunset Chukkers & Cocktails at both Grand Champions and Santa Rita.The season's biggest highlight is the sixth season of the World Polo League, the only 26-goal polo played outside of Argentina, featuring some of the world's top players including 10-goalers Pablo MacDonough, Jeta Castagnola and Juan Martin Nero, former 10-goaler Gonzalito Pieres, Alejandro Novillo Astrada and hometown favorite Nic Roldan, the second highest ranked American player at 8 goals. The WPL has been filling the void created when the U.S. Polo Association, the sport's governing body, announced it was lowering high goal polo to 18-22 goals and would not have 26-goal polo.Other high goal season highlights are the Feb. 1-11 Sterling Cup (20 goals), Feb. 1-March 31 USPA Butler Handicap (18-22 goals), Feb. 7-24 $100,000 World Cup (0-40 goals) and Feb. 27-March 10 Santa Rita Abierto (20 goals).Other January tournaments are the Metropolitan 6 Goal Cup and Limited Edition 12-Goal Series. The GCPC Women's Weekly Women's Polo League also gets under way Jan. 24 and runs through April. It is the longest running women's league in the nation. 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 11 well-manicured world-class fields at GCPC and Santa Rita. The entire winter season will be live-streamed on Wellington-based CTV Sports. Grand Champions is the only USPA club live streaming all of its tournaments.Grand Champions Polo Club caters to men, women and youth polo players at all levels. Its' expert staff can customize a complete playing experience including horses, pros and certified umpires in addition to lessons and practice sessions as part of its' Polo On Demand program.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 thriving. It 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. November. 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 Director of Operations Juan Bollini at 561-346-1099 or Cale Newman at 561-876-2930.
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