August 2021 Polo Players' Edition- Polo Report 

FIVE String Farm/Work to Ride captured the USPA Women’s Arena Challenge at Seneca Polo Club in Poolesville, Maryland, June 20.

Six teams competed in the 5- to 8- goal tournament. Playoffs included two round robins, with the winners of each advancing to the final.

In the first round robin on June 18, Destination Imagination (Kelly Xiao, Ava Nunes, Marisa Bianchi) fell to Five String Farm/Work to Ride (Gigi Velasquez, Marisol Jimenez, Cindy Halle), 7½-5. Destination then doubled up Seneca (Tracy Godey, Leila Chang, Monica Soucy), 4-2. Seneca rebounded in the last round to narrowly edge Five String Farm/Work to Ride, 5-4½. Seneca advanced with the highest net goals.

Later that day, Garrison Forest (Sophia Chaisera, Gabby Chaisera, Jenny Schwartz) defeated Ruda (Lucy Steele, Rory Knox, Sarah Lynch), 9-5. Ruda turned around to crush Mountain View (Sierra Goff, Akemi Tinder, Laura Goddard), 10-1. Mountain View found its groove, matching Garrison Forest goal-for-goal in the last round, but the half-goal handicap it gave Garrison to begin the match was the difference. Garrison Forest prevailed, 5½-5, and earned a spot in the final.

The following day, Ruda, Seneca and Destination Imagination played a consolation round robin. Ruda downed Seneca, 8½-2, then edged Destination Imagination, 6½-6. Destination got the best of Seneca, 6-3.

The final was played on Sunday morning. Jimenez got the scoring started with a goal for Five String Farm/WTR added to the two-goal handicap the team began with. Schwartz answered back with two in a row for Garrison Forest to keep it close, 3-2. Schwartz kept up the pressure, scoring back-to-back goals early in the second to take a 4-3 lead, but a pair of Penalty 1s for Five String put it back in the lead. Jimenez shot through another goal to put the team ahead, 6-4, at the half.

Gabby Chaisera tallied for Garrison, but Halle responded with three in a row, including a Penalty 3 conversion, to increase the lead. Jimenez struck again, allowing Five String to double up Garrison Forest, 10-5, heading into the last seven minutes. Gabby Chaisera found the goal early in the fourth but Jimenez shot back with one of her own. Halle got in the last word to give Five String Farm/Work to Ride the 12-7 victory.

Cindy Halle was MVP and Billete, owned by Garrison Forest and played by Gabby Chaisera in the fourth, was Best Playing Pony.

Three teams, anxious to get back to playing after a hiatus created by COVID 19 last season, gathered at the Tinicum Park Polo Club adjacent to the Delaware River in Erwinna, Pennsylvania, May 15, to kick off the season and remember founding member Joe Stahl, who passed away in 2009. His widow Carol Stahl is the club’s longtime announcer.

The 28-year-old club is the largest in the region with 22 playing members and a field’s length of social members. The club is a real family club with parents and children, sisters and brothers and husbands and wives sharing the field. The club’s new interscholastic team, organized by Cheryl Arnold and coached by Hesham El-Gharby, made it to regionals in its first season. Its members, Daniel Arnold (14), Abdullah Chaudhry (16) and Owen Halliday (18), played in the opening game with or against a parent.

In the opening round of a round robin, Arby Dobb (Anders Hedberg, Daniel Arnold, Affan Iftikhar, Juan Vidal) faced Hawkwood (Barclay Knapp, Owen Halliday, Cheryl Arnold, David Halliday). Arby Dobb shut out Hawk- wood, 3-0, thanks to goals by Iftikhar and Arnold.

Arby Dobb faced Tinicum (Richard Weidel, Abdullah Chaudhry, Tim Cheromcka, Talha Chaudhry) in the second round. Abdullah Chaudhry and Cheromcka split the posts for Tinicum while Arby Dobb was held to one from Iftikhar, for the 2-1, win.

Tinicum kept up the pressure in the third round. Goals by David Halliday in the first and second chukkers were matched by Weidel, Abdullah Chaudhry and Talha Chaudhry, giving Tinicum the win.

Play continued the following week with the Bill Thomas Memorial. The popularity of founding member Billy Thomas, who passed away last year, was reflected in the number of old friends and supporters on hand and even a family member who vied to participate in the match. Thomas gave his heart, soul and a lot of equipment to the club and beloved fellow players in the sport he played for the pure fun of it.

Splitting positions, 13 members of the club appeared in the game, including Billy’s granddaughter Nadina Delirippa, a former intercollegiate player from University of Connecticut. The evenly matched teams—Arby Dobb (Sue Spencer, Anders Hedberg, Juan Vidal, Cheryl Arnold, Delirippa, Ann Oniskey, Johanna Pederson) and Tinicum (Mark Mulligan, Daniel Arnold, Carol Hails, Val Washington, Rhea Lowenthal, George Daniello) played an exciting game where the winner wasn’t determined until Arby Dobb put the goahead goal through the posts in the last few seconds.

Thomas’ widow Ellen Thomas attended the event, along with Greg and Diane Krug, their sons and Mike Brady, sponsors of the Arby Dobb team. Friends of Thomas since the club’s beginning, the group set up their famous tailgate spread and provided trophies for the game. Thomas was known as “The Hammer” for his slugging offside shot so players were awarded hammers embossed with “Billy the Hammer.”

On June 26, the club celebrated the Maroons Cup, inspired by the 1920s pro football team from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It was sponsored by David Russek, a native of Pottsville, as a way to bring attention to the fascinating history of the city to support its rehabilitation. Russek watched the game from the sidelines rather than the back of a horse after cracking five ribs, the result of falling off one of his horses when it was spooked by a parade of bagpipers in a game weeks earlier.

Maroons (Richard Weidel, Sarah Weidel, Barclay Knapp, Tim Cheromcka, Jose Cervantes, Carol Hails) took on Tinicum (Mohamed Hassan, Meg Mullen, David Halliday, Owen Halliday, Elini Lampers, Mark Mulligan). Tinicum got the 9-2 edge, taking home the prize footballs. Meg Mullen was named MVP, earning herself a Maroons football jersey.

In July, Weidel (Val Washington, Gabriel Maldonado, Rich Weidel, Joaquin Arguello) fell to Hawkwood (Barclay Knapp, Kathleen Fowser, Leandro Berrios, Francisco Llosa), 9-6, in the Max Berger Cup final.

Maldonado struck first but he was answered by Llosa. Arguello hammered in two in a row and a Penalty 1 gave Weidel an early 4-1 lead. Llosa nailed a Penalty 3 and Berrios followed with a goal to bring Hawkwood within one, 4- 3, before Maldonado scored, ending the half 5-3 in favor of Weidel.

Hawkwood rallied in the third with Llosa adding four goals, including two open-goal penalties, while Weidel was shut down, giving Hawkwood a 7-5 lead going into the last seven minutes. Maldonado cut the difference to one early in the fourth, but Berrios turned up the heat, scoring two in a row to secure the Hawkwood victory, 9-6.

Gabriel Maldonado was MVP, while Barclay Knapp’s Shorty, played by Leandro Berrios, was Best Playing Pony.

To get to the final, Hawkwood topped Windmill, 8-6, and Weidel crushed Azra, 10-2.

In the consolation match, Windmill (Rhea Lowenthal, Nate Berube, Tim Cheromcka, Trevor Reeves) edged Azra (Affan Iftikhar, Abdullah Chaudhry, Jose Cervantes, Juan Martinez Baez), 8- 5. Windmill led 3-1 after the first, and 5- 3 at the half. Azra was unable to reach the goal in the third while Windmill added three more. Azra cut the deficit to three in the last chukker but was unable to get any closer.

Landhope slipped past West Shore in the final of the 2- to 4-goal USPA Patton Cup at Maryland Polo Club in Jarrettsville, Maryland, June 27.

West Shore (Liv Stringer Berube, Max Hempt, Nate Berube, Trevor Reeves) was the first to get on the board thanks to a well-placed shot by Liv Berube. Landhope (Michael Bucklin, Kathy Fowser, Martin Eddy, Francisco Llosa, Miguel Boly) answered back with Llosa sinking a Penalty 4 and Eddy shooting in a field goal. Nate Berube nailed a Penalty 3 to tie the score, 2-2. Boly swapped goals with Liv Berube, then Llosa added a Penalty 4 conversion and a field goal to put Landhope ahead, 5-3, at the half.

Bucklin scored early in the third, but Nate Berube converted a Penalty 3 and Liv Berube followed with a field goal to bring West Shore within one, 6- 5. Llosa sunk a Penalty 4 early in the fourth to stretch the lead to two, but West Shore would not give up. Liv Berube scored and Nate Berube sunk a Penalty 2 to level the score, 7-7, and force overtime.

In extra time, it was a West Shore error that allowed Landhope a Penalty 2. Llosa easily slipped the ball between the posts to give Landhope the 8-7 win, earning it $1,500 in prize money.

To get to the final, West Shore downed Dovecote (Zoey Bivlacqua, Laura Brown, Tom Huber, Jake Brown), while Landhope got the best of Quiet Creek Farm (Josie Dorsey, Olivia Reynolds, Hannah Reynolds, Joaquin Arguello).

Liv Berube was MVP and Francisco Llosa’s Junior was Best Playing Pony.

Four teams competed in the Southeast Circuit Arena Constitution Cup at Triangle Area Polo Club in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina, July 1-4. In the end, it was Eagles that rose above the rest.

In the first match, Freedom downed Liberty, 11-4. The teams exchanged goals in the first but the handicap goal and another tally in the second put Freedom ahead, 5-2, at the half. Tammy Havener scored three for Freedom in the third and the team never looked back.

In the next match, Eagles (David Brooks, Maud Eno, Nicole Romach) trounced Independence, 17-7. David Brooks led Eagles to a strong 9-5 first half. Independence hung tough in the third, preventing Eagles from pulling away any further, but Eagles fought back in the fourth for the win.

In the consolation between Liberty and Independence, Maeren Honacher led Liberty for five first-half goals to go up by one. Liberty moved farther ahead in a strong third, then held off Independence in the fourth for the win.

In the final, a back-and-forth first period ended with the teams knotted 2-2. David Brooks scored two in a row in the second, but Molly Matthews answered. Every goal scored by Eagles was answered by Freedom. The half ended with Eagles holding a slight, 6- 5, advantage.

Eagles adjusted their game at the half. Brooks powered ahead with four tallies in the third followed by Matthews sandwiching goals around one from Maud Eno, giving Eagles an 11-7 advantage going into the final chukker. Twice Matthews scored to cut the Eagle lead to three, only to be answered by Brooks. Meanwhile, Eagles defense turned back numerous Freedom drives to goal to hang on to the win, 13-9.

Molly Matthews was named MVP and Tammy Havener’s Blondi was Best Playing Pony.

Earlier in the season, Triangle Area Polo Club Black edged Carolina, 12-7, in the Sportsmanship Cup. Four teams competed in the event, played May 1-2.

In Game 1, TAPC Orange faced TAPC Black (David Brooks, Molly Matthews, Nicole Romach). Leslie Brooks gave Orange an early 3-0 lead but husband David Brooks shot back with four to put Black up, 4-3. The teams traded goals back and forth in the second before Black turned up the heat in the third with five unanswered goals on the way to a 17-9 victory.

The next game saw Carolina take on Liberty Hall. Dan Coleman and Carson Tucker exchanged goals in the first. Dan Coleman added a couple extra goals in the second to give Liberty a 5-3 halftime lead. Carolina outscored Liberty, 2-1, in the third to come within one, 6-5. Dan Coleman increased the lead to two early in the fourth, before Tucker lit up the scoreboard, sandwiching pairs of goals around one from Liberty while Maeren Honacher added four more for the 13-8 win.

TAPC Black was pitted against Carolina in the final. Tucker put Carolina on the board with three goals, including

a two-pointer. Black responded with each player hitting the mark, including three from Brooks. Black continued to pull away, taking a 9-4 halftime lead. The teams matched each other’s goals in the second half, however Carolina was unable to make up any ground and TAPC took the 12- 7 win.

In the consolation, Liberty Hall edged TAPC Orange, 8-6. It was a case of half hot, half cold for Orange. The team scored three in the first and third but couldn’t scratch in the second and fourth, while Liberty Hall kept the pressure up. Liberty started the fourth down by one, but little Danny Coleman scored twice and set up his dad for a third goal, helping Liberty take the win.

Carson Tucker was MVP and Molly Matthews’ Jody was Best Playing Pony.

Four teams lined up for the Pacific Coast Officer’s Cup, July 10-11, at the Wine Country Polo Club’s Trione Field in Sonoma County, California. As with much of polo, it was a family affair, with teams comprising three

Saraccos (Luis, Coqui and Micaela), two Rivkins (Vladimir and Katerina), and two Gonzalezes (Heriberto and Liliana).

The first game pitted La Fortuna (Luis Saracco, Elise Bigelo, Carlos Rivas, Micaela Saracco, Danielle Lyons) against POLOSF (Toto Socas, Vladimir Rivkin, Jennifer Putnam, Rebecca Jane Clark). While POLOSF cracked and sizzled throughout the four chukkers, it was no match for a strong Fortuna team, captained by 4- goaler Saracco.

Fortuna was up by two goals in the first chukker, both scored by Saracco. POLOSF then tied it up with goals by Putnam and Clark in the second chukker, but La Fortuna came roaring back to lead again, with scores by Bigelow and another by Saracco. Rivas carried the day in Chukker 3, adding two more goals to La Fortuna’s tally. Rivkin and Socas then parried La Fortuna vigorously, eventually breaking through to score one goal each in Chukker 4. However, despite its efforts, it was unable to break La Fortuna’s lead. When the final horn sounded, La Fortuna had won 6-4.

The second game pitted Black Horse (Coqui Saracco, Katerina Rivkin, Micaela Saracco, Ajay Moturi) against an evenly-rated Trione Winery (Leandro Floccari, Heriberto Gonzalez, Liliana Gonzalez, Jani Friedman).

As one might expect with same-rating teams, the final score after four chukkers was 4-4, although a last-second Chukker 4 attempt at goal by Rivkin missed by inches, much to the chagrin of Trione Winery supporters on the sidelines. USPA umpire Cristian Vásquez called for a shootout. Black Horse missed its second shot at goal, but Trione Winery’s Lili Gonzalez did not, securing the win.

Sunday morning brought POLOSF face to face with Black Horse in the consolation match. Working well together, Black Horse and the family duo of Micaela and Coqui Saracco were able to overcome almost every challenge from Socas and his players. While POLOSF started strong and was able to even the score midway through Chukker 2 at 2-2, it was all Black Horse from that point on, with Micaela and Coqui racking up two goals apiece. Black Horse’s final tally came from a last-second dash to goal by promising teenager Ajay Moturi. The final score was 7-2.

By winning their matches the day before, it would be La Fortuna versus Trione Winery for the Officer’s Cup final. In the first chukker, Luis Saracco, Rivas and Bigelow shot three through the uprights in quick succession. By the end of Chukker 3, Rivas

and Saracco had increased their team’s tally to five. However, their game was not without fault, resulting in Penalty 2s in the second and third chukkers, both of which were scored by Liliana Gonzalez. Early in the fourth, Lili’s dad Heriberto Gonzalez put two more goals on the board for Trione Winery. The Trione team gave it their all, but despite several runs downfield set up by their No. 4 Floccari, neither of the Gonzalez duo could find their way around La Fortuna for shots between the posts. The game went to La Fortuna, 6-4.

Bigelow’s La Manchita was Best Playing Pony.

—Paul Griffin and Jennifer Putnam

The Masters Cup at Cerro Pampa Polo Club in Petaluma, California, July 4, came down to who was master of the penalty line.

Four teams competed in the event over two days. Baum Squad (Lucas Esposto, Marco Esposto, Steve Baumhoff, Erik Wright, Michael LaBlanc) earned a spot in the final with a 6-3 defeat of Tevis Ranch (Michael Dawson, Elizabeth Mansfield, Katy Mckegney, Richard Mansfield). Wright led the team with four goals, ably assisted by single goals from Lucas Espoto and LaBlanc. On the other side, Casa Socas/KWH (Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Ian Beed, Jesse Eller, Marcial Socas) and Wrightway (Hassaan Khan, Aquiles Ramirez, Elizabeth Holson, Gregory LaBlanc) battled in the semifinal. Holson scored the only two goals in the first seven minutes.

Socas put his team on the board in the second with a lone goal, then followed with two more in the third to take a brief lead. Ramirez knotted the score to end the third, 3-3. Socas took back the lead in the last chukker but Khan responded to knot the score and force a penalty shootout. Kaykas-Wolff and LaBlanc represented their teams at the penalty line. After three attempts, LaBlanc split the posts to put Wrightway in the final.

Tevis Ranch doubled up Casa Socas/KWH, 4-2, in the consolation. Immediately after, Baum Squad and Wrightway met in the final. Ramirez wasted no time putting Wrightway on the board but Marco Esposto and Wright had the answer to take the lead, 2-1. Greg LaBlance tied the score early in the second and Holson followed with back-to-back goals. Wright finished out the half with a goal to keep it close, 4-3. Khan and Ramirez turned up the pressure in the third, each adding a goal to double up Baum Squad, 6-3. Michael LaBlanc scored to cut the deficit to two, 6-4, going into the final seven minutes. Baum Squad shut Wrightway out in the fourth, leaving Wright room to score two in a row, tying up the game and forcing a shootout to determine a winner.

Michael LaBlanc lined up on the penalty line for Baum, while Wrightway once again relied on Michael’s uncle, Greg LaBlanc. This time, Greg was unable to connect on two attempts, but Michael found the target on his second try to give Baum Squad the 7-6 win.

Brothers Marco and Lucas Esposto, who split a spot on the winning Baum Sqaud, are the youngest players to play in the event, making their mother very proud!

The same weekend, Wrightway (Rebecca Kaykas-Wolff, Jena Watson/Nicole Hai, Will Ellis/Joel Torres, Erik Wright) and Sparkle Unicorns (Rachel Faierman/Nigel Quinn, Tracy Dawson/Eileen Duffy, Emi Sears, Tommy Ussher) competed for the Róse Cup, played over two days with the scores carrying forward from one day to the next.

On the first day, the teams took some time to get rolling, with neither team able to find the goal in the first chukker. Dawson got the scoring started in the second while Wrightway’s

scoring drought continued. Quinn added three goals in the third to give Sparkle Unicorns a 4-1 lead before Hai put Wrightway on the board. Duffy and Torres traded goals in the fourth, leaving Sparkle Unicorns ahead, 5-2.

On the second day, Matt Crosser took over for Joel Torres on Wrightway, while Torres moved over to Sparkle Unicorns, splitting a position with Quinn and Duffy. Faierman scored first but the goal was answered by Crosser. Faierman and Sears added goals in the second, while Wrightway was silenced. Sears traded goals with Watson in the third and Dawson and Watson swapped goals in the fourth, keeping Sparkle Unicorns comfortably ahead, 10-5, at the horn. Sparkle Unicorns has won each of the four years the tournament has been held.

Emi Sears was named MVP.

Lalo Ramirez powered Villa Ecleto to victory in the inaugural 3-goal USPA National Allied Services Cup at Legends Polo Club in Kaufman, Texas, June 6. When over six inches of rain forced the tournament to be moved

from Texas Military Polo Club, Nacho Estrada graciously offered his covered arena.

Five teams lined up in the weekend tournament, all hoping for the chance to hold up the trophies. A round robin between Texas Military (Rob Phipps, Karl Hilberg, Chris Jones), Polo Inter- Active (Jose Velez, Joss Leufrancois, Javier Insua) and Villa Ecleto (Juan Campos, Morgan Tennant, Lalo Ramirez) saw Texas Military fall to Polo InterActive, 7-3, and Villa Ecleto, 9-3. The last round was for a spot in the final with Villa Ecleto getting the 9-7 edge. The next match had Legends Polo (Marcus Murphy, Nacho Estrada, Don English) earning a spot in the final with a 15-13 win over Leaseplan (Brady Williams, Megan Flynn, Lisa Yanskey).

The next day, Texas Military, Leaseplan and Polo InterActive played a consolation round robin prior to the main event.

In the final, Ramirez put Villa Ecleto out front with back-to-back goals. Estrada answered with a goal for Legends, but Ramirez responded, slamming the ball into the goal. Murphy kept it close with a goal for Legends late in the chukker. Villa Ecleto turned up the heat in the second chukker, shutting Legends down while Tennant and Ramirez combined for five goals. Villa Ecleto went to the half with a comfortable, 8-2, lead.

Legends fought back in the second half, with Estrada matching the only Villa Ecleto goal, this one off the mallet of Campos, keeping the difference six goals. English cut the difference to four early in the fourth. Ramirez struck again but Estrada matched the goal. Ramirez kept pushing and struck three more times, ensuring the 14-6 victory.

Morgan Tennant was MVP and her 8-year-old buckskin mare Layana, played by Lalo Ramirez, was Best Playing Pony. Ramirez scored seven goals off the mare, who Tennant calls an absolute machine, in the two chukkers he played her. Ramirez and Tennant were mounted on horses owned by Villa Ecleto, all hand-selected by Ramirez.

Marcus Murphy was awarded the Sportsmanship Award. A junior player, Murphy competed in his first tournament earlier this year. He made significant improvements in his riding and playing abilities leading up to the Allied Services Cup. He scored five goals in the qualifying match to help his team reach the final.

BTA crushed Horsegate, 16-9, in the USPA Officers Cup, May 10, at Houston Polo Club in Houston, Texas. Four teams battled it out over two weeks, with several cancellations due to persistent rain.

BTA (Kelly Beal, KC Krueger, Nachi Viana, Steve Krueger) and Horsegate (Bobby Gerry, Lance Stefanakis, Marcos Villanueva, Toto Collardin) both had 2-0 records going into the final. Collardin opened the scoring with a beautiful run to goal. Viana converted an open-goal penalty to bring it level. Horsegate added two more goals and Viana responded with one more to end the chukker, 3-2, in favor of Horsegate.

BTA turned the tables in the second, jumping out front with five goals while holding Horsegate to a single tally and taking a 7-4 lead. Collardin went to work to make up lost ground and brought Horsegate within one, 7- 6, in the third before Krueger scored to keep the difference two, 8-6.

BTA kept the momentum in the second half, outscoring Horsegate, 3- 1, in both the fourth and fifth chukkers, to lead 14-8 going into the last chukker. Collardin tried to chip away at the deficit, but after scoring once, the team was shut down. Meanwhile Steve Krueger scored two more to seal the 16-9 win.

KC Krueger was named MVP and Chrys Beal’s Zumi, played by KC Krueger, was Best Playing Pony.

Earlier in the season, Horsegate (Lily Lequerica, Lance Stefanakis, Marcos Villanueva, Toto Collardin) took on W-S (Wesley Sinor, Chino Payan, Juan Jo Gonzalez, Nicolai Galindo) in the final of the 8-goal Cowboy Cup.

Payan scored early in the first but Collardin and Stefanakis answered to put Horsegate ahead, 2-1, at the end of the first chukker. A Penalty 2 conversion from Gonzalez knotted the score at 2. W-S was silenced in the third, while Collardin added two to put Horsegate ahead, 4-2, at the half.

Horsegate benefited from the halftime break, adding a pair of goals in the fourth. W-S fought back with Galindo and Sinor cutting the deficit to two, 6-4, going into the fifth. Horsegate buckled down, keeping W-S away from the goal, while regaining a four-goal lead. W-S stopped the bleeding in the last chukker, while adding two goals, but it was unable to get any closer and Horsegate took the win.

Toto Collardin was MVP, and his Regia was named Best Playing Pony.

The club also hosted a junior tournament with polo, pizza, ponies, capri suns and a waterslide. Players from 2 to 19 played in one of four levels: advanced, intermediate, walk/trot and leadline.

Vintage Polo’s Joe Bob Lequerica, Joanie Jackson and Clare Bogart won the advanced level. All-stars included Lance Stefanakis, Joe Bob Lequerica, Grace Parker, Lily Lequerica and Joanie Jackson. Lance Stefanakis’ Dominga was named Best Playing Pony.

Tonkawa’s Ripley Middleton, Tate Seward and Trent Florey prevailed in the intermediate group. Trent Florey was MVP and Uma Villanueva’s Rosita was Best Playing Pony.

St. Regis Houston’s Abby Agrons, Danny Fulkerson and Charlotte Cifuni won the walk/trot group. Danny Fulkerson was MVP and Bradie Kimbrough’s Betty White was Best Playing Pony.

In the leadline group, BTA (Gael Munoz, Carty Krueger, Shirley Krueger) HPC (Clementine Barry, Santos Villanueva, Violet Ellison) and Traveller’s Rest (Luisito Mancebo, Evelyn Wroe, August Orthwein) ended in a tie.

Six teams competed in the Tulsa Women’s Challenge played at Mohawk Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June. In the end, it was the home team that took the trophies.

The event is part of the mid-continent Women’s Polo Series, an annual collection of women’s polo tournaments in multiple states. Rain canceled some of the spring events.

Teams played off on Saturday, with Freddy’s (Karson Bizzel, Dani Gibson, Raeann Magill, Matille Drury) and Tulsa (Megan Flynn, Karen Funk Summers, Tori Summers, Sarah Morelli) settling at the top and advancing to the final.

In a hard-fought match with very little fouling and a lot of defense, Tulsa edged out Freddy’s by a half-goal. Megan Flynn was MVP while Dan Gibson won the Sportsmanship Award. Best Playing Pony honors went to Raeann Magill’s Tuco.

Horace Albert Laffaye, 86, passed away of natural causes due to complications of late-stage Alzheimer’s Disease on May 31 in Durango, Colorado. He was a long-time resident of Weston, Westport, and Fairfield, Connecticut; and of Wellington, Florida.

After joining a private practice at The Willows in Westport, Dr. Laffaye served as Chief of Surgery at Norwalk Hospital for 22 years until his retirement in 2005. He was a member of several professional organizations, including serving as past president of the New England Surgical Society and the Surgeons’ Travel Club. For several years, he mentored PAs as a professor with the Yale University Physician Assistant Program. Through his practice of medicine, Dr. Laffaye touched many, from setting broken bones and stitching up lacerations, to saving lives with his competent surgical skills.

Lifelong learning was essential to him, and he continuously sought to improve his knowledge. As chief, Laffaye organized annual symposia for his colleagues at Norwalk Hospital, where surgeons shared their professional expertise, as well as spent time socializing for long weekends. Because of the many Type A personalities involved, these weekends always included hard-fought competitions for golf and tennis awards, some of which he named after his grand kids: the Martina Cup, Derek’s Jug, Grace’s Tassie and last, but not least, the Gemini Cup, for the twin boys, Mark and Todd.

Serendipitously, it was during his practice of medicine that Laffaye encountered a patient who sought treatment for an injury sustained while playing polo. Thus began the reignition of a passion within Laffaye for one of his youthful endeavors back in his native Argentina. For two decades, Laffaye played polo at the Fairfield County Hunt Club in Westport, the Ox Ridge Hunt Club in Darien, and at the White Birch Polo Club in Greenwich, as well as matches throughout the Northeast.

After his playing days ended, he combined his love of history and passion for polo by reinventing himself as a scholar and author. Known for his steel-trap memory for the minutiae of tournaments long-past, eventually he authored or edited nine books and innumerable articles on polo in both Spanish and English, adding significantly to the historical record of the sport. In 2010, Laffaye served as a Daniels Fellow at the National Sporting Museum and Library in Middleburg, Virginia, research which led to the publication of his work, Polo in the United States: A History. Whether on the sidelines of a practice or in the grandstands of a major final, Horace loved to share engaging stories of players and horses from the earliest days of polo to the more recent past.

Upon his retirement Laffaye gave his time and talents to assist the Polo Museum and Hall of Fame in myriad ways, from helping the organization add to their collections of books, art and memorabilia, to serving on the board of directors and as chair of the Nominating Committee for the Hall of Fame. Throughout his life, Laffaye appreciated the friends he made worldwide from the game of polo. He was as comfortable conversing with CEOs and ambassadors as he was with grooms and other staff. He bonded with people through their shared love of the game.

In addition to his enthusiasm for polo, Laffaye pursued various outlets for his competitive nature. Some of his fondest memories came from the golf course, the unique challenges of the game and the opportunities for socializing with friends. In his youth, he both played and refereed rugby, and he met his future wife after a match at a rugby club. Also, he was honored with a lifetime membership to the Sports Car Club of America, having competed in rallies for decades when he first arrived in the United States. During his final years, his caregivers chuckled with great fondness at his exclamations from the passenger seat, “You drive like Fangio,” one of his Argentine car-racing idols.

Laffaye was predeceased by members of his beloved family: his wife Martha; sister María Teresa and brother Roberto; and his parents, all of whom he recalled strongly in his final years. He is survived by his daughter Gisèle Laffaye Pansze (Trent) of Durango, Colorado, and their children; his former daughter-in-law Ann Kovarik Laffaye of Phoenix and son Patrick of Norwalk and their sons; his loving companion in his later years, Mary Boykin of Palm Beach; and numerous nieces and nephews and their families in Argentina.

After Martha’s passing, when Horace gathered his family for an Alaskan cruise, he remarked, “After I die, my grand kids won’t remember that I was a surgeon or an author. But they will remember that I took them to Alaska.” He was that kind of gentleman: generous, thoughtful, gracious. And even toward the end, his wicked sense of humor and his contagious laughter would emerge at unexpected moments.