88 SIDELINES MAY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Catching up: It looks like in the Fall world
champion bull rider
Wesley Silcox
will be trying his
hand at polo. After visiting with
Brent and Sherry
Gibson
at Rodeo Austin, polo sounded like enough
fun that he’s decided to fly in early to play a few
chukkers with them and rodeo pickup man
Bobby
Marriott
before the Poway, California rodeo.
Is it true that
Goldenvoice
, the company behind
the successful Coachellafest Music Festival, bought
Eldorado Polo Club
in California?
Chris Gannon
, son of Outback owner
Tim
Gannon
, is behind a new polo charity event in Palm
City, Florida called the
Charity 1 Polo Classic
.
Check it out at charitypoloclassic.com
Congratulations to the guys at
Cowtown/Work to
Ride
, who claimed their second straight
national
interscholastic championship
after two rounds
in an overtime penalty shoot-out with California’s
Eldorado Polo Club.
It was a dramatic end to a
dramatic tournament, which saw a strong showing
for
Poway
who upset
Midland Texas
in the
preliminary rounds of play.
On the heels of
Coach
Vaughn Miller’s
first
Interscholastic Polo Team’s success at their first
tournament with 7th grader
Vaughn Sebastian
Miller
, 8th grader
Ronnie Puentes
and 10th grader
Andrew Garcia
, he has been asked and accepted
to coach the
TCU Polo Team
. The only team that
A
S
I
D
E
S
beat the Millers
Prestonwood Team
in Houston’s regional
tourney, keeping them from advancing to nationals, was
the very experienced Midland Team. Way to go, all a’y’all!
Wedding bells: Fergus Gould
and longtime girlfriend
Lacey Winteron
finally tied the knot in California. We
hear there might be wedding bells soon for
Pam Gleason
and Gary Knolls.
Gary gave her a ring… have they set
a date yet?
New baby department:
At press time,
Deborah and
Steve Parry
are patiently awaiting the arrival of their
firstborn, who is due to make an appearance any day
now. New baby will have arrived by the time you read
this.
Bumps and bruises: Lydia Kolbas
broke her wrist in
arena chukkers in Sarasota, while
Jamie Mirikitani
took
a spill on the grass during the 8 goal when his horse went
down.
The International Arena Polo Test Match at
Hickstead saw England defeat the USA, 12-9,
ensuring the Bryan Morrison Trophy remained in
British hands.
The home team featured a blend of youth and
experience. Captaining Team England was nine-
goaler Chris Hyde, Europe’s highest handicapped
arena polo player, who was joined by England
debutant Danny Muriel (4), plus Max Charlton, who
plays off an arena handicap of six. Max Charlton has
already represented England at international level, as
he helped England to victory against Argentina last
year at London’s O2 Arena.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Chris after the match.
“There was a lot of pressure on us for this match, after
we lost last year in California. But the American’s
were a very experienced, disciplined team and they
gave us a good game.”
USA Team Captain John Gobin won the Most
Valuable Player award for his exemplary captainship
and great individual plays, whilst the award for the
Best Playing Pony went to Caledonia, owned by All
England Polo Club member Caio Sorzana and played
by America’s John Gobin. Caledonia played for the
full six-and-a-half minutes of the penultimate chukka.
Photo by imagesofpolo.com,