North America

In December 2014, Travel + Leisure magazine listed Haiti as one of the "Best Places to Travel in 2015." Wow! That really made my day. I forwarded the link to a bunch of people I know, while trying very hard not to pepper my note with multiple exclamation points.

Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta) spotted Merchant Hub (Scott Swerdlin, Marianito Obregon, Facundo Obregon and Luis Escobar) one goal by handicap before routing them 18-10 in their 20-goal debut in Joe Barry Memorial Cup play at the International Polo Club Wednesday afternoon.

Traditional polo, which is played on a ten-acre grass field, has become ridiculously expensive at many clubs around the country. The bottom line is that the annual maintenance cost of a single grass field is anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000, and most clubs have several grass fields. Taking these maintenance costs together with the salaries of club employees into account, it doesn’t take long to realize that the membership fees at most clubs have to be set extremely high just to break even (unless these costs are heavily subsidized by the club’s owners).

Miguel Astrada turned in an amazing second half performance to give Casablanca a 13 to 11 win over Villa del Lago in the season opener Pennell Cup. It appeared that Polito Pieres was going to be hard to stop after his Villa del Lago team ran up a 9 to 5 half time lead. Astrada and Nic Roldan put together a second half rally that turned things around quickly. Astrada will named MVP and his horse Paulina was the Best Playing Pony.

Casablanca Rallies in the Second Half to Claim the Herbie Pennell Cup at International Polo Club Palm Beach Coca-Cola Claims Overtime Victory In Consolation Match

As players galloped across the Empire Polo Club field on horseback jostling the polo ball toward the goal, hundreds of residents cheered and whistled, "Let's go! Let's go!"

Major Collin & Tackeria Polo Tournaments Junior Polo began in Palm Beach 58 young players kicked off the season at IPC Palm Beach

Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Nic Roldan and Miguel Novillo Astrada) scored a win in the opening match of the 20-goal 2015 Herbie Pennell Cup with a resounding 14-6 thumping of a talented Coca-Cola lineup (Gillian Johnston, Kris Kampsen, Julio Arellano and Mason Wroe) in morning play at the International Polo Club in Wellington.

Wellington, FL - January 3, 2015 - On December 30, spectators lined both sides of the field at International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida. Four teams of young players between the ages of 16-21, battled for the coveted Tackeria Cup. Clean, classic polo charged with the energy that teenagers possess, made for an afternoon of exciting polo.

Horses used in the game of polo (known as “ponies” although many are full-sized horses) are asked to sprint at top speed, turn sharply, make sudden stops, stay balanced while riders shift their weight far out of center, and even run into other horses to gain an advantageous position. The nature of the game puts both ponies and players in a position to sustain injuries.