A Magical Week of Polo in Costa Careyes Mexico Polo + 10
go to original April 24, 2016

At the 17th Agua Alta from 19-26 March, known as Semana Santa in Mexico, ten teams were hosted by the Costa Careyes Polo Club – Alberto and Kari Ardissone and Giorgio Brignone, founder of the polo club.

Players from Peru, Columbia, England, Italy, Portugal, Ecuador, Argentina and Mexico came to play in four 10-goal teams and six 6-goal teams. Professional umpires – Martin Haurie, Argentina, Daniel Roenisch, Canada, and Nico Millan, Argentina – directed the play on the field. Over 120 horses were shipped from all parts of Mexico for the event. Octavio Munguia was the speaker for all 98 chukkas of play over the 7 days.

The Careyes Resort, a private gated resort, is located on the Pacific Ocean south of Puerto Vallarta 100 miles. The Careyes community looked forward to the Agua Alta event as polo is a highlight of the week. Sponsors for the event were El Careyes Club and Residences, which sponsored all the high scoring awards as well as special trophies for the 3 umpires, as well as El Mexicano Tequila, Scappino, a clothier from Italy and Mexico that provided jerseys for all the 10 teams, the Mexican Polo Federation, Conade, a Mexican Government Sport Organization, Piso 51, a successful social club in Mexico City, Taittinger Champagne, Magma, a real estate company from Guadalajara, Destino, a travel and rental agency and the new Mezcal Meteoro and Marca Negra.

Play for the 10-goal trophy had all the teams play against each other with the semifinals of team standing number 1 playing team standing number 4. Team standing 2 and 3 played the semifinals – the team orchestrated by the Mcquilling team patron, Diego Aguliar (0), president of the Tecamac Polo Club, with Rudolfo Ramos (2), Juan Jose de Alba (3) and Guillermo Li (5), defeated the La Calera team with Iago Masias (3), Ignacio Masias (2), Miguel Gomez de Parada (3) and Hugo Villalobos (1) 9-7,5. In the other semifinals – Careyes/Steta/Scappino – Guillermo Steta (1), Giorgio Brignone (1), Carlitos Hernandez (4) and Diego Solorzano (4), defeated Agua Alta – Alberico Ardisson (1), Diego Gonzalez (1), Manuel Matos (1) and Pedro Montaya (5) – by a score of 9-5. The Mcquilling polo team faced Careyes/Steta/Scappino in the finals.

The finals for the 10-goal trophy were fast and furious...

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