USPA Snow Polo Championship

This weekend I’m going to Aspen to play for the Piaget team at the USPA Snow Polo Championship.  Snow polo is very different than traditional polo. First it’s played on a much smaller field. It’s slower and not as fluid as polo on a large field. Snow polo is a good spectator sport because of the size of the field. It’s a lot easier to watch and understand.  I am pumped to play in Colorado and hopefully hit the slopes too.  It will be an adrenaline packed weekend for me, can’t wait.

Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup

This weekend  I played with Piaget against Flat Out in the Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup at Grand Champions Polo Club. The game was tied 5-5 at half time and was a close call to the very end. We pulled ahead for an 11-9 final score to win the cup for team Piaget!

Its been great to be back home but, I’m excited to head to Argentina in just a few weeks where I will be competing in the Sapphire Cup and then I will be off to Aspen before returning for Palm Beach polo season.

Chicago!

This week I flew straight from Germany to Chicago for the kick off events to the inaugural Grey Goose Chicago Beach Polo World Cup which I had been asked to host. Grey Goose had me at the brand new PUBLIC hotel which is just beautiful.

The first event was a Grey Goose Blue Door experience for the trade where we learned a lot about Grey Goose and why it tastes so refined. It’s pretty amazing to learn what goes into making it. Grey Goose’s mixologists came up with some awesome cocktails  which were served and the recipe for my favorite cocktail is below. The event included a cooking demo by top Chicago Chef Ryan Poli. My co-host, model and Polo player Paula Chermont from Brazil and I played sous chefs which was a lot of fun.

Yesterday I hosted a media polo clinic for some of Chicago’s top media giving them the basics on how polo works. There were a few naturals in the crowd! Some jumped up on the horses and did a good job of hitting the ball.

The kick off events concluded last night with a great party. It was a real honor to host and the whole team couldn’t have been any more wonderful. Wish I could have stayed for the weekend but had to head back home to gear up for the tournaments in Wellington!

THE GREY GOOSE® Le Citron Safety

2 parts GREY GOOSE® Le Citron Flavored Vodka

3 slices peeled cucumber

1 tsp sugar

2 sprigs fresh mint

1 part lemon juice

 In a cocktail shaker combine 2 cucumber slices with mint and sugar and muddle well. Add the GREY GOOSE® Le Citron Flavored Vodka and lemon juice and muddle well. Add ice and shake well until the outside of the shaker is frosted and beaded with sweat.   Strain into the martini glass and float a cucumber slice on top.

       Cooking with Chef Ryan Poli

Media Polo Lesson

Looking Ahead

South Africa was a great experience! I was able to see an amazing place and play polo in the Bergville Mini Tournament. Soon I’ll be heading to Chicago for the Grey Goose Polo Blue Door VIP events before I head back to South Florida for some polo. Next on my schedule will be Argentina in November and some of December and Aspen snow polo in the end of December before Palm Beach polo season kicks off!

Looking forward to the next few months and some great tournaments.

Santa Barbara Season Re-cap

Santa Barbara is one of my favorite places to play polo. It was great to play this season with all of the guys on Grants Farm Manor. After some tough defeats in the Piaget Silver Cup we came back to win the 2011 America’s Cup, a huge achievement for our team. Next up was the Pacific Coast Open where we put up a fight in the play-offs but lost in overtime. Overall, it was a good season and I am proud of our team.

Next I will be headed to South Africa to compete in the Bergville mini tournament and then I head back home to South Florida before going to Argentina.

Photo by: Rob Gallagher

2011 America’s Cup

Sunday was a great win for Grant’s Farm Manor! We had a 13-9 victory over Lucchese in the finals of the 2011 America’s Cup! Teammate Jeff Hall played a great game, a big congratulations to him for winning MVP. Check out some pictures below from the game.

Photos by: Rob Gallagher

Photos by: Rob Gallagher

Photos by: Rob Gallagher

Photos by: Rob Gallagher

Polo Schedule

It’s been great playing out in Santa Barbara this past month, it’s one of my favorite places for polo. Nothing beats riding your horse down the beach! I’m excited for the next few locations I will be playing this year. In September I will be playing polo in South Africa and in November and December in Argentina. I’ll close out the year playing Aspen snow polo then back to Florida for Palm Beach polo season! I’m looking forward to all of my stops and another great season back at home.