Postage Stamp Farm rallied in the final two chukkers to capture the Palm Restaurant Invitational with a 10-9 victory over Flexjet Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club. Nic Roldan scored the last three goals of the game including the game-winner in the final two minutes for Postage Stamp Farm’s first tournament victory of the fall season.
The foursome of Annabelle Gundlach, Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan and JJ Celis, playing together for the first time, dug itself out of an early hole after Flexjet (Melissa Ganzi, Juan Bollini, Jesse Bray, Glenn Straub) started out with a 3-0 advantage based on handicap to trail by only one at the half, 6-5.
Postage Stamp Farm tied Flexjet, 6-6, with 4:50 left in the fourth chukker on Celis’ big neck shot and took the lead for the first time when Ganzi beat his defender and angled a goal just inside the goal post for a 7-6 lead.
Flexjet tied (7-7) and then regained the lead with goals from Bray and Straub for a 9-7 advantage before Roldan went on his scoring spree with two goals at the end of the fifth to tie the game at 9-9 and game-winner with 2:04 left in the sixth chukker. Roldan also stopped Bollini’s last-ditch scoring attempt.
Ganzi scored a game-high five goals and was named MVP. He finished with eight goals in two games. Rebecca, ridden by Bollini, was named BPP.
Gundlach plans to play in Argentina in mid-November in preparation for the winter season. She will make her International Polo Club 20-goal debut with teammates Brandon Phillips, Kris Kampsen and Mariano Aguerre.
In the Cardondale Classic final, Casablanca (Martin Estrada, Tony Calle, Juancito Bollini, Jared Sheldon) captured the round robin final with a 6-4 win over Dutta Corp (Tim Dutta, Gene Goldstein, Jason Crowder, Carlitos Gracida) and 7-6 win over KIG (Bash Kazi, Omar Mangalji, Guille Aguero, Kris Kampsen). Estrada and Sheldon each had four goals.
Gene Goldstein of Dutta Corp was named MVP. Goldstein’s horse, Noche Azul, was named BPP.
The Palm Restaurant Invitational was the fourth of nine fall season tournaments.
-Tackeria Invitational: won by Flexjet.
-U.S. Trust Cup: won by U.S. Trust.
-Fall Classic: won by Casablanca.
Final: Postage Stamp Farm vs Flexjet