Continues Monday With Blanco TX Cup And Johnston Cup At Everglades Polo Club
WELLINGTON, Fla., January 13, 2024—The Polo Training Foundation’s Florida Junior winter circuit continues Monday with the Blanco TX Cup and Johnston Cup Monday at Everglades Polo Club.
By Sharon Robb
Photos by Candace Ferreira
2023 Blanco TX Cup champion Mayer Ranch players Ramon Caro, Joaquin Vilgre de Madrid,
Ava Hinkson and Aspen Tinto with Gill Johnston.
Four teams will compete in the Blanco TX Cup at 10 a.m. They are:
AJT Polo (Juan Cruz Fernandez Cancio, Ava Hinkson, Celestino Merlos, Aspen Tinto).
Power Group Total Care (Ramon Caro, Jem Handler, Sebastian Mandelbaum, Valentina Tarazona).
Tackeria (James Long, Taylor Nackers, Sailor Schwaber, Joaquin Vilgre la Madrid).
Mayer Ranch (Lilli Hagemeier, Marcos Murphy, Harrison Reicher, Santos Teves).
Four teams will also play the Johnston Cup. at noon. They are:
CTV Sports (Hannah Hornung, Jayda Link, Ainsley Mulligan, Gregory Shepard).
Prestonwood Polo Club (James Peponis, Marek Sutherland, Emilia Wulff, Inaki Wulff).
GJ Racing (Tomas Caro, Inaki Gonzalez, Kendall Nackers, TBA).
Alex Photo (Juan Lemos, Florencio Merlos, Charlotte Peponis, Antonio Villamil).
A two-chukker game at 2 p.m. will feature Tackeria (Leon Pileborg Dunster, Alessandro Leal, Marcus Lisioli, Lourdes Siri) and Santa Rita (Antonio Dorignac, Pedro Lisioli, Felipe Teves, Milo Vilche).
In last year’s tournaments, the Blanco TX Cup was won by Mayer Ranch (Joaquin Vilgre de Madrid, Aspen Tinto, Ava Hinkson, Ramon Caro) defeating Tackeria (Jem Handler, Sebastian Mandelbaum, Finn Secunda, Lion Mandelbaum), 4-1, in its opening game and Power Group Total Care (Harrison Reicher, Celestino Merlos, Valentina Tarazona, Maeve Reicher), 3-1, in the final. Caro was MVP.
Ghedin & Herz Key Advantage (Benjamin Obregon, Lilli Hagemeier, Florencio Merlos, Mya Quarcoopome) won the inaugural Johnston Cup with a 4-0 win over Red Barn (Antonio Villamil, Valentina Villamil, Sailor Schwaber, Geronimo Rider). Obregon was MVP.
Remaining PTF tournaments are the Avendano Memorial and Tackeria Cup, Feb. 19; Buzz Welker and Sunset Polo Cup, March 18; and Jimmer Newman Memorial, April 20.
The second annual Richard Riemenschneider Memorial Cup is Sunday, February 18 at 4 p.m. at Grand Champions Polo Club. Following the game, everyone is invited to the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame for the PTF Awards Ceremony from 7-9 p.m. honoring the 2023 PTF Interscholastic and Intercollegiate Players of the Year and Daniel Colhoun as the first recipient of the inaugural Daniel Colhoun Lifetime Achievement Award.
Grand Champions Polo Club President and PTF Chairman Melissa Ganzi is a longtime supporter of grass roots polo and PTF, that will celebrate its 57th anniversary in 2024.
The Polo Training Foundation is dedicated to the future of polo in the U.S. The PTF has been instrumental in the growth of junior and youth polo players by encouraging the sport‘s development with training programs, lessons and tournaments for boys and girls.
The PTF would like to see the success it had in 2023 carry into 2024. In order to do all this, the Polo Training Foundation needs the continued contributions from supporters. The Polo Training Foundation relies on the generosity of individual supporters. It values any help whether it’s volunteering, equipment, mallets and/or any dollar amount.
The PTF was created in 1967 by Palm Beach Polo and Country Club founder and former 7-goal amateur Bill Ylvisaker to teach the game of polo to youth by promoting youth clinics, interscholastic and intercollegiate competition, good sportsmanship and good will through friendly competition.
The Polo Training Foundation is a 501(c) 3 organization and relies on tax deductible donations for financial support. The PTF has an annual budget of $600,000 of which $400,000 is funded yearly by tax-deductible donations. For more information go to www.polotraining.org.