Snow polo returns to downtown Aspen.
ASPEN, CO. — Dec. 13, 2013 — Some of the world’s greatest polo players will converge on Wagner Park, the crown jewel of Aspen, for the Dec. 19-20 Piaget World Snow Polo Championship.
Melissa and Marc Ganzi of Aspen Valley Polo Club, sister club of Wellington, Fla.-based Grand Champions Polo Club, along with Nacho Figueras and Larry Boland, president of Piaget North America, are hosting the final stop on the World Polo Tour.
The Dec. 20 championship will be a round-robin tournament format with three polo teams: Audi, Piaget and St. Regis.
The event has attracted three of the biggest names in polo and two of only six players in the world with the perfect 10-goal rating.
Ten-goaler Facundo Pieres, ranked second in the world, will captain the Audi Polo Team. His older brother, Gonzalito Pieres, also a 10-goaler, will head the Piaget Polo Team and 6-goaler Figueras will captain the St. Regis Polo Team.
Facundo Pieres is coming off an outstanding year that includes playing for winning teams in the U.S. Open, Queens Cup, British Open and Gold and Silver Cups in Spain. He was ranked No. 1 in the world for most of the year.
Facundo’s older brother, Gonzalito Pieres, is ranked sixth in the world. Pieres was a member of Audi’s 2009 U.S. Open and C. V. Whitney winning teams and 2011 USPA Piaget Gold Cup.
Both brothers are members of the legendary Pieres family headed by their father and polo legend Gonzalo Pieres Sr.
Figueras, polo’s international ambassador and face of Ralph Lauren, is one of the sport’s most popular and well-recognized players in the world. The Argentine polo player was named Sentebale Ambassador by Prince Harry and also serves as St. Regis Connoisseur.
Other players on the team rosters include Melissa Ganzi, one of only two women player patrons in high goal polo in the nation; her husband, Mark Ganzi, one of the world’s top amateur players ranked in the Top 50 among high goal players; 8-goal rated player Nic Roldan; and 5-goalers Juan Bollini and Brandon Phillips.
Players will be competing for valuable World Polo Tour points in the final snow polo event of the year.
On Thursday, Dec. 19, polo practice chukkers will be held to enable players and horses to acclimate to the weather and playing surface. Friday tournament action will be held 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Games begin 12:30 p.m. each day. Gates open 11 a.m.
Polo fans can relax and watch world-class snow polo from the VIP Pavilion while enjoying mountain fare from the St. Regis Hotel along with cocktails from Johnnie Walker Blue.
Tickets are available through Ticket Leap (www.ticketleap.com). A one-day pass for the VIP tent is $150. General admission is free to the public and will be first-come, first-serve bleacher seating on the east side of the park.
VIP Pavilion access includes full access to the heated tent, lunch courtesy of St. Regis and cocktails provided by Johnnie Walker’s mixologist.
All proceeds benefit Sopris Therapy Services and Aspen Sister Cities.
Sopris Therapy Services is a non-profit organization that provides Equine Assisted Therapy and rehabilitation in a ranch-setting to children and adults with various disabilities.
Aspen Sister Cities’ mission is to share ideas and cultures through the international exchange of students and community members from Aspen and its respective sister cities.
ASPEN VALLEY POLO CLUB
CONTACT INFORMATION: Phone: 970-710-1663 and email: aspenvalleypolo@bellsouth.net.
ABOUT THE CLUB: The nation’s newest private polo club still in its’ developing stages features a complete facility offering stick-and-ball field, club house, wooden horse polo pit, exercise track, indoor school, arena, pony hire, livery, coaches, stable and turn to hire and grooms accommodations.
Sharon Robb for Phelps Media Group, Inc. International
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