Menlo Invitational Polo Tournament
September 19-20, 2009 - click here for the gallery

On September 18, 2009, GPL sent two teams to participate in this year’s final Menlo Invitational Tournament and back we came with a victory!

The weekend began on Friday with a very early (10:00 am) flight to San Jose. By 12:30 we were on horseback getting the feel of our steeds, which would in just 48 hours bring us to victory. Attending the event were Chip, Tom, Jimmy, Jean-Marc, Talbot (one of our New York members), and Richie (a GPL Friend from Will Rogers Polo Club). After the stick and ball session, we retreated to the nearest bistro to refresh, re-hydrate and give each other pointers on how we could improve our game... Well, that went over well. Thank God for the tequila!

Later that evening we attended a poolside BBQ at the home of Ian Gilchirst a long time friend of Chips. Co-hosting the party was the ever delightful Floyd and June Boyer, and the fun-loving Nancy and Glenn (The Senator) Atkinson. It was an incredible evening under the stars at Woodside. Great food, great drinks and great friends!

Now down to business… Team Maximus made up of Chip ( club level), Talbot ( club level), Richie ( at least a 0 rating) and Madeline from the Menlo Polo Club ( USPA 1) against Team Quadrus, composed of Jimmy, Jean-Marc and myself ( all intermediates ) and Eric the coach of the Menlo Polo Club ( rated ….USPA 3 goals). Saturday’s match was fast and furious. Jean-Marc and Jimmy were on fire. Talbot, Chip and Richie’s butt never touched the saddle and in the end the match ended with Team Maximus leading by one point. Hold that thought….

Saturday evening we attended the Menlo Polo Club’s elegant black tie awards dinner. It was beautiful evening and champagne was flowing. As we dined we watched a slide show of the day’s competition and candid shots of players and guests. Polo socializing at its best!!!! Eric, Jack and Cam did an amazing job creating a beautiful evening.

Ok, Sunday,.. back on the field the match continued. At this point I should interject that Eric, on team Quadrus, never scored a goal but just set up the ball for us and coached us thru. Needless to say we were pretty amped from the previous day and as much as we all love each other we were out for blood. Now at this point I should be a little more modest but, what the hell. Two more goals were scored by Team Quadrus, by... me,and the winning goal a penalty 4 shot fromm the 60 yard line scored by... me! But enough about me and my shining day at Menlo, lets talk about how gracious Chip was to lose. Check out the Victory Dance in the gallery!

Well it is all now a distant memory and some of the facts may not be, well, totally accurate but you get the gist of the weekend. All in all it was an incredible GPL weekend and we were grateful to have shared it with two other visiting GPL members, Rolf and Jan and all our new friends from Menlo.

In closing, GPL is extremely grateful to Erik Wright of WrightWay Polo for providing such wonderful polo ponies for us, his great attention to detail as well as his profound ability to create excitement around the sport of polo.

Humbly written by Tom Landry.

Click here to view the gallery.