{"id":2452335,"date":"2019-12-17T23:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T06:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/snow-polo-back-in-aspen-for-seventh-year-with-another-star-studded-field\/"},"modified":"2019-12-17T23:12:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T06:12:01","slug":"snow-polo-back-in-aspen-for-seventh-year-with-another-star-studded-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/snow-polo-back-in-aspen-for-seventh-year-with-another-star-studded-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow polo back in Aspen for seventh year with another star-studded field"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
From left, Nic Roldan, Juancito Bollini and Grant Ganzi of U.S. Polo Assn. pose during the World Snow Polo Championships team draw on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019, inside the St. Regis Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Seven years ago Marc and Melissa Ganzi brought snow polo to Aspen and they\u2019ve been able to watch it grow into one of the city\u2019s biggest holiday events. With some of the best players in the world back in town this week, it\u2019s again time for the one-of-a-kind competition to take center stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting for us is we are getting closer to our 10-year anniversary than anything else,\u201d Melissa Ganzi said. \u201cIt\u2019s something people now look forward to in the city. That makes us really happy and it\u2019s part of our way to kick off the holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2019 St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship officially kicked off Tuesday night with the annual team draw, hosted by St. Regis Aspen. The short introductory event included the presentation of all six teams and established the bracket for Wednesday\u2019s qualifying round robin games at Aspen Valley Polo Club in Carbondale.<\/p>\n

ChukkerTV\u2019s Dale Schwetz did most of the presenting on Tuesday, with international polo star Nacho Figueras, who co-hosts the event with the Ganzis, saying a few words ahead of the draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to make a big effort for that not to happen again,\u201d Figueras joked of team Richard Mille, the 2018 champion. \u201cLet\u2019s go to the draw and hope that my bracket is as soft as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bracket A is comprised of teams St. Regis, who Figueras plays for, Flexjet and U.S. Polo Assn. Bracket B features Richard Mille, newcomer Royal Salute and Aspen Valley Polo Club. The top two teams from each bracket after Wednesday\u2019s qualifying round will faceoff in the championship game at 1 p.m. Friday at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. The second-placed teams will play at 3 p.m. Friday in the de facto third-place game. The awards presentation will follow around 4:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Last year it was Marc Ganzi, Martin Pepa and Pablo MacDonough who led Richard Mille to the championship. MacDonough, a 10-goal player (polo\u2019s highest ranking) from Argentina, is the only returner for Richard Mille this winter. He\u2019s joined by France\u2019s Edouard Pan and Julien Reynes.<\/p>\n

Juan Martin Nero, another 10-goal player from Argentina, was expected to participate this year but broke his ankle competing in the prestigious Argentine Open last week. Both he and MacDonough were part of La Dolfina, which just won the 126th Argentine Open, considered \u201cthe most coveted polo trophy in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Nero won\u2019t play, the tournament still includes many elite players, including Nic Roldan (U.S. Polo Assn.), the highest-rated player in the United States who has won the snow polo MVP award multiple times. Horacio Heguy, a legend in the polo world, will compete for Royal Salute. Heguy will play alongside Malcolm Borwick, one of England\u2019s best players, and France\u2019s Pierre Henri Ngoumou.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for America. It\u2019s great for Aspen. It just helps generate more attention,\u201d Melissa Ganzi said of the international stars competing in Aspen this week. \u201cAspen, I think it\u2019s the most special place, but it\u2019s nice for others to see it and it brings attention to the area. Having the best players in the world is unique and special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc Ganzi is not slated to play this year in defense of his championship, but Melissa Ganzi will return to the field with Flexjet while their son, Grant Ganzi, will compete alongside Roldan and Juancito Bollini with U.S. Polo Assn.<\/p>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s qualifying, play will come to Aspen and Rio Grande Park on Thursday with the \u201cHigh Alpine Cup,\u201d or essentially the fifth-place game, scheduled for 1:15 p.m. At 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Aspen, there will be the annual Celebrity Polo Chukker match, featuring actress Saye Yabandeh.<\/p>\n

After Friday\u2019s finals, the festivities conclude with the after party, a fundraiser for the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation, at the W Aspen Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing is we are super proud and it\u2019s really nice that the event is now recognized and people come up to us and say, \u2018Oh my god, you\u2019re part of snow polo,\u2019\u201d Melissa Ganzi said. \u201cAnd they want to be part of it. And also I think the support we have from the sponsors and the hotels makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

While tickets are required to get into the VIP tent at Rio Grande Park, general viewing of the matches is free and open the public.<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From left, Nic Roldan, Juancito Bollini and Grant Ganzi of U.S. Polo Assn. pose during the World Snow Polo Championships team draw on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019, inside the St. Regis Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Seven years ago Marc and Melissa Ganzi brought snow polo to Aspen and they\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-20 02:30:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}