High Goal Season Off to a Bucking Start

Social gridlock reigned when, after a two-week hiatus, Santa Barbara Polo Club launched its highly anticipated high goal season with four top teams playing in the roster at the Carpinteria equine paradise through September.

The 20-goal culminates at the end of August with the Netjets Pacific Coast Open, the biggest tournament on the Left Coast, with a five-foot-high gold and silver trophy adorned with semiprecious stones to match.

The teams playing this year are Long Beach Farmers & Merchants banker Dan Walker, Los Angeles real estate tycoon Geoff Palmer’s Antelope, Ben “Mayor of Melrose” Soleimani, and newcomers L.E.N.Y. with Paquito de Narvaez.

“It really is the most competitive tournament with some of the best teams in America,” enthuses club manager David Sigman. “And it’s the perfect locale given our more than a century of history.”

The season kicked off at the weekend with a closely fought match between Walker’s FMB and local patron Justin Klentner’s Klentner Ranch, featuring his son Jake.

At half time Justin’s team led 9-7, with 14-9 in the final chukker, wrapping the colorful game 15-11.

And on July 31 for the 15th consecutive year, I will be judging the club’s annual hat contest with prizes for the Most Colorful, Most Creative, and Largest.

So hopefully we’ll have a magnificent turnout of the toniest tête toppers in town.