Gaston VonWernich

Father’s Day

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The sun shined brightly on Father’s Day at the San Diego Polo Club, and families of all ages celebrated this fantastic day with their loved ones.  Son of our founding father, Willis Allen, flew in 8 antique biplanes and the Wavecrest Woodie Club drove out their prized automobiles for guests to enjoy.  San Diego European brought out Aston Martin to lead the parade of teams with their 2013 Vantage Coupe.

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From the east side of the polo field, the huge crowd enjoyed tailgating festivities along with picnic lunches in the foreground of the biplanes and Woodies.

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On the west side of the field, VIP  and Player’s Club guests were treated to Woodford Reserve Bourbon tastings and specialty cuisine from The Wild Thyme Company.  Special that day was a steak sandwich with caramelized onions and creamy aoili spread.

But the main attractions of the day were the exciting polo matches. The 1:00pm match featured Sycamore-Monteverde versus Star Meadow-Adeptus. The match ended with a score of 11-8 with Star Meadow-Adeptus taking home the trophies. 3 goal professional polo player Ashton Wolf led his team in scoring with 5 goals and his teammate 5 goal professional Martin Ravina tallied up 4 of his own.

ImageTo celebrate Father’s Day, we asked father of Roberto Estudillo, Bobby Estudillo to throw in the first ball!

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Our 3:00pm match between Hanalei Bay-San Judas and Twin Palms-San Fernando was a nail biter from start to finish. Hanalei Bay-San Judas began the match with a 2 goal handicap but Twin Palms/ San Fernando hit the field on all cylinders, scoring 3 unanswered goals in the first period to take the early lead. Things leveled out in the second period by offsetting goals from Hanalei Bay-San Judas’s 6 goaler Mariano Fassetta and Twin Palms-San Fernando’s 5 goaler Gaston Von Wernich.

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Billy Steta, president of the Mexican Polo Federation was the high scorer of the match chalking up 5 goals, the last of which was the game winner.

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Father’s Day Cup trophies were presented by Donald Wade, Operations Manager of Aston Martin and wife of the General Manager, Francesca Canales.

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Local musicians and brother band, Ottopilot performed for our 7th Chukker After Party!

Father’s Day: Fun in the Sun

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It was another beautiful day in Rancho Santa Fe on June 17, Father’s Day.  We flew in a dozen antique biplanes, which took off after the feature match.  We also had an assortment of antique cars, from a 1931 Model A Deluxe Roadster, to a handful of Woodies.  The Del Mar Cigar Club provided imported cigars, just for Dad.

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We kicked off the day with a match at 1pm.  Monteverde/H2 took the lead with 4 goals over Starmeadow/Southwind.  In the third chukker, Starmeadow/Southwind put 4 points on the board to tie up the match.  Points went back and forth in the next few chukkers, and by the 6th chukker, Monteverde/H2 won by 1 point.

Monteverde/H2                               Starmeadow/Southwind

Ellen Greenhill 0                                Colton Bancroft -1
Mariano Gutierrez 5                          Mike Kerley 3
Christopher Collins 2                        Graham Bray 5
Ron Bonaguidi 0                                Chris Collins 1

The Finals of the Father’s Day Cup was a tight one.  Chris Maloney of Twin Palms/La Pasion scored the two of the first 3 goals against Hanalei Bay/Adeptus.  But Hanalei Bay/Adeptus made a come back in the third chukker, taking the game into their lead 6 to 4.  Krista Bonaguidi and Colleen Wilson scored the two last goals for Hanalei/Adeptus, securing the win over Twin Palms/La Pasion.

Twin Palms/La Pasion                Hanalei Bay/Adeptus

Tracee Brunetti -1                               Krista Bonaguidi -1
Chris Maloney 1                                  Joesph Stuart 4
Gaston VonWernich 5                       Mariano Fassetta 6
Diego Cossio 4                                    Colleen Wilson 0

USPA Rossmore Cup Finals

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What a day!  We knew the finals of the USPA Rossmore Cup was going to be a nail-biter, but we had no idea we’d have two crashes, two red flags, over time, and a run-away horse.

Tritech/Princeps:
Alisha Wray -1 (SUB: Colton Bancroft in 6-7 Chukkers)
Ashton Wolf 3
Gaston VonWernich 5
Chris Maloney 1

Hanalei Bay:
Krista Bonaguidi -1
Alvaro Tadeo 3
Mariano Fassetta 6
Ron Bonaguidi 0

The teams were practically snarling at each other after the national anthem was sung and before the first ball throw in.  Things started off hot in the first chukker.  Mariano scored one for Hanalei Bay and Gaston scored two penalty hits for Tritech/Princeps.  In the chukkers to follow, more fouls resulted in  more penalty shots.  By half time, the score was close, 6 to 5 Tritech/Princeps in the lead.

By the 6th chukker, the score was 10 to 9, Hanalei Bay slowly taking the lead.  With 3 minutes remaining, Alvaro Tadeo checked once, checked twice and couldn’t stop his horse.  His horse ran into and knocked patrona, Alisha Wray off her horse.  Alisha fell, got the wind knocked out of her and hit her head.  She was out for a couple of minutes and was attended to by the onsite EMTs.  She was then transported to Scripps Hospital for observation.   She is home now, resting with her family and is in good spirits.

After Alisha was taken out of the game, 14 year old Colton Bancroft ran back to his barn to grab his whites and a horse and entered the game in Alisha’s place.  With a minute and 30 seconds left in the chukker, Colton had a break away and scored a goal to tie up the match.  The crowd went absolutely wild.

The match went into over time and both teams were fighting hard for that first goal to win the USPA Rossmore Cup Finals.  Mariano Fassetta was bumped by Ashton Wolf, hit the horse’s head with his diaphragm, it knocked the wind out of him and he and his horse went down. The horse took off running to the barns, Diego Cossio picked up his friend on his motorcycle and took him back to the tie rails.  The horse passed the barns and looped back to the tie rails.

 Mariano mounted  a new horse and got back on the field.  Alvaro Tadeo took the penalty 3 shot for Mariano and scored the winning goal for Hanalei Bay!

Raita, owned by Chris Maloney and played by Gaston Von Wernich in the 3rd chukker, won Best Playing Pony of the USPA Rossmore Cup.

What a FINE Day!

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With over a thousand guests at the USPA Rossmore Cup presented by FINE Magazine, the charity, Kids Korps was sure to call it a success.  Silent Auction items included a signed guitar by the Rolling Stones and another by Paul McCartney, jewelry donated by CRUSH, artwork by Donna B and tons of other great items.  Kids from Kids Korps sold cupcakes and other goodies, while FINE Magazine guests enjoyed lunch and drinks in the VIP tent.

Special thanks to Jaguar Landrover of Carlsbad.  Liz Flowers, Suzanna Hoehn, and Maggie from Maggie B’s and Mister B’s.

Brittany Simpson and Leonard Simpson from KUSI’s Fashion Forward produced a stunning fashion show with over 40 models and 80 looks from local designers including Sharon Plache and Fairen Del.  Rouge did a fabulous job with make-up and hair.

In the feature match, Tritech/Princeps doned the jerseys of FINE Magazine and went up against team Monteverde.  Things started out slow in the first half of the match, but picked up the fourth chukker.  Gaston VonWernich had 6 goals that afternoon, Dirk Wray (subbing for Chris Maloney) had 2 and Ashton Wolf scored one, totaling 10 for FINE Magazine.

Matt Walker had 4 goals, Diego Cossio scored 2 in the 5th chukker, and David Samaniego scored one, totaling 7 for Monteverde.

Pink Army, a group of 3 teens from Kids Korps, performed pop-cover songs and rocked on stage for the Polo guests.  A DJ spun tunes shortly after the girls finished up.

Tritech/ Princeps wearing FINE Magazine jerseys
Alisha Wray (-1)
Ashton Wolf (3)
Gaston VonWernich (5)
Dirk Wray (0)
Total: 7 goals

Monteverde:
Ellen Greenhill (0)
Matt Walker (3)
Diego Cossio (4)
David Samaniego (0)
Total: 7 goals