Faces of Polo – Facundo Pieres

From a well-known polo-playing family, 10-goaler Facundo Pieres is currently the No. 2-ranked player in the world, according to Polo World Tour. The talented Argentine continues to dazzle the crowd with his expert stickwork and horsemanship. In 2017, Pieres won the British Open with King Power Foxes, the Sotogrande Gold Cup with Ayala and the Hurlingham Open with Ellerstina. He played the 26-goal season at the International Polo Club last year with Orchard Hill, coming just one goal away from victory, falling to Valiente 13-12 in overtime. He scored 105 goals in 16 games last season at IPC and went 56 for 73 in penalty shots. Pieres is currently slated to start the 2018 season playing in the 20-goal season on the Sonny Hill team.

Faces of Polo – Matias Torres Zavaleta

Argentine 6-goaler Matias Torres Zavaleta went all the way last season at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, achieving polo’s elusive Triple Crown with his Valiente teammates. Along with the legendary Adolfo Cambiaso, Diego Cavanagh and patron Bob Jornayvaz, Zavaleta ran the table on IPC’s 26-goal tournaments in 2017, winning the C.V. Whitney Cup, the USPA Gold Cup and the U.S. Open Polo Championship. Zavaleta’s contributions in the U.S. Open final earned him MVP honors. Zavaleta scored 40 goals across 14 games at IPC last season and went 7 for 8 on penalty shots. Zavaleta heads back to Wellington after a busy off season, which included a stop at the inaugural Colorado Open Polo Tournament in August.

Faces of Polo – Alfredo Cappella

Alfredo Cappella, a 9-goaler from El Trebol, Argentina, was in the United States last winter to play in the U.S. Open Polo Championship at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. He was on the Travieso team with Teo Calle, Sebastian Merlos and Mariano Gonzalez. Cappella played in the No. 4 position. The team had a great run, making it all the way to the semifinals, where Travieso fell to eventual tournament winner Valiente. Cappella was a key player in the team’s 12-10 quarterfinal victory over Coca-Cola. Also last season, Cappella made it to the finals of the Dubai Gold Cup with the Abu Dhabi team.

Faces of Polo – Julio Arellano

At 8 goals, Julio Arellano is one of the highest-rated American polo players. A lifelong player, Arellano has anchored Gillian Johnston’s Coca-Cola team for years. Now in his 40s, he has won the U.S. Open Polo Championship no less than three times and is known as a pressure player. His team won the Ylvisaker Cup at the International Polo Club Palm Beach last season, and Coca-Cola made it to the final match of the USPA Gold Cup before falling to Valiente. He also took part in the inaugural season of Gladiator Polo, the new arena polo series in Wellington. He will be back in action for Coca-Cola during IPC’s 20-goal series.

Faces of Polo – Sebastian Merlos

Sebastian Merlos is one of the few elite polo players in the world to achieve the coveted 10-goal ranking. Currently playing as a 9-goaler, he has captured the titles of every major tournament in more than 18 countries. He counts three U.S. Opens at the International Polo Club Palm Beach among his successes, as well as victories at the British Open and the Argentine Open. Merlos has a fierce passion for horses, making him one of the strongest horsemen playing polo today. Merlos played for Travieso in 2017, making it all the way to the semifinals of the U.S. Open with teammates Teo Calle, Mariano Gonzalez and Alfredo Capella before falling to eventual champion Valiente. He will be back in action on Travieso for the 20-goal season at IPC.

Faces of Polo – “Sapo” Caset Jr.

Argentine 10-goaler Guillermo “Sapo” Caset Jr. was riding by age five, hitting a polo ball around the field. During his teenage years, he quickly soared from a 1-goal handicap to a 6-goal handicap. By 2011, Caset had established himself as one of the best players in the world, reaching the coveted 10-goal rating. Polo runs in his family; his father held a 7-goal handicap. Last year, Caset competed in the Hurlingham Open Final with Alegria and the Deauville Gold Cup Semifinal with Talandracas. He played at the International Polo Club Palm Beach last season with Jeff Hildebrand, Facundo Obregon and his cousin, Costi Caset, on the Tonkawa team, advancing to the final match of the Ylvisaker Cup. He will be back in action with Tonkawa in 2018.

Faces of Polo – Mike Azzaro

American polo star and former 10-goaler Mike Azzaro has won the U.S. Open eight times. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013. Azzaro opened last season winning the Joe Barry Memorial Cup as a member of La Indiana with Michael Bickford, Jeff Hall and Gringo Colombres at the International Polo Club. Azzaro participated last year in the inaugural season of Gladiator Polo, the new Wellington league leading a resurgence in the sport of arena polo. Azzaro played on Team Crixus with Santi Torres and Matias Magrini, making it all the way to the final match. Most recently, Azzaro won the USPA National 20-Goal Tournament as a member of Casablanca with teammates Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini and Jeff Blake in November.

INTERNATIONAL POLO CLUB Welcomes Eyes Of The Polo World With Start Of 2018 High-Goal Season

Polo enthusiasts descend upon Wellington each winter season to enjoy the sport at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, the premier polo destination in the world, hosting the largest field of high-goal teams and the most prestigious polo tournaments in the United States.

The 2018 season opens on Sunday, Dec. 31, and will conclude 16 weeks later with the USPA 114th U.S. Open Polo Championship final on Sunday, April 22. Polo matches are open to the public, with a wide range of hospitality and guest seating, including elegant grandstand viewing, field tailgating, stadium seating, field-side champagne brunch and exclusive sponsor boxes.

In the spring of 2016, Wellington Equestrian Partners, the managing entity of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, home of the Winter Equestrian Festival and the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, announced the acquisition of IPC, transforming and expanding the group’s massive portfolio in Wellington.

“We’re thrilled with the progress we’ve made since acquiring IPC in 2016 and feel that we’re providing an expanded platform for the sport of polo, not just in Wellington during the winter season, but around the world,” said Mark Bellissimo, managing partner of Wellington Equestrian Partners. “The upgrades that we’ve made to this point are just a small piece of the ultimate footprint that we’d like to leave at IPC and for the sport of polo.”

IPC draws the attention of the polo world during the winter months, and the 2018 season is expected to be one of the largest yet, welcoming players and teams from around the country and the globe to South Florida for one of the most competitive succession of tournaments, highlighted by the 114th U.S. Open during the month of April.

IPC will once again serve as the social center of activity each Sunday, offering attendees numerous hospitality options and prime viewing opportunities for some of the best polo matches of the season.

To enjoy polo in style, the luxurious brunch in the Veuve Clicquot Pavilion is back this season featuring delicious breakfast and lunch options, a full bar, and field-side seating on the patio. Guests will also have exclusive access to a meet-and-greet with some of the world’s favorite polo players throughout the afternoon in the Pavilion. Each week, a different pair of players will be available for photos and autographs. The fun continues after the match at the Pavilion After Party. Live entertainment and cocktails will be served to celebrate the winning team.

For the ultimate VIP experience, guests can purchase tickets to the Coco Polo Lounge, presented by Seminole Casino Coconut Creek. Each ticket includes seating at a front-row table, exclusive field-side lounge seating, a lavish gourmet brunch, a complimentary specialty cocktail, a gift bag, celebrity meet-and-greets, expedited valet entry and more.

General admission is also offered for all of the Sunday afternoon games and includes access to all the favorite food and drink options. The fun-filled Kids Zone will return for children to enjoy each Sunday afternoon. Bounce houses, games, face painting and more will be available to any child attending the 3 p.m. match. Multiple shopping options are also accessible to all spectators while they are on site Sunday behind the stadium. During half time, everyone is invited onto the field for a complimentary glass of champagne and ice cream — and, of course, to stomp some divots.

IPC offers a collection of nine polo fields accumulating 248 acres of pristine land, as well as a main grandstand, croquet facility, meeting and breakout rooms, 7,000 square feet of indoor usable floor space, a private health club, a pool, tennis courts and sufficient parking options. In addition, the facility has proven to be an ideal site for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, rugby and a variety of other sports. Just last June, IPC was selected as the Large Market Sports Venue of the Year by the Florida Sports Foundation. The Palm Beach County Sports Commission has utilized the venue to host some of the largest sporting events in the nation, including the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) National Games, USA Field Hockey’s National Hockey Festival, the Florida United Lacrosse Cup Series – Palm Beach Blast and the Florida Draw Lacrosse Classic.

Several updates have been made to the facility in order to improve the game of polo and continue IPC’s tradition of distinction. Five of the playing fields, including the main Engel & Völkers Field, have undergone major renovations in recent months.

Each of the fields were sprigged with a one-of-a-kind strain of durable Bermuda grass, which will lengthen longevity and durability. These characteristics of field grass are crucial when hosting high-goal polo for a prolonged season and will benefit both the players and the venue looking ahead.

In addition to improving the grass fields, IPC has also begun developing a new field surface that will create high availability and dramatically lower relative cost of ownership per polo practice. The special mixture of sand, felt, fiber and a unique binding agent allows for a safe surface for players and horses, while reducing cupping and divots created by horses’ movement that may impede the travel of a traditional grass polo ball.

This approach has the potential to offset limited field access and the high cost of renting practice fields.

“This innovation is not intended to replace grass polo fields, but rather provide an option for a renewable, high-availability practice environment on a regulation-size field, which allows practice at game speed,” Bellissimo explained.

Guests are welcome to visit the International Polo Club throughout the week to watch qualifying matches on the backfields. These matches offer a more laid-back experience to see some of the world’s top polo teams compete before the main match on Sunday. Whether one prefers a low-key match during the week or Sunday’s impressive 3 p.m. featured stadium game, IPC has options for all levels of polo enthusiasts.

For more information about the International Polo Club Palm Beach, visit www.internationalpoloclub.com or call (561) 204-5687.

Major Sponsors Bring Visibility And Support To Polo At IPC

Each year, as the high-goal polo season swings into gear at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, the venue highlights a large group of committed sponsors, each aiming to help grow the reach and expansion of the sport, and preserve the tradition of polo in South Florida during the winter months.

As one of the most popular and exclusive social scenes on the weekend for players, spectators and other polo enthusiasts, sponsors of the high-goal season reap extraordinary benefits, both for their own brand visibility and engagement with the fun-loving and energetic audience base of polo.

Katherine Bellissimo of Wellington Equestrian Partners, the ownership entity of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, managed by her husband, Mark Bellissimo, oversees the sponsorship and marketing efforts at IPC during the intense winter season and is committed to broadening the sponsorship opportunities for lifestyle and commercial brands at the venue.

“Sponsorship support is a key component in the success we’ve experienced to this point at IPC and is something that our team focuses on tremendously throughout the year leading up to high-goal competition,” Bellissimo said. “It’s an incredible market for sponsors to activate and display their brands, as we see thousands of spectators at IPC from December through April each year. We manage one of the largest sponsorship portfolios for equestrian sport at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and are confident that we will be able to do the same with polo over the coming years.”

Following suit with many of the major professional sporting league trends, corporate sponsorship deals continue to have a major influence on the prominence and distinction in the sports sector and industry, helping brands reach new target audiences and provide unparalleled experiences for fans and attendees.

“Sponsorship, in general, has to be a very forward-thinking department in terms of what we can offer or provide that will give these brands and businesses the most reward or success in reaching their target audiences,” Bellissimo explained. “We’re incredibly thankful to all of the sponsors that we’ve seen step up since we acquired IPC and are looking forward to the future of polo thanks to their continued support.”

As brands and businesses look for new creative ways to tap into new and pre-existing audiences, one thing remains certain: sports and sporting events provide a unique gateway for fan engagement and recognition, the ultimate key to a successful sponsorship. With a trifecta of opportunity, including audiences attending the Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, the Adequan Global Dressage Festival at Equestrian Village and the continued expansion at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, corporate sponsorship at equestrian events in Wellington will continue to thrive.

This year, IPC will welcome the following sponsors to the venue for the 2018 season: AIG Private Client Group; Engel & Völkers, Amy Carr and Carol Sollak; Goldmund; Hinkley Yachts; Lugano Diamonds; the Michelle Farmer Collaborative; NetJets; Rosenbaum PLLC; Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, featuring the Coco Polo Lounge; Socapri; the United States Polo Association; U.S. Polo Assn.; Veuve Clicquot; The Wall Street Journal; and the Wanderers Club.

Polo competition will begin this season on Sunday, Dec. 31, and continue through Sunday, April 22, featuring some of the best polo in the world throughout the duration of the three-month tournament season, concluding with the prestigious 114th U.S. Open Final. General admission tickets are available for grandstand seating at every match on Sunday. Pavilion brunch seating and Coco Polo Lounge tickets are also available for purchase at www.internationalpoloclub.com.

For more information about the International Polo Club Palm Beach, or to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, visit www.internationalpoloclub.com.

GLADIATOR POLO Returns to Wellington Bigger and Better in January 2018

Last year’s inaugural Gladiator Polo season took Wellington by storm, ushering in a new era of arena polo and offering an additional evening of equestrian entertainment during the popular winter circuit.

Gladiator Polo is a re-energized form of traditional arena polo, which pits teams of three against each other in an “ice hockey-like” environment, where play of the boards is encouraged and the fast-paced nature of the game captivates spectators and fans alike.

The brainchild of Mark Bellissimo, managing partner of the Wellington Equestrian Partners, which oversees the ownership and management of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, home of the Winter Equestrian Festival, the Adequan Global Dressage Festival at Equestrian Village, and the Wanderers Club, Gladiator Polo seemed to be a surefire way of re-engaging polo fans and introducing the sport to an entirely new spectator group on Thursday and Friday evenings at Equestrian Village on South Shore Blvd.

“It has always been our intention with Gladiator Polo to engage fans and spectators on a global scale. Gladiator Polo can become a tremendous catalyst in promoting interest in the sport of polo and equestrian sport as a whole,” Bellissimo said. “The fan base and support we’ve seen surrounding Gladiator Polo motivated us to expand the reach of the game so we can interact with a broader audience around the world and ultimately offer an opportunity to provide enormous exposure for the sport.”

The response to the inaugural season was incredible. Thousands of fans flocked to Equestrian Village on the first evening game in January to watch the action unfold live.

Themed by the ancient Roman era in 2017, Gladiator Polo featured four teams during the inaugural season: Team Spartacus, Team Priscus, Team Spiculus and Team Crixus, each named after famous gladiator figures from antiquity.

The teams played for an ultimate purse of $250,000, the largest prize money offering known in modern day polo in the final match of the season. Team Spiculus ultimately captured the top title in 2017, using the teamwork of Sebastian Merlos, Mariano Obregon and Pelon Escapite to outplay opponent Team Spartacus to take home the largest cut of the massive check.

The game of arena polo is traditionally played in a 300-foot-by-150-foot arena on packed footing, helping the ball to move quickly across the playing surface, but also allowing fans to sit close to the action and experience the game like never before.

This season, Gladiator Polo will once again return to Wellington during the winter season as the perfect accompaniment to traditional field polo hosted at the International Polo Club Palm Beach on Sundays from December through April.

This year’s Gladiator Polo season will feature 13 league games followed by another high-dollar final match at the end of the season in April. The number of teams in the Gladiator Polo league will also expand in 2018, increasing from last year’s four to a total of eight teams.

Following a successful debut in Wellington, Gladiator Polo transitioned to a summer home hosted at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina, sister venue to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, where once again the derivative of arena polo was met with immense enthusiasm. More than 10,000 fans attended the inaugural match in June, before returning for the Gladiator Polo Fall Series at the venue, which hosted four weeks of competition in September.

“We were thrilled with the support and engagement of the fans and spectators surrounding Gladiator Polo this year, and thoroughly impressed with the level of play we saw across the board from each of the participating players,” Bellissimo said. “Our goal is to expand this game on both a national and international level and feel that these players and this atmosphere translates well anywhere in the world. We’re looking forward to the future of this game and are eager to unveil a re-energized version of the series in 2018 in Wellington.”

Gladiator Polo Manager Gates Gridley is eagerly anticipating the start of the 2018 season and is confident that the play and intensity of the second season will entice more spectators to become involved with the sport.

With its fast-paced nature and simplicity of regulations and rules, Gridley believes that Gladiator Polo is the perfect introduction to the sport of polo that can help bring a broader spectator audience base to the game, not just on a national level, but also on a global scale.

“It has been very clear from the response and popularity that we’ve experienced to this point that the future of Gladiator Polo is very bright,” Gridley said. “Fans love the action, the players love the pace of the game, and I think it checks a lot of boxes for people wanting to experience something new in Wellington during the winter. The expansions that we have planned for the upcoming 2018 season will be major, and we feel that it will only help to broaden the platform the sport provides. We’re incredibly excited.”

The first match of Gladiator Polo’s season in Wellington will take place in the beginning of January and continue through the peak season, with a final in April. For more information about Gladiator Polo, visit www.gladiatorpolo.com.