Santa Rita wins first $100,000 World Cup at Grand Champions Polo Club

 Santa Rita led for most of the game to win its first $100,000 World Cup Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club.

The foursome of Paquito de Narvaez, Torito Ruiz, Juan Martin Zubia and Alejandro Novillo Astrada defeated Richard Mille, 16-14, for the richest prize purse in club history.

"We played very well and started working as a team and that made a big difference," Astrada said. "Every tournament is important to win. But this was special because you don't have many tournaments like this in the world."

Zubia, 21, was named Most Valuable Player. Zubia scored six goals including a 95-yarder and three penalty conversions. Matina, owned and played by Zubia in the third chukker, was selected American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony.

"Juan Martin played very well, hitting all of the penalties," Astrada said. "He was hitting the ball so well from the midfield. He had the confidence."

Richard Mille players Marc Ganzi, Jeta Castagnola, Poroto Cambiaso and Lolo Castagnola opened with a 1-0 lead on handicap.

Playing together for only the third time, Santa Rita quickly tied the game at 4-4 and went on to have at least a two-goal advantage for the rest of the game. Santa Rita led 13-9 after the fourth and 15-11 after the fifth chukkers.

"It's always a fun tournament to play because it's a handicap tournament and you have to give the advanage to the other team and that makes it more challenging for the higher handicap team," said Astrada, who also scored six goals.

Castagola scored a game-high seven goals, including four penalty conversions.

Astrada's three teammates were half his age including 13-year-old de Narvaez, making his high goal tournament debut. Astrada had played with de Narvaez in Aspen in September.

"You can always learn from everybody," Astrada said. "I was the one responsible for the tactics and noticing things to try to improve our team play. But they all had good ideas and one has to be open to new things. They can see things that you don't see."

The tournament was resurrected by Grand Champions owner and president Melissa Ganzi in 2017. It was last played at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in the 1990s.