Welcome Polo Tournaments U.S. Open Polo Championship™ Social Calendar Facilities Corporate Partners News Location Tickets Contact Us CATAMOUNT DEFEATS BENDABOUT 13-10 TO CAPTURE JOE BARRY MEMORIAL TITLE AT INTERNATIONAL POLO CLUB PALM BEACH January 27, 2004 WELLINGTON, Florida - Less than three months before the start of the 2004 high-goal season, Carlos Gracida suffered a serious shoulder injury. He didn’t know how it would affect his career. Gracida and Mike Azzaro combined for 11 goals to lead Catamount over Bendabout 13-10 to capture the 22-goal Joe Barry Memorial tournament championship (January 11), earning the first high-goal championship at the new International Polo Club Palm Beach. “Playing in the Joe Barry, it’s very, very special for me,” said Gracida. “It (the shoulder dislocation) was really bad, one of the worst injuries you could have in polo. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play polo again. If I had surgery, it was going to be the whole year out; (at least) six, seven months. So for to me to be playing polo and win, this is a special feeling.” Azzaro, one of only two Americans playing with a 10-goal handicap, led the winners with six goals. Gracida finished with five goals, including two in the crucial fifth chukker when Catamount extended its lead from 8-7 to 11-8. Catamount, which had outscored its opponents 49-29 in the four previous games coming into the final, took a 7-3 halftime lead. Bendabout dominated the fourth chukker as Miguel Novillo Astrada and his younger brother, Alejandro, scored two goals each to cut the margin to 8-7. That was as close as Bendabout got. “What happens is when you come out and dominate a team so strong the first half, you lose your momentum,” said Azzaro. “You get a little relaxed and a great team is going to take advantage of that. And they did. And we just had to pick it back up to take the lead back.” Catamount quickly regrouped and controlled the final two chukkers, outscoring Bendabout 5-3 and never letting them get closer than two goals. Gracida said the difference was the horses. “In the fourth chukker, for example, we’re winning 7-3,” said Gracida. “In the fourth chukker, I play a horse that plays badly and Mike (Azzaro) plays a horse that plays badly. And when I came back in the fifth chukker, I played Medalla, who I played in the first.” Gracida, who scored three of his five goals on Medalla, purchased her three years ago from Oscar Bermudez. “She flies. She is one of the fastest horses in polo,” said Gracida. Despite the sometimes heavy rain showers before and during the first half, the game went off without a hitch. “It was an awesome game, “ said Azzaro. “Our team is a machine. They’re (Bendabout) very tough competition that we played against but we had pretty much control of the game from the beginning…it was just a matter of time before we took full control of the game. “The team (Catamount) is solid. We don’t have any flaws where we’re weak that teams can really take advantage of us. We kept pushing and pushing and trying and that team (Bendabout) is a tough team. They have the two Astradas, they’re brothers that have played together their whole lives and they’re great players. And Gillian Johnston is the toughest girl player there is. She’s as tough as most of the guys. She’s awesome.” Miguel Novillo Astrada, in his first season as a 10-goaler, led Bendabout with five goals. Alejandro, who played above his 5-goal handicap, finished with three goals and patron Gillian Johnston added one goal. Catamount patron Scott Devon and 15-year-old Ulysses Escapite, playing in his first high-goal tournament, scored one goal apiece. Escapite, who played a significant role during the tournament, had his handicap raised from 0 to 2 goals because of the monster rule and was replaced in the season’s second tournament. At 3 goals, Devon was the highest-rated patron in the 11-team tournament. He scored 13 goals, the team’s second leading scorer in the four games leading up to the final. “I’m very happy for him (Devon). He deserves it,” said Azzaro. “It’s a matter of determination and dedication. He’s dedicating his season to win this season. He’s here (in Wellington), he’s training, he’s hired two top professionals. “We teach him every single day and I stable at (his) barn, so we’re riding and working together every single day. And that makes all the difference in the world. When you come in and listen to your professionals and train under those conditions, you’re going to excel. And he’s doing it all the way.” In the semifinals, Catamount defeated Brigadoon 12-8 and Bendabout eliminated Crab Orchard 13-8. “They just beat us,” said Bendabout’s No. 4 Boone Stribling. “They beat every team in the tournament by five or six goals and we came within three goals. They’ve been stomping everybody.” The tournament is named after American polo legend Joe Barry, who died on May 18, 2002 at the age of 58. Born and raised in Texas, he achieved a 9-goal rating and dominated polo in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Barry won six U.S. Open championships, three Gold Cups, three Silver Cups as well as the Coronation and Camacho Cup trophies. Barry was a teammate of Carlos Gracida’s on the 1980 championship USPA Gold Cup team and they reached the US Open finals twice. One of the greatest No. 4s in polo history, Barry was elected to the Polo Hall of Fame in 1999. In addition to coming back from the shoulder injury, the tournament meant a lot to Gracida because of his relationship with Joe Barry. “My first high-goal tournament I ever won was with Joe Barry,” said Gracida, referring to Retama’s International Open victory at Palm Beach Polo in 1980. “So we go back a long, long way. To play No. 1 with him was a pleasure. I was one of the luckiest guys in polo, playing at the right time because I played No. 1 with a guy who hits the ball the longest.” Azzaro had known Barry and the family for many years. “Joe was a great friend, more than anything he was a great friend,” said Azzaro. “He coached the Isla Carroll team the last two years I was playing with Isla Carroll. Joe would have loved (the final). He would have loved to have been out here watching us play and supporting us. He was a great guy. It’s a big loss to polo, but his legend will carry on.”