Tag archives: polo

The Santa Barbara Polo Club is delaying the start of its 109th season, which was scheduled to kick off on May 1, because of the coronavirus. Instead, the hotly anticipated initial equestrian event, the Folded Hills Pope Challenge, has been rescheduled for May 15, with the 12-goal schedule continuing through July 5. “The club is […]

It was the battle of the bridled behemoths at the Santa Barbara Polo Club when former president Dan Walker‘s Farmers & Merchants Bank team took on current president Texan tycoon John Muse‘s Lucchese team for the 110-year-old Silver Air Pacific Coast Open trophy, the most prestigious tournament on the Left Coast. With a record 4,000 […]

It was a record turnout when the Santa Barbara Polo Club held its annual Belmond El Encanto Robert Skene Trophy final between undefeated BenSoleimani.com, last year’s runners up, and banker Henry Walker‘s FMB Too! Henry tied the game with only a few minutes of the hotly contested 16-goal match remaining. Just as overtime loomed, Felipe […]

Polo patron Justin Klentner and his interior designer wife Amanda Masters opened the doors of Klentner Ranch, their sprawling Carpinteria estate, for a 160-guest Summer Social fundraiser for the Polo Training Center of Santa Barbara, which was expected to raise around $100,000 to support activities and upgrade the facility’s training arena, including lighting for nighttime […]

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more bubbly and enthusiastic supporter of Old Spanish Days Fiesta than Barbara Carroll, a Santa Barbara native who serves as a litigation attorney for a prestigious local firm when she’s not busy shouting “Viva La Fiesta!” for the better part of a week in mid-summer. Which is good news […]

It was a first for the Santa Barbara Polo Club when the Lucchese USPA Intra-Circuit Tournament was played at the Carpinteria equestrian paradise with six teams competing for the much sought after trophy, as well as $50,000 in prize money. “This has certainly never happened before,” says club manager David Sigman. “The United States Polo […]

Having launched her official Santa Barbara Polo Club ring to reflect the long history of the Pacific Coast Open last year, the Carpinteria organization’s official jeweler Tara Gray, a former Miss Alabama, has designed a completely new ring for the 2019 season. The latest bling has a new round face featuring 110 natural fancy black […]

How ironic that rain impacted on a tournament at the Santa Barbara Polo Club sponsored by a water company. But that was the case when it staged the KOPU Lisle Nixon Memorial match, underwritten by KOPU Sparkling Water, a New Zealand company owned by Montecito twosome Justin and Mindy Mahy. Dire weather predictions meant the […]

Lindsay Cortina is the new president of The Junior League of Santa Barbara replacing Kielle Horton after a one-year term. Cortina joined the league six years ago and has served in numerous leadership roles. She is also director of organizational initiatives at Sansum Clinic, where she oversees the implementation of strategic projects and programs aimed […]

With news that Prince Harry, wife Meghan, and newly-born son, Archie, might possibly be purchasing a second home in Los Angeles, the rumor mill has been running at full throttle. The polo-playing Duke of Sussex participates regularly with Santa Barbara Polo Club player, Nacho Figueras, the Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model, who competes on the […]

The fields are impeccably groomed, the horses are ready, and the best of the best competitors are heading to our rarefied enclave for the hotly anticipated opening of the Santa Barbara Polo Club’s 108th season on May 5. The season at the Engel & Volkers stadium will feature an exhilarating summer of action-packed tournaments and […]

More than 20 student artists were honored by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara during a presentation and reception at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, with each of them receiving a $2,500 scholarship and their artwork exhibited in the museum’s Family Resource Center. “Much of their work reveals a remarkable maturity and sureness of […]

Social gridlock reigned when tony twosome, Pat and Ursula Nesbitt, threw a heaving holiday bash at Bella Vista, their sprawling Summerland polo ranch. More than 150 guests were welcomed to the bustling beano, catered by the Biltmore, by ballerinas from the Luminario company in Los Angeles, while the Lois Mahalia Choir entertained with gospel and […]

Santa Barbara Polo Club player and Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras has praised his good friend Prince Harry for his “realness” and says Queen Elizabeth‘s 35-year-old grandson is “serious about improving life for kids” who’ve not had the same advantages in life. Argentinian Nacho, 42, tells Town & Country magazine: “What I like most […]

After 33 years as controller at the Santa Barbara Polo Club, Debby Bernal is riding off into the sunset. Debby, who is being replaced by Susie Banda-Avila, was presented with an undisclosed check to be used for her forthcoming world travels by club manager, David Sigman, at the recent Fire and Ice gala. Storied Pasts […]

In last week’s Montecito Miscellany, we mistakenly left out Gonzalo Sarmiento from the photo’s caption, which should have included Mr. Sarmiento. Many apologies. Mulling Mueller Matters There are certain areas of the Mueller investigation that could be very disturbing when his report comes out later this month. As a former FBI director, does Mr. Mueller […]

It was running hot and cold when the Santa Barbara Polo Club hosted a sold-out Fire and Ice party. More than 185 guests scoffed and bopped the night away when temperatures dropped into the 50s, the winds blew and the rain, briefly, poured. Fortunately a tent, with heat lamps, had been erected a few feet […]

High-goal season at the Santa Barbara Polo Club ended on a soaringly high note when longtime patron Justin Klentner‘s Klentner Ranch team hoisted the 109-year-old Silver Air Pacific Coast Open trophy, the most prestigious tournament on the Left Coast, for the first time. Although Justin, who has had his team for six years, was unable […]

Santa Barbara Polo Club’s hallowed Holden Field was turned into an outdoor planetarium when it threw an Under the Stars bash for 200 guests with organizers from the local 63-year-old astronomical unit, part of the Natural History Museum, which does 200 events annually showing off the stars above, just two days before a full moon. […]

Montecito has always been an integral part of the Santa Barbara Studio Artists (SBSA) Open Studios tour. But not so much this year. The annual Labor Day weekend event when local artists who are members of the organization welcome guests into their working home studios or off-site locations has just one site for visitors to […]