The November 11 final of the USPA U.S. Women's Open showcased some of the best women's polo in the world as San Saba faced off with a -F Pony Farm for the title. In an all-out battle for the only national-level USPA title in women's polo, Tiffany Busch led A-F Pony Farm to an exciting 6-5 overtime win over San Saba.

Lyos and Lockton made the USPA U.S. Women's Handicap final with the only two undefeated records during the week's elimination play, knocking out six other strong teams in the 2-goal division, many of which were headed up by big-stick pros, including Caroline Anier, Kristy Outhier and KC Krueger.

It's just so amazing," said MVP Tiffany Busch of A-F Pony Farm, following the win in the U.S. Women's Open, "I can't believe it." The match included eight of the world's best female players battling it out for bragging rights.

With an altered lineup that had Lia Salvo replacing the injured Abbey Riggs in the final, the A-F Pony Farm foursome took the field against San Saba's international powerhouse of French 2- goal Caroline Anier, Jamaican 2-goal Lesley Ann Masterton Fong-Yee, 1-goal captain in Dawn Jones and veteran 1-goal Clarissa Echezarreta.

The original team for A-F Pony Farm included California's Abbey Riggs, Aiken, South Carolina horse trainer and pro Karen Reese, up-and-coming 1.5-goal Tiffany Busch and former 2-goaler Dayelle Fargey from Canada.

San Saba's path to Sunday's final came at the expense of ERG (Crystal Cassidy, Cecelia Cochran, Ina Lalor and Mumy Bellande) in a 7-4 win, followed by another exciting win over defending champion Goose Creek (Maureen Brennan, Carin Middleton, Kristy Outhier and Sunny Hale). A-F Pony Farm's route to the final included a first-round bye, followed by a second-round loss to Goose Creek.

However, a key 8-7 win over a powerful BTA team (KC Krueger, Chrys Beal, Sheila Lequerica and Lia Salvo) in the semifinal round allowed A-F to sneak into the final. In the fourth chukker of the semifinal, Abbey Riggs received a knee injury in a hard ride-off and was forced to sit out of the last game. Argentine 2-goaler Lia Salvo, who played for BTA, filled in for her, and the rest is history.

San Saba and A-F Pony Farm battled back and forth throughout the 1 p.m. Sunday final, with the two teams leaving the field after the first two chukkers of play ended in a 3-3 tie.

It was very even," said Tiffany Busch. "It was constantly back and forth. They were up by a goal, we were up by a goal, then we were tied; it was brutal–-a very physical match."

San Saba took a 5-4 lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation play, before Lia Salvo broke through to score the tying goal and force overtime. The two teams returned to the field for the overtime period and played just over two minutes when Tiffany Busch drove a well-executed neckshot through the goalposts for the win.

Immediately following the 6-goal final, Reese and Busch got right back out on the field with Lockton sponsors Courtney Price and Rebecca Bollenbach in the final of the 2-goal USPA U.S. Women's Handicap. Lockton faced off against Reese and Busch's teammate from the 6- goal, Fargey, who was teamed with the Lyos MD sponsor Beverly Greenwood and Team USPA members Tiamo Hudspeth and Stephanie Massey.

Lyos MD defeated Lockton 7-3 in another physical four-chukker match that entertained the Houston Polo Club crowd, in full force with over 1,000 guests. Lyos and Lockton made the USPA U.S. Women's Handicap final with the only two undefeated records during the week's elimination play, knocking out six other strong teams in the 2-goal division, many of which were headed up by bigstick pros, including Caroline Anier, Kristy Outhier and KC Krueger.

After all of the practices and games this week in both divisions, both horses and players are physically and mentally exhausted, not to mention pretty bruised up, but the win makes it worth it all," said Reese, after eight back-to-back chukkers in the finals.

With the girls shipping horses back home, Tiffany Busch headed back to Florida where she had a brief rest before joining Melissa Ganzi, Gillian Johnston and Sunny Hale to play against a 7-goal English women's lineup on Sunday, November 25 at Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington.

Reese headed back to Aiken for winter polo and Fargey and Riggs went to California and Argentina to continue their winter seasons. The U.S. Open pros from all of the teams are likely candidates to show up in Wellington's WCT Finals in April, which merges the high-goal season with top-shelf women's polo.

The USPA U.S. Open Women's Polo Championship also marked a historic starting point for Sunny Hale's American Polo Horse Association's efforts to formally recognize the use of American Quarter Horses in polo through an awards program. George Georgiades, president of the Houston Polo Club, helped to present the Special Recognition awards to Hickory's Dollanna, a registered American Quarter Horse played by Goose Creek's Carin Middleton in the women's U.S. Open and owned by Colleen Marks.

For the Sunday fans, Lucchese Boot Co., the Western boot maker, shipped in hundreds of boots for a special trunk show held during the finals. Lucchese joined Range Rover, St. Regis Hotels, Hendrick's Gin and several other corporate sponsors in supporting the week-long event.

In addition to lots of action on the polo field, all 67 participants in the tournament enjoyed Texas hospitality, including two cocktail parties, an asado, gift bags, team jackets and prizes for each team, in every division. For all of the teams not resting up for Sunday's finals, a late night of celebration was in store at the consolation finals western party, complete with dummy steer roping and a tough mechanical bull.

This week was a great mix of competitive polo and camaraderie," said Melanja Jones, manager at Santa Barbara Polo Club, who traveled in to play in the 2-goal division. "The Houston Polo Club really goes all out for this week. I'm heading back to Santa Barbara with a lot of enthusiasm to keep growing women's polo on the West Coast."

The event's host club, the Houston Polo Club, was founded in 1928 and has become one of the largest USPA clubs in the nation. The club hosts 0- through 14- goal polo tournaments during the fall and spring seasons. HPC is also a recognized USPA Regional Polo Center and provides a full-service polo school, junior polo events and year-round boarding and riding lessons.

The USPA established the RPC program as a network of the most prominent polo centers around the country that train polo players, umpires, managers and others. They also support other clubs nearby and provide resources in an effort to enhance USPA membership.

–– by Rebecca Bollenbach
PHOTOS BY KAYLEE SCHERBINSKI
Alex Webbe contributed
to this article.