It is not unusual to hear that the Argentines have the best polo horses. Admittedly, they have produced some amazing equine athletes, but so have the Americans. And in the most recent Argentine Open, the California-bred Chocolate proved that some American horses are even better then Argentine horse flesh. Carrying Adolfo Cambiaso to Triple Crown victory, Chocolate was honored with the Lady Susan Townley Cup for Best Horse in the Argentine Open final.

American Polo Horse founder Sunny Hale said, "When you look through the Argentine Open pony books, you can easily see the influence American horses have in some of the top players' strings, and in the bloodlines of some of the most popular stallions. Some of the most popular bloodlines appearing year after year [in Argentina] are Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, Riverman and Valid Expectations."

Chocolate does have some roots in Argentina. Joel Baker purchased a pretty bay mare from Michael Butler in the 1970s named Wisteria. The mare had come from the late 9-goaler Eduardo Moore. Butler bought her from Moore and shipped her to the U.S. for 7-goal New Zealander Stuart MacKenzie to play. Baker eventually bought her and she became one of his best horses in the late 1970s and early '80s. In fact, she was one of the horses shipped to Argentina to play in the 1979 Cup of the Americas. Wisteria is Chocolate's great grandmother.

Chocolate's mother was a Thoroughbred mare named Empress. Danny Juarez bought the young Thoroughbred mare before selling her to Brad Ramsby. Ramsby eventually sold her to Ken Berry, who played the mare for about 10 years.

Meanwhile, Russell Drake, the farm manager for River Edge Thoroughbred Farm, bought a young colt named Pascanell at a Thoroughbred sale. When the colt was 6 months old, he was sold to Baker. "He was a bit small, but very well bred," Baker wrote in an email. "[Drake] told me not to break him, but just use him for breeding. I went ahead and trained him for polo. He was one of [former wife] Oatsy's best horses when she was playing." Baker used the colt for breeding too. He became the sire of Morning Star, who would go on to be another of Baker's playing stallions.

Former 7-goaler Santiago Trotz got a chance to play both Morning Star and Empress and suggested Ken breed the two. "The stallion moved very nice when he played and had a very good head for a stallion," said Trotz. "I played Empress in the 20-goal in Santa Barbara. The way the mare moved was amazing. You could feel the difference immediately. And when ever I saw Ken play her, he always played much better."

Chocolate, born in June 2003, was broke by Berry's trainer Honorio Ramirez and Berry played him for three years before Trotz suggested selling him for high-goal polo. "I saw Ken playing him a half chukker and he played amazing. I asked if I could play him and Ken said sure. I played Chocolate one chukker and knew he was different. I told Ken he was like the mare—amazing," said Trotz. Berry initially didn't want to sell the horse, but Trotz convinced him when he told him he could get good money for the horse.

Trotz brokered the deal that sent him to Bob Jornayvaz's Valiente string. He had sold horses to Valiente before, so they knew him. He says he called up Nacho Novillo Astrada, who was working for Valiente, and told him he had a horse that was different than most others. "I played the horse for one month and knew the horse needed to play in the high goal. Nacho flew to Santa Barbara to try him. After playing him one chukker, he said, 'yes, this horse if different.'"

Jornayvaz said, "In the summer of 2010, Roberto Zedda, polo manager of the Valiente organization, noticed there was a talent in Chocolate and knew he would flourish within Valiente, and become a strong addition to the high-goal string. Chocolate was brought to Valiente, based in Denver, Colorado and began his training to become a champion."

Trotz says, "They took him to Florida and Miguel Novillo Astrada played him. He was one of his best horses. Last year, when Cambiaso came to play the U.S. Open, he picked six horses and Chocolate was one of them."

Cambiaso, who plays for Valiente in the U.S., asked Jornayvaz if he could take him to play in Argentina. Jornayvaz said they wanted to see if he could truly play at the highest level of polo played in the world. The brown gelding outperformed all the other horses on the field. Jornayvaz was on hand for the award presentation.

"I can't tell you how excited we were to be the first Americans to win the award (according to the record book) ... It is a pretty cool fact that Chocolate is an American-bred Thoroughbred, that we bought as a young playing horse, put it in our organization for four years, sent it to Argentina and it wins the Lady Townley Cup. We are very proud!" said Jornayvaz.

Baker said of the award, "Ken and I are very proud and grateful the great Adolfo Cambiaso recognized Chocolate's abilities and played him so well in the biggest game of the year. Not bad for a Santa Barbara County bred, raised and trained gelding."

Chocolate has a full brother that is with Trotz in Indio, California for the winter. "He moves the same as Chocolate, but is bigger. He is my best horse in California, but I have to use a 53½ mallet on him," said Trotz.

Meanwhile, according to Jornayvaz, Chocolate is at the J-5 Equestrian facility in Argentina, where he will remain for the 2014 Triple Crown.

When asked about cloning Chocolate Jornayvaz said, "Most likely—possibly in Argentina if we can get comfortable with quality control down there. If not, then definitely once he returns—so the answer is yes."

By Gwen Rizzo