While Lucchese didn't dominate the Santa Barbara Polo Club's 20-goal season like it had last year, it saved the best for last, winning the California club's season finale Pacific Coast Open over Piaget. With the addition of the USPA Silver Cup, the club's 100th season included four tough 20-goal tournaments battled out between up to six teams. Amazingly, four of the six teams went home with a win and a fifth, Piaget, was a finalist in two of the four events.

in the first event, the Beluga Robert Skene Trophy, four of the six teams competed. In a single-elimination, Audi edged Mansour while Piaget edged Grant's Farm to advance to the final. That made the final a family affair pitting husband (Audi's Marc Ganzi) against wife (Piaget's Melissa Ganzi). Audi's main player, 10-goal Gonzalo Pieres, hadn't arrived yet so the team played with Polito Pieres, added to Sugar Erskine, Lucas Lalor and Marc Ganzi. Joining Melissa Ganzi on Piaget was Juan Bollini, Lolo Castagnola and Jason Crowder.

Piaget began with a one-goal handicap and the teams traded goals back and forth in the first half, ending knotted at 6-all. Audi's Pieres and Erskine combined for a pair of unanswered goals in the fourth, which proved to be the difference. The teams again traded goals in the fifth and sixth, leaving Audi ahead by two at the bell. Lucas Lalor was named MVP and Melissa Ganzi's Carmel took Best Playing Pony.

After the match, Lalor mounted up again for an exhibition match with Moscow Polo's Radzianko family team against members of the club. Lalor and Alexis Radzianko, with son Mischa and daughter Anastasia lost to Matt Walker, Henry Walker, Glencito Holden, and Wesley Ru, splitting with Ken Berry, 5-4.

All six teams were in place for the start of the Silver Cup on July 22. Audi and Piaget were both on a roll and led their brackets in the Piaget Silver Cup. Piaget played ERG in the semifinal while Audi took on Lucchese. But Audi and Piaget's momentum ended in the semifinals when they were eliminated. The final had Lucchese carrying a slim 5- 4 lead after two periods until ERG pounded in four unanswered goals in the third to take an 8-5 halftime lead.

ERG blew the game wide open in the fourth with Sebastian Merlos and Paco de Narvaez controlling the ball around midfield, repeatedly sending passes to Miguelito Torres for goals. ERG brought more horses than any other team and were using them to its advantage. The team kept the match at a fast pace and chased down any offense drives by Lucchese. This strategy stopped Lucchese in its tracks in the last two periods.

Spectators aren't used to seeing Cambiaso beaten and when they do, it is usually by a slim margin, but ERG went on to win by a remarkable 16-7 score. Miguelito Torres was high-scorer in the game and took home the MVP trophy. Scott Wood's Carta Blanca, played by Paco de Narvaez, was Best Playing Pony.

As the Silver Cup was wrapping up, teams were already beginning the Lucchese America Cup. Lucchese, fully recovered from its Silver Cup loss, breezed into first place in its America Cup bracket, while Grants Farm took second place. ERG finished on top of its bracket, while Audi was second. Lucchese knocked Audi out again while Grants Farm sent ERG packing.

Lucchese faced Grants Farm in the final. Lucchese started out strong and looked like it would carry the day, but Grants Farm came storming back to end the first, and carried the momentum into the second. Lucchese struggled to get back in the game but Grant's Farm kept up the pressure. Grant's Farm extended its lead to four goals at the half.

Lucchese bounced back with a pair of penalty conversions early in the fourth, but Grants Farm scored to keep a three-goal lead. Both teams brought back their best horses in the fifth, leading to a 1-1 defensive stalemate. Grants Farm had a comfortable three-goal lead going into the sixth, but with Adolfo Cambiaso as its opponent, it knew it couldn't get complacent. Grants Farm added another goal but Lucchese answered with two quick goals. Grants Farm was determined not let its lead slip away, and managed to win key plays, including an amazing steal by Jeff Hall. Grants Farm managed to score two more goals to ensure the 13-9 victory.

Jeff Hall led all scorers with eight goals for Grants Farm, earning him MVP honors. His mare, Sparkle, was named Best Playing Pony.

The crown jewel of the season is the historic Pacific Coast Open trophy, played for since 1909. Sponsored by Bombardier, this year's tournament began on August 18. With the six teams divided into two brackets, each team played matches against each of the teams in the opposite bracket. After the playoff games, the two teams with the best records advanced to the semifinal, while the remaining teams played off for the other two semifinal spots.

In something more familiar in Baseball, before the games began, two of the teams made the unprecedented move of trading players. Piaget's Lolo Castagnola was traded to Mansour, while Mansour's Miguel Astrada put a Piaget jersey on. The move increased Piaget's handicap from 19 to 20. Piaget got to try out its new lineup in the first game against defending champion Lucchese, and it did well. Lucchese, too, had a replacement with Julio Gracida replacing an injured Juan Curbelo. Matching Lucchese goal for goal, a great shot by Melissa Ganzi in the fourth tied the score. Adolfo Cambiaso's two goals in the sixth sealed Piaget's fate, although Piaget managed to battle back to within one for a final score of 11-10.

Mansour also fared well with its new lineup as it edged ERG 14-13 to take its first win of the season. Mansour already had a lineup change after Jared Sheldon broke his collarbone in an America Cup match. He was replaced by Pedro Lara in some matches, and Remy Muller in others. Audi's lineup had changed after Sugar Erskine broke his leg. Carlos Gracida took Erskine's place and played well with the team. Audi came from behind to beat Grants Farm 17- 14 thanks to Gonzalo Pieres' 13 goals.

Once the playoff matches had been played, Audi had settled at the top, while Lucchese took second place. To determine the other two semifinalists, third place ERG took on sixth place Grants Farm while fourth place Piaget took on fifth place Mansour. Grants Farm and Mansour were eliminated while Piaget would face Audi and ERG would take on Lucchese in the semis.

In the first semifinal, Lucchese took an early lead but ERG clawed its way into the game. While Adolfo Cambiaso impressed the crowd with spectacular runs and almost supernatural ability, ERG's Sebastian Merlos showed some of the talent that led England to raise him to 10 goals. With Lucchese sporting a narrow lead, an ERG comeback fell short. With just 45 seconds left on the clock, Lucchese's Julio Gracida won the throw-in and headed to goal. Though the shot went wide, it chewed up valuable time leaving Lucchese ahead 16-15.

The next game had Melissa Ganzi's Piaget team facing Marc Ganzi's Audi team in a rematch of the Skene final. This time, however, Piaget jumped out to an early lead and was ahead 8-5 at the half. All of Audi's goals were Gonzalo Pieres penalty conversions. While the Audi offense was struggling, Piaget was working like a finelytuned machine. Piaget took the 15-10 win thanks in part to Jason Crowders eight goals. This put Piaget in the final against Lucchese, meaning Crowder would be facing last year's teammates.

The marine layer cleared out just in time for the start of the Pacific Coast Open final before a capacity crowd. Piaget wasted no time in getting to work as Astrada scored from the penalty line and Melissa Ganzi jumped on a poorly handled Lucchese clearing shot, and smoked the ball through the goal. Astrada scored again before Jeff Blake put Lucchese on the board.

After settling for runner-up in the previous two finals, Adolfo Cambiaso had seen enough. He took control of the throwins and before long Lucchese had reeled off four unanswered goals to take a 5-4 lead. Astrada, on a handy chestnut, danced his way around the field to add another goal and set Jason Crowder up for two more to tie the match at 7 at the half.

The defensive efforts of Lucchese's Blake and Piaget's Juan Bollini took a toll on the goal tally. A pass from Astrada to Ganzi gave Piaget a short-lived lead before Cambiaso responded with a goal and Blake tipped the scales with an open-goal penalty conversion.

The teams traded goals in the fifth, leaving Lucchese clinging onto a one-goal lead, and setting up a sixth-chukker showdown. The teams came out on their best horses and marked each other closely. Astrada was back on Chaleco, the handy chestnut he had played earlier in the game, while Cambiaso got back on Noriega, winner of numerous best playing pony awards. The action was intense but neither team was able to reach the goal. Piaget took possession of the ball but lost it in front of the grandstands just after the warning horn. With just 13 seconds remaining, Julio Gracida broke loose and sent the ball through the uprights, scoring the only goal of the last period, and securing the title for Lucchese.

Remarkably, the win meant Gracida was the third generation to have won the PCO. His maternal grandfather George Oliver won it with the Hurricanes in 1949, while his paternal grandfather Guillermo Gracida won it in 1965. Even more, Julio's father, Memo Gracida, won the PCO five times.

In this year's final Miguel Astrada's Chaleco was named Best Playing Pony while Adolfo Cambiaso took game MVP. Jeff Blake and Cambiaso were game high-scorers with five goals apiece. California native Jason Crowder took the Robert Skene MVP of the Season. In an interesting twist, last year Crowder was game MVP while Cambiaso was MVP of the Season.

The club's centennial season was exciting from start to finish. A royal visit kicked off the season, and the competition was as fierce as ever. An exciting Pacific Coast Open final between two strong teams was just icing on the 100th anniversary cake.

Wiley Uretz and Melanja Jones contributed to this story.