Kaia is making a name for itself on the Wellington Polo Tour.
Named after patron Larry Austin’s Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kaia held off a late rally by Flying H to win the prestigious Iglehart Cup, the third stop of the Wellington Polo Tour’s 16-goal season.
The foursome of Larry Austin, Lucas Criado Jr., Victorino “Torito” Ruiz Jorba, and Joao Souza Aranha defeated Flying H (Will Johnston, Antonio Aguerre, Miguel Novillo Astrada Jr., Miguel Novillo Astrada), 13-10, and qualified for the April 12 National Polo Center 16-Goal Championship. Kaia finished the tournament with a 6-0 record.
Ruiz Jorba swept game honors. He scored a game-high nine goals to earn Most Valuable Player honors. His horse, Tres Montes Tarma, was Best Playing Pony. The Best Polo Argentino Bred was Magica, played by Miguel Novillo Astrada.
Kaia and Flying H took turns with the lead until the third chukker when Kaia outscored Flying H, 3-0 and took a 7-3 halftime lead. Kaia never relinquished the lead in the second half despite Flying H flirting with a comeback on the penalty line.
Before Austin named his current team after his dog, his first polo team, Zuma Polo, was named after his first Rhodesian Ridgeback.
“They are fast, graceful animals with a gait similar to a horse so I thought it was very fitting for a polo team,” Austin said.
Austin played polo for 18 years before taking a 10-year break after his son was born. He returned to playing in November 2021 at Grand Champions Polo Club, where he earned two MVP honors and also competed in the 26-goal World Polo League.
The Iglehart Cup featured 13 teams and 31 games held at various fields in Wellington. Next up is the Outback Cup, the fourth and final tournament of the series currently under way with 12 teams.
The Iglehart Cup is a national 12- to 16-goal tournament named in honor of Hall of Famer Philip L.B. Iglehart, a Chilean-American polo player. Traditionally held as a stand-alone USPA-sanctioned tournament in Wellington, the Iglehart Cup joined the ranks as a national tournament in 2023.
Iglehart was one of the co-founders of the Museum of Polo, once a dream and now reality. Iglehart, who reached seven goals, won the 1953 U.S. Open among his numerous major victories, and played a key role in the success of Meadowbrook and Gulfstream Polo Clubs.
Iglehart was introduced to polo from a young age as a boy at the Aiken Preparatory School in South Carolina and later at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire and Yale University. He left polo after graduation to pursue a business career. He was already rated 7-goals and after a 20-year hiatus returned to reclaim his old rating, which he held for 13 years.
Some of Iglehart’s accomplishments include a U.S. Open Polo Championship (1953), leadership at Meadowbrook Polo Club in Medford, N.Y., and the creation of the now defunct Gulfstream Polo Club in Lake Worth.
Iglehart, inducted in 1993, is not only a Hall of Famer but bears one of the Hall of Fame’s highest honors in his name. The Philip Iglehart Award was established in 2001 to acknowledge exceptional lifetime contributions to the sport of polo.
Winners of the first two Wellington Polo Tour tournaments were: Joe Barry Memorial, Las Brisas, and Ylvisaker Cup, Catamount, now competing under the name North Wales. Other teams competing are 90210, Bientina, ConcordEquityGroup.com, Dracarys, Flying H, Lost Creek Ranch, Mrs. Momma Bear/LW Ranch, SD Farms, Tendonall Equine, and Zapican BMW.
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