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The Las Colinas Polo Club, located in Irving, Texas hosted the second leg of the Triple Crown of Polo ("TCP") series with parties and polo! On Thursday, June 22, TCP founding sponsor Tiffany & Co. hosted an exclusive party in their Galleria store with champagne, hors d'oeuvres, models and the unveiling of the TCP trophy. Artist LeRoy Neiman has called the trophy "the most magnificent trophy in all of sport" and guests lined up to have their photos taken with the stunning work of art.
Friday was a very important day with the last two games in the tournament deciding who would play in front of the ESPN cameras in the Sunday Championship game. CMC won their morning game against Intergame and in the afternoon Henry S. Miller beat Mokarow to make the Championship a rematch from the 2005 season. To celebrate CMC hosted a field-side barbecue.
To top it all off in grandeur, more than 200 guests attended the Ladies Polo Auxiliary (LPA) black tie ball chaired by Vaughn and Dena Miller and honorary chair Jesse Pruitt benefiting The Polo Training Foundation (PTF). Sponsors included Capital One, Prestonwood Country Club, The Brinker Foundation, Chrys Beal, LPA, Lady Walton cookies and Modern Luxury magazine. Many others donated fabulous items for the silent auction and even more hosted tables and sponsored PTF kids. Preliminary numbers indicate more than $20,000 was raised to benefit the PTF.
The night included a red carpet arrival, cocktail hour with passed hors d'oeuvres, live music, and ballroom dancers. Support was incredible with two hundred people in attendance, twice as many as expected. Many were in awe of Norman Brinker who blessed the event with his presence and support.
Sunday was the main event hosted by the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau with a luxury lifestyle pavilion offering fine jewelry by Catena USA, custom made clothing by Alan Flusser Custom, fabulous vacations from Reunion Resorts, a beautiful red Elton John series Yamaha piano on display, Havana NRG performing salsa music and yummy-licious food by Abacus and Jaspers restaurant. (The jumbo skewered shrimp and the grilled asparagus were particularly delicious!) Champagne divot stomp was hosted by our favorite, Barefoot bubbly, of course!
Tiffany hosted a VIP private pavilion with cocktails and food for their guests and food and drinks by Abacus and Jaspers, Willowbend Polo reunited in the cantina, and grandstand viewers, box seat holders and picnickers on the lawn all watched an incredibly exciting game. HSM kept the lead until into the second half when CMC caught up and tied the game 10-10. It looked like it would surely go into sudden death overtime when CMC received a red flag adding 5 seconds to the clock.
In those last amazing 5 seconds, Brent Mirkitani sent the ball flying right in between the goal posts as the clock ticked down and the crowd went wild! Ironically Brent played for CMC last year and his will now be the first name to be on the trophy twice!
Irving polo will take a rest from the heat, turn their horses out or go off to Santa Fe, Aspen, or wherever the stars of polo go to shine this time of year. Ladies Polo Auxiliary will have a celebratory dinner at Jaspers (did I mention the jumbo skewered shrimp and the grilled asparagus were particularly delicious!), toast this seasons success, and begin to work on their upcoming Fall events! TCP's last send victory by Henry S. Miller is surely the highlight of the polo season.
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