Mountain Chevrolet Wins Basalt Handicap; Grant Ganzi Sweeps MVP, BPP Honors

CARBONDALE, Colo., July 21, 2025---Mountain Chevrolet won its first tournament of the summer season Sunday at Aspen Valley Polo Club.

By Sharon Robb

In front of a good crowd, Mountain Chevrolet (Michael Payne, 0, Sugar Erskine, 6, Nic Roldan, 7, Grant Ganzi 3) won the Basalt Handicap with a 9-7 victory over The Setai, (Melissa Ganzi, 0, Silver Novillo Astrada, 0, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, Jason Crowder, 5). Ganzi and Roldan are repeat winners after last year's tournament win with Los Amigos Red. It was the fourth tournament of the busy summer schedule.

Grant Ganzi, 27, swept Most Valuable Player and Best Playing Pony Honors. It was the second straight year Ganzi earned MVP honors. Moon Quartz, a 12-year-old bay mare, owned and bred (Open Quarzo/Luna) by Wellington-based Santa Rita Polo Farm, was Best Playing Pony.

"It was a fun team and fun tournament," Ganzi said. "It was fun playing with Michael for the first time. I always have a lot of fun playing with Sugar. It goes without saying it's always a pleasure playing with Nic. Having one of my horses getting recognized and my groom recognized for all that he does was great. All the horses were amazing.

"The season has been great," Ganzi said. "It's just going to get better and better. We're just going to continue to play simple polo."

Mountain Chevrolet patron Michael Payne was named the Outstanding Player of the Tournament. After a 10-year layoff, Payne returned to polo after Aspen Valley Polo Club was resurrected 12 years ago.

"It was because of what they did up here got me back into polo," Payne said. "We're thrilled to win the Basalt Handicap since we live in Basalt just five miles up the road. We love living in the valley and playing polo at Aspen Valley."

Springbok, a 7-year-old bay mare, played by Sugar Erskine and owned and bred (Javi/Macuca) by Santa Rita Polo Farm, was the American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony.

Against a stingy Mountain Chevrolet defense, The Setai, making its second consecutive finals appearance, could not get its offense untracked until the second half. Mountain Chevrolet allowed only one goal in the first half.

"It's just how we designed it going into the weekend," Ganzi said. "Nic wanted me close to him and further back. It's just how it worked out and I was happy to give us some defense."

The Setai started off with a 3-0 lead on handicap but saw that diminish at the end of the opening chukker. With two goals from Roldan and one from Payne, Mountain Chevrolet tied the game at 3-3. With 1:20 left Roldan hit a 140-yard pass to Ganzi to take a 4-3 lead. Mountain Chevrolet never trailed after that. Melissa Ganzi converted a 30-yard penalty shot with 1:40 left to trail 6-4 at the half.

Mountain Chevrolet had an 8-5 lead in the fourth chukker and 9-5 early in the fifth before The Setai started clawing its way back. The teams played to a 3-3 second half. The Setai had its share of scoring opportunities but couldn't capitalize. With 4:45, Melissa Ganzi's goal cut the lead to 9-7 but The Setai could get no closer.

Roldan led Mountain Chevrolet with a game-high five goals. Payne and Ganzi each had two goals. For The Setai, Melissa Ganzi scored a team-high four goals. She finished with eight goals in the tournament. The team picked up three goals on handicap.

In the Just For The Love Of It subsidiary, Audi (Santos Bollini, 2, Santi Toccalino, 7, Enrique Guzman, 1, Hilario Figueras, 5) edged Los Amigos Red (Alejandra Foster, 0, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Nacho Novillo Astrada, 7, Juan Bollini, 3), 9-8. Hilario Figueras was MVP and Alejandra Foster was Outstanding Player of the Tournament. With less than 30 seconds left, Figueras set up the winning goal with Bollini tapping it in with one second left.

On Saturday, Polo School Blue (Benjamin Toccalino, Lorenzo Novillo Astrada, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Silvestre Novillo Astrada) defeated World Polo League Yellow (Cande Toccalino, Mia Pieres, Santi Toccalino, Tomacho Pieres), 3-2, in the Kidz Saturday Polo. Toccalino scored all three of his team's goals. Mia Pieres scored her team's two goals.

In Friday's semifinal qualifiers, The Setai defeated Audi (Santos Bollini, 2, Santi Toccalino, 7, Hilario Figueras, 5), 11-10, to advance. Mountain Chevrolet defeated Los Amigos (Alejandra Foster, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Nacho Novillo Astrada, 7, Juan Bollini, 3), 9-7.

Last year's Basalt winner was Los Amigos Red (Paul Foster, Grant Ganzi, 3, Nic Roldan, 8, Hilario Figueras, 5), 15-8 winners over Audi (Martin Jauregui, 6, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Jimmy Seward, 3) for its first win of the summer. Ganzi was MVP.

The Basalt Handicap honors the former railroad town which was named for the basaltic rock formation on Basalt Mountain. Basalt is known as a vacation mecca for families and sports enthusiasts in water sports, fishing, camping, hiking and much more.

Among this season's highlights at the nation's fastest growing club are the new "Polo Is Beautiful" Beach Club on Sundays; Twilight Polo Series featuring Tuesday Night Arena and Twilight Polo, an exclusive series from July 29 to August 26; and Aug. 17th Summer Polo Charity Classic to benefit Aspen Valley Health Foundation. 

In the season-opening weekend,  Wellington-based 3 Graces Polo, making its Aspen debut, won both the Independence Cup  (Rebecca Cohen, Nacho Novillo Astrada, Nic Roldan, Juan Bollini) and ChukkerTV Cup (Rebecca Cohen, Nic Roldan, Alejandro Novillo Astrada). Last weekend McClure River Ranch (Roberto Poma/Ale Poma, Grant Ganzi, Nic Roldan, Hilario Figueras) won the Craig Sakin Memorial.

With a vision for the community and surrounding areas, the Ganzi family resurrected the club and polo in 2014. Since then polo has increased in popularity in Aspen and surrounding cities with the club's offerings of various weekly grass and arena tournaments, Arena & Asado Nights, Kidz Polo, "Polo Is Beautiful" Beach Club, Twilight Polo Series, Kids Wheelie Polo, Gymkhana, Christmas In July, The Polo School at AVPC and Polo On Demand. 

Aspen Valley Polo Club caters to men, women and youth polo players at all levels. Its' expert staff can customize a complete playing experience including horses, pros and certified umpires in addition to lessons and practice sessions as part of its' Polo On Demand program.

For more information on leagues or Polo School contact Polo School Director Juan Bollini at  561-346-1099.