Colts to Face Senators in Polo Opener

The American Polo League opens its fall arena season Aug. 29 when the Los Angeles Colts play the Washington Senators at the L.A. Equestrian and Polo Center in Burbank. The match is the first of an 11-match season that will conclude Dec. 5 with the league’s championship game.

The Colts, who won the APL championship in the spring season with a 12-11 win over the San Francisco Buccaneers in July, will field the same team--Tom Goodspeed, Joe Henderson and Ronnie Tongg--that won the spring title. Henderson is the highest-ranked player in the league with a nine-goal rating. Goodspeed and Tongg are both rated at eight goals. All professional polo players are assigned a rating from minus 1 to 10 by the U.S. Polo Assn. The Colts have the highest combined rating (25) in the league.

Besides the Colts, the APL has five other teams: Washington, Houston, San Francisco, New York and Chicago, none of which have home arenas. Since none of the other teams play each other, the one with the best record in two games against L.A. qualifies for the championship game.

In the spring, San Francisco, which had a combined rating of 22 goals, was the only team to sweep the Colts (7-4 overall) in the regular season. The Buccaneers won both games by one goal but were given a boost from the APL handicapping system. Because their combined rating was three goals lower than the Colts, the Bucs held a 3-0 lead before each game started.