VIDEO: AMG Miami Beach Polo World Cup

Miami Chic Mingles with the Sport of Kings

John Walsh Photos by Mitchell Zachs

Combine the elegance of polo, with its beautiful horses and their glamorous riders, and the sexiness of South Beach and you have AMG Miami Beach Polo World Cup.

With the ocean as its backdrop and four days of perfect weather, this year’s tournament was the epitome of Miami chic as a jet-set crowd came dressed in their finest linen outfits, sun dresses and wide-brimmed hats.

In the end, a resilient Raleigh team, made up of Bash Kazi, Pelon Escapite and Luis Escobar, fought the 2010 defending champions, Hublot, to take the AMG Miami Beach Polo World Cup title, with a final score of 10-6.

In Miami, however, the party is as equally important as the polo – if not more so. The Grey Groose flowed freely in the AMG suite as Miami society partied like rock stars and a DJ spun the funky beats between matches.

Thursday night’s festivities featured a fashion show from designer Meghan Walsh, daughter of AMG Polo team captain and television personality, John Walsh. Having lived the past two years in India, her designs are a mixture of American and Indian influences.

The following night’s festivities took place at The Raleigh for the AMG dinner and La Martina fashion show. AMG and La Martina created a limited-edition polo shirt to support Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Greater Miami with 100 percent of proceeds going to the charity. On hand at the dinner were AMG car owner and music producer, Rudy Perez, and entertainment mogul and polo enthusiast, Russell Simmons.

The AMG Miami Beach Polo World Cup marked the debut of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG in South Florida. The brand’s affiliation to polo is a natural partnership that combines horsepower with elegance, intensity, pride and speed – a beautiful mingling of shared attributes.

“This year’s event was the most successful to-date,” said Bruce Orosz, founder and president of The Polo Life, producers of The AMG Miami Beach World Cup. “We set a record attendance each day as a result of the tremendous buzz that spread throughout Miami Beach during the course of the week.”

With the event’s continued growth and commitment from sponsors like AMG, the future is bright for Miami Beach polo and all of the grandeur that accompanies it.

2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG and the limited-edition polo shirt benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters
John Walsh with daughter Meghan Walsh