Reg Whyte and his Thermal polo team (Whyte, Mitch Horne, Dayelle Fargey 1.5, Jimmy Wright 2) took an early lead and hung on to win the 29th renewal of the Mike Uretz Family World Gym Tournament over Dan Horn and his Palm Desert aggregation (Horn, Becky Schaller -1, Matt Walker 2, Ashton Wolf 3) by a final score of 5.5 - 4.Thermal, playing primarily on horses bred and raised by Whyte, took advantage of a slow Palm Desert start and dominated the first chukker to come out with a two goal lead at 2 - 0.The lead was increased in the second as Whyte and Co. kept their early pressure on and were able to convert a pair of forty yard tries and counted another in the third to lead 5.5 - 0 going to the final.Palm Desert finally came alive in the fourth and started to move the ball and Thermal - who may have relaxed a little - couldn't do much at all to stop the new found momentum. A pair of goals led to another and then another and the Horn Group were in business needing just two more with almost three minutes remaining. However, Thermal regained some composure and were able to regain the control they previously exerted and hung on to win the World Gym Trophy.Wright led the way for the winners with four goals (three fouls) and Horne had one.Wolf had a pair for Palm Desert and Walker converted two penalty three attempts.With his controlled and effective play, Wright was named the MVP and Sabrina, Wolf's fourth chukker mare, was honored as the Best Playing Pony.Tony Gregg