Ezequiel Martinez Ferrario, Alejo Taranco, Polito Pieres, Facundo Pieres and Adolfo Cambiaso. Photos: Liz Lamont Images/Phelps Media Group.
Wellington, FL – March 8, 2015 – Sunday was a cauldron of excitement at the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC), with four high-stakes matches in the 26-goal USPA Piaget Gold Cup. Audi defeated Engel & Völkers 11-7; Alegria was victorious over Las Monjitas 9-8, and Coca-Cola clinched a 10-8 win over Lechuza Caracas.
In the featured match on Engel & Völkers field, Orchard Hill pushed ahead of Valiente to win 14-12. Ezequiel Ferrario was named Most Valuable Player. The Best Playing Pony award went to Jackie, owned by Las Machitos. The horse carried Polito Pieres to his five goals in the pivotal fourth chukker. This was Orchard Hill’s second 26-goal tournament win on the Engel & Völkers field. The team was awarded the C. V. Whitney Cup one week ago.
If polo was a card game, and you knew the deck had a pair of Piereses and a Cambiaso in it, how would you play your hand?
That was the question of the day on Engel & Völkers field Sunday. The answer kept changing from chukker to chukker, as the three 10-goalers took turns being the wild card. (That includes Polito Pieres, who is rated 10 in Argentina and may be on the bullet train to the same destination in this country.)
Between the two of them, the Pieres cousins scored an astounding 13 goals for Orchard Hill, with the team’s other point made by patron Steve Van Andel. Valiente’s scoring was more evenly spread out, as often is the case. All four teammates made goals, with the most (four) courtesy of Adolfo Cambiaso.
Even though it held the Cambiaso card – and played it to its advantage – it soon became clear that for Valiente the game was going to be about containing Facundo Pieres. Cambiaso kept after him nonstop, escalating the pressure throughout the match. At times the game was as physical as it was mental, with an occasional smattering of whistles, bumps and vocalizations punctuating the play.
That came as no surprise to anyone, least of all Van Andel. “Whenever you have the best players in the world going against each other, it’s going to be a tough game – and it was,” he said. “These are all tough teams, but Valiente is super tough.”
Nonetheless, Orchard Hill kept its opponents at bay, with Valiente trailing by a point for the first two chukkers. Valiente perked up in the third, with Alejo Taranco putting on some serious hustle to make a goal. Cambiaso followed that up, tying the game at 6-all at the end of the first half.
As Polito Pieres noted, “It was a very tough first half. We were tied, and neither one of the teams wanted to lose.”
That came into hyper focus as the second half opened. The vibe was on the verge of pandemonium as the Piereses went on a communal scoring frenzy. Polito Pieres owned the fourth chukker just about outright, scoring four consecutive goals within the first two minutes and adding a fifth point after Facundo Pieres contributed one. It remained a purely Pieres chukker, with Valiente completely shut down from scoring and Orchard Hill doubling its lead to 12-6.
How did that happen?
“I really don’t know,” said Facundo Pieres, shaking his head in amazement. “We came into a good momentum in the fourth chukker. Polito was unbelievable! He scored four goals in a row. We won all the throw-ins.”
In Van Andel’s estimation, “That fourth chukker was something else! We got a couple of good breaks, and then once you get the momentum you keep going, so it worked out.”
The fifth chukker was almost a mirror image of the fourth. This time Orchard Hill was scoreless and Valiente was the shot-caller, making four goals to tighten the gap to 12-10. A field goal and a penalty point by each team in the sixth chukker brought the final score to 14-12 for Orchard Hill.
Bracket play in the USPA Piaget Gold Cup will resume Wednesday at IPC, with Alegria taking on Engel & Völkers.
Alegria Means Happiness with a Win over Las Monjitas
Alegria overcame a midgame lapse in concentration to outscore Las Monjitas three goals to one in the sixth chukker for the win 9-8 in the second round of the USPA Piaget Gold Cup at International Polo Club. The win for Alegria equalized their record at 1-1 for the tournament.
Alegria lost their first round match in the USPA Piaget Gold Cup in a vocal game against Audi. Mariano Aguerre, who scored the game-winning goal today on a neck shot in the sixth chukker, was all smiles after the win. “We had a bad game against Audi; it is good to see that we are back on track. We enjoyed it today.”
Alegria started the match well, Hilario Ulloa scored with a run dribbling the ball between defenders from midfield. Ulloa looked like a racecar driver weaving around highway cones as he made his way to goal between the neon orange-clad defenders. Aguerre added another goal on a broken play. Multiple players’ mallets shot in the air to appeal for the foul but Aguerre put his mallet down on the ball and scored. Las Monjitas scoreless throughout the first chukker, but Eduardo Novillo Astrada finally got a point on the board for the orange team when he muscled his way past the Alegria defender with a man on his hip trying fruitlessly to ride him off the ball. But despite some moments of brilliance, the first half produced few goals. Alegria led 4-2 at halftime.
Las Monjitas went on a scoring spree after the halftime break. Astrada gave his team a jolt with a high speed run to goal on a long legged gray mare. Facundo Sola kept the momentum flowing with two more field goals, supported by Camilo Bautista blocking out the defenders. Las Monjitas added a penalty two goal in the fourth for a 4-0 scoring run. At the conclusion of the fourth chukker Las Monjitas was in proud possession of a two- goal lead and the Alegria players were looking bewildered at the sudden turn in events.
Ulloa commented after the match, “We just fell asleep! We were playing really well the first half. I think we did a great job, but then in the fourth chukker we just fell asleep and they were scoring easy goals and winning the throw-ins.”
Alegria clawed their way back into contention in the fifth chukker and headed into the sixth chukker only down by one goal with Las Monjitas leading 7-6.
With their backs against the wall and facing elimination from the tournament if they lost, Alegria found a spark with a goal by Julian Mannix, assisted by a pinpoint pass from Sterling Giannico. Giannico added another goal to give Alegria the lead at 8-7. With plenty of time left in the chukker, Aguerre solidified the win by adding another goal, a smart move from the Alegria field general as Las Monjitas was awarded a penalty two at the end of the chukker. Final score was 9-8 in favor of Alegria.
Alegria faces Engel & Völkers in the third round, do or die Piaget Gold Cup match for both teams on Wednesday, March 11 at International Polo Club Palm Beach.
Audi Takes the Wheel
Defeats Engel & Völkers 11-7
Audi defeated Engel & Völkers 11-7 in bracket play for the Piaget Gold Cup at the International Polo Club Palm Beach.
Engel & Völkers leapt into action right from the start and Kris Kampsen scored first goal of the game with lightening accuracy. Fred Mannix quickly responded by running in a goal for Audi, setting the tone early for Audi’s fast-paced play. Both teams were evenly matched, riding hard and showcasing the speed and athleticism of their mounts.
In the second chukker, Audi took control of the match, with back-to-back goals scored by Rodrigo Andrade and Gonzalito Pieres. Pieres proved to be lethal from the penalty line, converting sequential penalty shots to confirm Audi’s lead 5-1. Mannix rocketed out of the bowl-in to score the final goal of the chukker 6-1.
After several wide goal attempts by Mariano Gracida (substituting for Jared Zenni), Santi Torres succeeded in gaining some ground by scoring with a cut shot through traffic. Then Kampsen surged into a breakaway to put Engel & Völkers three goals behind at the end of the end of the half.
Torres took advantage of broken play by Audi to drive a goal in and make the score 6-4. The game slowed down at this point, with players in close contact and fighting for position on every play. Kampsen began the fifth chukker strongly, adding another goal to Engel & Völkers’ tally and placed the team within striking distance at 6-5. But Pieres converted with a lofted neck shot, and Audi pulled away from Engel & Völkers with a two-goal lead.
Andrade made what was undoubtedly the shot of the game, a giant lofted neck shot to goal that brought the score to 8-5. From there, Audi simply dominated the game, scoring three unanswered goals to cement their lead 11-5. Matias Magrini tapped a goal in, and Carlitos Gracida made the final goal of the game to end the sixth chukker 11-7.
Mannix felt that Audi’s horsepower has played a large part in their success this season.
“I’ve got some super horses here this year, so it’s making a huge difference,” Mannix said. “All the players on this team do. If you look at the way Gonzalito [Pieres] is mounted, and Marc [Ganzi] is mounted very well, and Rodrigo [Andrade] is a beast – he’s got some very powerful, strong horses. I think the combination of everything together allows us to play in a way we want to play. We’re not feeling any external pressure how we should or shouldn’t play. It’s more like how we want to play.”
Audi patron Marc Ganzi is already looking ahead to Thursday, March 12 when Audi will go head to head with Las Monjitas at 10 a.m. at International Polo Club Palm Beach.
“We’ll watch some video tonight and see what we did right and what we did wrong,” said Ganzi. “Then we’ll practice probably on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we’ll have a practice team, FlexJet, who’ll sort of mimic what Las Monjitas is going to do. We’ll watch a little video on Wednesday night and get ready for a big game on Thursday. It’s a big game. If we win it, we win the bracket and we get to take next weekend off, which will be good for the horses.”
Coca-Cola defeated Lechuza Caracas in bracket play for the USPA Piaget Gold Cup at the International Polo Club Palm Beach.
Coca-Cola scored right away, with a conversion by Julio Arellano. With lightning speed and accuracy, Gillian Johnston accelerated into a breakaway and shot a pass to Pelon Sterling, who sent it to Sugar Erskine. Erskine drove it in to pull Coca-Cola ahead of Lechuza Caracas 2-0. A penalty conversion by Juan Martin Nero put Lechuza Caracas into contender status. Arellano took charge and scored his second goal of the match, making the score 3-1 at the end of the first chukker.
Johnston took off flat-out from the bowl-in, scoring again for Coca-Cola. Agustin Garcia Grossi dodged defenders to begin closing the gap 4-2. Sterling hit a strong backshot to Erskine, who sealed the deal with a neck shot. Victor Vargas scored his first goal of the game, swiftly pulling Lechuza Caracas along to make the score 5-3. Sterling hit a penalty five from the point of the infraction, shooting a pass to Arellano, who maneuvered through traffic to score. Garcia Grossi ran the ball into the goal mouth to score the last point of the second chukker and make the score 6-4.
The third chukker was a battle of wills, with both teams making numerous wide attempts on goal. A challenge by Coca-Cola on ball placement awarded resulted in a penalty four, which Arellano converted with a lofted shot to make the score 7-4. Arellano continued his streak from the penalty line in the fourth chukker, trotting up to take the penalty shot and doubling Coca-Cola’s lead to 8-4. Garcia Grossi followed up his cutshot by tapping the ball in to chip away for Lechuza Caracas.
Nico Pieres followed up Garcia Grossi’s efforts with a penalty conversion, walking up to the ball in his signature style. Garcia Grossi once again put the ball through the uprights in traffic, ending the fourth chukker 8-7. Coca-Cola came out guns blazing in the fifth chukker, with every member of the team touching the ball before Erskine put it into the goal. Erskine won the bowl-in and made a beautiful run down field to score, with Johnston assisting by taking out the defender.
Nero took advantage of a Coca-Cola miscue, shooting a pass to Vargas, who drove it in for a goal. The sixth chukker was fraught with big runs and goal attempts, but no points were scored. Coca-Cola ultimately got the better of Lechuza Caracas, and the match ended 10-8.
Erskine said he considered the game a close call but said it still had the element of fun that Coca-Cola’s play is known for. “We had fun, and obviously it was close enough to where it could have gone either way,” he said.
Arellano attributed Coca-Cola’s success to solid teamwork by each of its players. “Everybody played really, really well, especially Sugar,” he said. “He came out and played great defense today right off the bat, and that was key. Everybody else did their part, and did what they were supposed to do.”
International Polo Club Palm Beach Fast Facts
What: Created by players for players, the International Polo Club Palm Beach was born out of the dream to build a facility to showcase the incredible skills of the ponies and players that dominate the sport.
Members and guests enjoy panoramic views of the action from field side box seats or lawn and terrace seating. Sponsors and fans convene at The Winners Circle to congratulate the players during the awards presentation following the games.
Gourmet brunches, après polo celebrations and the prerequisite charitable events will take place in The Pavilion, designed to accommodate large parties, corporate clients, as well as family and friends.
Featured Highlights:
Herbie Pennell Cup – 20 Goal
Jan. 1-4, 2015
Joe Barry Memorial Cup – 20 Goal
Jan. 4-25, 2015
Ylvisaker Cup – 20 Goal
Jan. 28 – February 22, 2015
Iglehart Cup – 20 Goal
Feb. 28 – March 8, 2015
USPA C. V. Whitney Cup – 26 Goal
Feb. 15 – March 1, 2015
Piaget USPA Gold Cup® – 26 Goal
March 4-22, 2015
111th Maserati U.S. Open Polo Championship® – 26 Goal
March 25 – April 19, 2015
Directions:
From the Turnpike:
Take the Lake Worth Exit
Head west on FL-802 W/Lake Worth Rd toward Hooks Rd
Continue to follow Lake Worth Rd (3.9 miles)
Turn right onto 120th Ave S
Destination will be ahead on the left (0.4 miles)
From I-95:
Exit Forest Hill Blvd, head West
Make Left turn onto 441/St Rd 7
Make Right turn onto Lake Worth Rd
Make Right turn onto 120th Ave S
Destination on Left
Information:
3667 120th Ave S, Wellington, FL 33414
International Polo Club Palm Beach: 561-204-5687
Mallet Grille: 561-282-5340
Spa & Fitness Center: 561-282-5288
Tennis Pro Shop: 561-795-7228
Polo Operations Office: 561-282-5283
Polo Hotline: 561-282-5290
Website:
www.internationalpoloclub.com
For Tickets:
http://internationalpoloclub.ticketleap.com/
Hotels:
Hampton Inn & Suites – (561) 472-9696 – Approximately 2 miles
Hampton Inn – (561) 472-5980 – Approximately 4 miles
Four Seasons Resort – (561) 582-2800 – Approximately 9 miles
The Breakers – (561) 655-6611 – Approximately 9 miles
Kimpton Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa – (561) 540-6440 – Approximately 9 miles
Management:
John Wash – President of Club Operations
jwash@internationalpoloclub.com
561-282-5353
MEDIA CONTACT:
Phelps Media Group, Inc.
12012 South Shore Blvd #105
Wellington, FL 33414
561-753-3389 (phone)
561-753-3386 (fax)
pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com
PhelpsMediaGroup.com