Gold Cup – 26/06/10

Two Gold Cup matches go into extra time 

By Herbert Spencer

League play in the British Open championship hotted up Saturday when two of the four matches at three venues went into extra time, bringing close results to the 22-goal tournament previously marked by mainly comfortable score-lines.


Alfio Marchini’s Loro Piana, current holders of the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, made their debut at Great Trippets Farm against Oussama Aboughazale’s Sumaya. It took a golden goal from 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero to break the tie and secure a first win, 11-10, for the 2009 champions.


The match at Cowdray Park between Victor Vargas’ Lechuza Caracas and Ed Magor’s Panthers also went into a seventh chukka before Guillermo Caset Jr broke the tie to give Lechuza Caracas their 10-9 victory. Spencer McCarthy, whose Emlor team won the earlier Prince of Wales Trophy, stood in for the absent Vargas.


Meanwhile, in a Gold Cup league match at Guards Polo Club, Piaget’s brothers Marcos and Bautista Heguy played an effective passing game to give their team a 9-6 victory over Roger Carlsson’s Billingbear Park.


Two newcomers faced up at Cowdray Park, with Nigel Warr’s Combe securing a comfortable 13-8 victory over La Dolfina Polo Ranch, the second team put together by Dubai’s Adolfo Cambiaso.


All 20 teams in England’s premier competition marking Cowdray Park’s 100th year have now played at least one match, with several already building up goal differences over opponents, a potentially crucial factor in tournament conditions.