Thirteen may be considered an unlucky number for some but La Dolfina /Marques de Riscal, Aureus and Gaston all headed home on day 13 in the league stages of the Cartier Queen’s Cup with wins under their belts. La Dolfina/Marques de Riscal joined the 4 out of 4 club, remaining unbeaten. The trio of Poroto Cambiaso, Simon Prado and Felix Esain have been strong since their opening match and today was a perfect demonstration of their teamwork. Cambiaso was the top goal scorer with five goals against Jehangiri, but every member of the team found the flags, including a brilliant field goal off the stick of patron Alejandro Aznar. Unfortunately Muhammad Jehangiri had to retire injured in the second chukka so his place was taken by Venkatesh Jindal. He was able to add a goal to Jehangiri’s tally but they had been trailing 2-0 after the first chukka and then struggled to get back on terms in the remainder of the match.
Image credit: Art of Polo
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Second Match
Next up was an incredible game between Aureus and White Crane. The latter was hunting down their second win of the competition while Aureus were hoping to join the 4 out of 4 club alongside La Dolfina/Marques de Riscal in Group One. Alexie Calvert-Ansari’s White Crane team dominated 99.9% of this match – they were 6-1 up in the early part of the third chukka. Aureus started to slowly get back in contention in the second half, but White Crane were still ahead, 9-7, at the start of the sixth chukka. Aureus kept pushing though and goals from Diego Cavanagh and Teodoro Lacau levelled the scores, ensuring the 5th overtime of the tournament. Polito Pieres cleared the ball away from the first throw-in of the seventh chukka only for Aureus’s Jake Coventry to produce a fabulous backhand to send the ball back to goal to win the game.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
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Third Match
There was all to play for in the last game of the day, Gaston v Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus. Jean Paul Luksic’s Gaston was looking for their third win but if Juan Pepa’s Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus beat them today they would go through to the quarters on the “who beat who rule”. So, not surprisingly, this was a very tense game that was littered with penalties. Gaston, who had a goal on handicap as Gonzalo Ferrari was again subbing for the injured Pelon Stirling, were leading 5-1 at half-time but it was very scrappy and neither team seemed to have much of a hold of it. Unfortunately Juan Pepa had to retire injured late into the fourth chukka and he was replaced by Oliver Fanshawe. Despite the change in line-up Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus were able to create an advantage in the fifth, closing the gap to 7-5 going into the sixth chukka. But this chukka started with their number four, Paco de Narvaez, on the sidelines as he had received his second yellow card. His exclusion did not deter his team-mates and Carlos Ulloa was able to add another to the Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus scoreline. However, two goals and a 30-yard penalty from Cruz Heguy in the sixth was enough to confirm Gaston as the winner.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
Stats provided by https://poloreport.com/