Enigma, El Remanso to Gold Cup semis
By Herbert Spencer
Jerome Wirth’s Enigma dominated Alfio Marchini’s Loro Piana 13-8 and the Hanbury’s El Remanso beat Adrian Kirby’s Silver Spring 1870 15-11 Sunday to gain semi-final places in the British Open Championship for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup at Cowdray Park Polo Club.
Enigma, coached by former England captain Julian Hipwood, had two England internationals in their line-up. One of them, 6-goaler Malcolm Borwick, is the team’s penalty taker and consolidated his position as the number one goal scorer in the 20-team Open.
In this match, Borwick showed he could also score from the field and he accounted for 9 of Enigma’s points, the first one straight from the first throw-in. Enigma never relinquished the lead and held Loro Piana scoreless in one chukka. Loro Piana’s 10-goal star Juan Martin Nero, who gave the team their 2008 Gold Cup win, appeared off his game, missing or losing the ball more than once.
In the day’s second match, Uruguayan 9-goal David “Pelon†Sterling was the star performer for El Remanso as they downed Silver Spring 1870.
In the semi-finals on Thursday, 13 July, El Remanso will face the Albwardys’ Dubai, who have won the Gold Cup on two previous occasions, and Enigma will play Victor Vargas’s Lechuza Caracas, 2007 winners. The finals are on 18 July.