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A C T I O N
to play in the Argentine Open one day, which
is my ultimate goal.’ He said the combination
of players on the Alegría slate clicked. ‘Our
team had good chemistry. I knew we would
because my three teammates have played
together, and it was that way for them.’
Mannix said he was excited when he
learned that El Remanso had won the
semi-finals. After the final he said, ‘It was
a lot of fun playing against Charlie [Hanbury].
He’s a class act. I knew he would have
a strong team. I was hoping all along that
we’d get to play against them.’
Eduardo Heguy, coach for El Remanso,
said it felt good to be in the final again. ‘We
T H E T O U R N A ME N T H A D A N I N T E R N AT I O N A L
F L A I R , W I T H T WO F O R E I G N P AT R O N S
won it the last two years, but this year it
was special because we had Charlie back.
He missed the tournament last year
because of an injury.’
The 2016 tournament had started with
24 teams vying to qualify for the 16 spots in
the final round. ‘We made it through some
really tough games – some of them in
overtime – to make it to the final,’ said Heguy.
‘At the beginning of the final game we were
ahead and had control, but we didn’t finish
as well and they won. We are proud to make
it to the final again.’
Both teams had faced stiff competition
in the semi-finals. El Remanso had narrowly
defeated La Indiana Biopôle 10–9, and
Alegría had overtaken the mighty La Dolfina
Rio Uruguay 14–10 in a match that had seen
Alegría take an early two-goal lead, with La
Dolfina soon tightening the gap to within
one goal. Just about maintaining their lead
throughout, at times Alegría drew level
during the fifth chukka (8–8), before finally
surging ahead in the sixth with five goals,
keeping La Dolfina off the board. The game
ended with a four-goal victory for Alegría.
The semi-final match between El
Remanso and La Indiana Biopôle was
a nail-biter all the way to the end. The score
was tied at 9 going into the final chukka,
before El Remanso got another goal to win.
In the tournament awards, the AAP
prize for the Best Playing Pony of the final
went to Marta, played by Elizalde. The AACCP
trophy for the best Argentine-bred pony
went to Open Buchón, played by Jaime
García Huidobro.
Opposite:
winners Alegria
with Fred Mannix Sr (centre).
This page:
airborne Julian Mannix
followed by Francisco Elizalde
and Nachi du Plessis (in white)
