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F L O R I D A 2 6 - G O A L S E A S O N , W E L L I N G T O N , F L O R I D A , U S A , A P R I L 2 0 1 7
A C T I O N
DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS.COM
but only after a full season in Dubai as well.
Wellington had gained a reputation as the
winter home of polo’s 10-goalers, hosting an
annual 40-goal Challenge Cup, but when the
final tournament began there were only
three present (Gonzalito Pieres is currently
rated at 9-goals in the US).
Ten-goalers Pelon Stirling and Juan
Martin Nero were lost to the Dominican
Republic as members of Vargas’s Lechuza
Caracas team, leaving a void in the Florida
line-ups and marking the fewest number
of 10-goalers in competition at the
International Polo Club in years.
Argentine 10-goalers Sapo Caset and
Hilario Ulloa competed in the 20-goal
tournaments but, without roster spots on
any of the 26-goal teams, departed for home
before the start of the CV Whitney Cup.
To say that the current future of
high-goal polo rests in the hands of a few
would be no exaggeration. Bob Jornayvaz’s
Valiente teams have been regulars at the
International Polo Club for eight years and
the Ganzis have been competing at the
26-goal level for even longer. The Coca-Cola
high-goal roots can be traced back decades,
but that’s about where it ends today.
A new 26-goal patron arose in Travieso’s
Teo Calle, and a couple of others might be in
the wings, with Jeff Hildebrand of Tonkawa,
Annabelle Gundlach and her Postage Stamp
Farm team, and Michael Bickford and La
Indiana on the cusp.
Rumours have been running rampant,
with speculation placing Facundo Pieres
with Alabama’s Curtis Pilot, while Erich Koch
has made arrangements for the return of his
Jedi team that won the 2006 CV Whitney Cup
and lost in the final of the 2007 US Open.
Meetings were held regarding lowering
the handicap of the CV Whitney Cup, the
USPA Gold Cup and the US Open to 22-goals,
but it appears the tournaments will remain
at the 26-goal level for another year at least.
Polo is a fluid and fickle sport, with
patrons and players coming and going every
year, but the weather and competition
offered at the International Polo Club are
second only to the Argentine Open, and the
facilities (box seats, clubhouse and pavilion)
are unmatched anywhere in the world.
The game will go on.
Zavaleta was named Most Valuable Player,
while Cambiaso’s Cuartetera clone, B09,
won the Willis L Hartman Trophy for Best
Playing Pony in the Open. Los Machitos
Jazzita was named Horse of the Year, with
Cambiaso’s Mentolada being honoured as
the Best Argentine-bred Pony of the final.
Steve Van Andel had indicated at the
beginning of the season that this would
probably be his last, and following an injury
Below:
US Open winners, from left,
Adolfo Cambiaso, Diego Cavanagh,
Matias Torres Zavaleta, Bob Jornayvaz
to his knee in the final of the East Coast
Open last autumn, Peter Brant won’t be
returning to 26-goal play either. Visa issues
will keep Lechuza Caracas patron Victor
Vargas in the Dominican Republic for
the winter months while Ali Albwardy
restructured his polo priorities after
Dubai’s US Open win last year and not
only didn’t return to Florida, but opted
out of the English season this year as well.
Patrons weren’t the only defections. The
International Polo Club had already lost
10-goaler Pablo MacDonough to Dubai after
being cut loose by Orchard Hill after the 2014
season, and Nico Pieres arrived in Wellington
in time to play with Flexjet in the US Open,
