TALANDRACAS : A VICTORY FOR HISTORY
Deauville Sunday August 25.
In spite of the difficulties due to the very Norman weather, the Gold and Bronze Cup finals took place. And what finals they were! Wind and rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the spectators, especially as the sun made a timid appearance for the final: several hundred spectators filled the stands at the Deauville Int. Polo Club to applaud Talandracas’ victory in the prestigious Coupe d’Or Marta et Lucien Barrière after a game that was dominated from start to finish, while Laurent Dassault’s Red Falcon team took the Bronze Cup!
Seventh Coupe d’Or Marta & Lucien Barrière for Talandracas! © Ph Flament
And that’s seven for Talandracas and Édouard Carmignac, who completed a perfect season by winning another Coupe d’Or after already lifting the Queens’s Cup in June and reaching the semi-finals of the Gold Cup for the British Open at Cowdray in July. It was their seventh victory, a record they now share with Alex Ebeid, who also won the Gold Cup seven times in 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1987: “Oh dear, laughed Édouard Carmignac, I thought we’d broken that record today. In any case, we’ve beaten André Fabre’s record, but I’d forgotten about Alex. Well, that gives us a new target for next year.”
This marks a dream end to this season for the Carmignacs, with a victory that can only be described as historic, thanks to the magical duo made up of two young Argentinians, Rufino Bensadon who will play in Buenos Aires for Cria La Dolfina and Juan-Martin Zubia who will play for La Ensenada: two major teams that show just how good these players are!
Two prodigies who set the tone from the outset with a spectacular start to the game, winning the first chukker 5-0 and the second 6-2. The gap was already quite wide! Then Barrière woke up, with some fine attacks, often led by Juan Gris Zavaleta, but they weren’t always successful. Instead, Talandracas steamrollered their way to a 14-7 final score: “It’s the first time I’ve won this legendary Coupe d’Or, enthused Juan-Martin Zubia. When I went out on the field today, I knew it was the only title I’d never won in France, so that put extra pressure on me and, thank God, I won it. We started the game well and we managed to keep that four or five-goal lead right to the end. We had to stay calm when Barrière started to play better, and it was that calmness that enabled us to maintain our level of play and win well.”
Coupe de Bronze for Red Falcon
There was not a single Argentinian on the field, only one Peruvian, 4-goaler Guillermo Li, which is quite rare at this level! Two well-rehearsed teams with two experienced professionals (Pierre Henri N’Goumou and Matthieu Delfosse) and two young up-and-coming men of French polo (Elouan Badarello and Diego Belaid). In the end, Laurent Dassault’s team dominated the game from start to finish, winning by the narrowest of margins and having to withstand a fine late comeback from the Ranger Polo team.
See you next year, of course, but the international polo season at the highest level isn’t quite over yet: from 4 September, the Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly will welcome four of the Coupe d’Or teams and twelve other teams for the 24th French Open, which promises to be particularly competitive with fifteen of the world’s top forty players competing in the same 16-goal* format. Ten days to recover from these intense emotions!
* The total of the handicaps of the players in a team constitutes the value of the team (i.e. 16 goals for the Coupe d’Or). For the record, the handicap is the value of the player established by his country’s handicaps committee. A beginner is valued at -2, while the best pros in the world are rated 10. There are currently only 7 10-goalers in the world.
The finals in figures
Coupe d’Or
Talandracas : Hugues Carmignac (FRA, h1), Rufino Bensadon (ARG, h7, 3 goals), Juan-Martin Zubia (ARG, h8, 11 goals) and Édouard Carmignac (FRA, h0)
Barrière: Isabelle Larenaudie (FRA, h0), Simon Zavaleta (ARG, h5, 1 goal), Juan Gris Zavaleta (ARG, h7, 4 goals) and Ramiro Zavaleta (ARG, h4, 2 goals)
Progression Barrière-Talandracas : 5-0 / 6-2 / 8-3 / 10-5 and 14-7
BPP (best horse of the final) : Emezeta Cocinera, owned and ridden by Juan-Martin Zubia: “She’s a family-bred mare and I’m all the happier for this prize. She has been accompanying me to Europe for several years now.”
BPP AACCP (best Argentine studbook horse in the final) : Chicho La Pelada played by Rufino Bensadon (Talandracas)
MVP (best player of the final) : Juan Martin Zubia (Talandracas)
Best amateur player of the final : Isabelle Larenaudie (Barrière)
Top scorer of the tournament: Juan-Martin Zubia with 31 goals
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Ranger Polo Team: Alexis Morange (FRA, h0) David Amar (FRA h1) Pierre-Henri Ngoumou (FRA, h6, 4 goals) Elouan Badarello (FRA, h1, 2 goals)
Red Falcon: Laurent Dassault (FRA, h0), Matthieu Delfosse (FRA, h4, 2 goals) Guillermo Li (PER, h4, 2 goals) Diego Belaid (FRA, h0,3 goals)
Red Falcon progress: 3-0 / 4-2 / 6-5 and 7-6
BPP (best horse of the final): Open Presuntuosa played by Pierre-Henri N’Goumou (Ranger Polo Team)
MVP (best pro player of the final): Matthieu Delfosse (Red Flacon)
Best amateur player of the final: David Amar (Ranger Polo Team)
Referees: Clément Delfosse, Martin Scortichini and Matias Baibiene
PHOTO COUPE D’OR