Ellerston to meet UAE in Spain’s HublotGold Cup final
By Alex Webbe
Ellerston (Johnny Williams, Ali Patterson, Gonzalo Pieresand Facundo Pieres) destroyed HB Polo (LudovicPailloncy, Sebastian Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino and Pite Merlos) 14-7,leading at one point by the score of 8-1 as they trotted into Saturday’s finalsof the Hublot Gold Cup at Spain’s Santa Maria Polo Club at Sotogrande.
Ellerston took early control of the field, running out to a3-1 second chukker lead before adding five unanswered goals as HB Polo watchedhelplessly. The teamwork of Gonzalo andFacundo Pieres were the Hallmark of the day as the team honed themselves forthe tournament finals.
Facundo’s individual accomplishments this season date backto his win in the US Open Championship at the International Polo Club inFlorida followed by a sweep of the English season with championships in theQueen’s Cup and the British Open. Teaming up with his brother on the Ellerston team in Spain, they scoreda title win in their first tournament, the high-goal silver Cup and ride intoSaturday’s final the clear favorite.
UAE 10, DUBAI 9
In the second semifinal match of the day UAE (Tommy Beresford, Jack Richardson, Lucas Monteverde and Pablo MacDonough) madetheir way past previously undefeated Dubai (MartÃn Valent, Patricio Cieza, LuisDomecq and Adolfo Cambiaso 10-9 to capture the other Hublot Gold Cup finalberth.
Dubai stormed onto the Spanish high-goal polo scene with anopening Bronze Cup championship but faltered in Silver Cup play. After racking up an impressive 3-0 record inGold Cup play with wins over Halcyon Gallery (9-7), Scapa (13-6) and HB Polo(11-9), Adolfo Cambiaso’s troops came up short in semifinal play against HHSheikha Maitha Al Maktoum’s UAE contingent.
Saturday’s Hublot Gold Cup finals will be a rematch of Ellerston’s11-10 overtime win in last week’s preliminary action. A victory would give Ellerston’s FacundoPieres a sweep of Europe’s high-goal season with title wins in the Queens Cupand British Open in England and the Silver Cup and the Hublot Gold Cup inSpain.
The Sotogrande GoldCup Final 2013 will be streamed live on www.pololinetv.com and Sat Aug 31, 2013 12:15pm EDT(and re-played again on Sat Aug 31, 2013 at 3:30pm EDT) and on https://www.hurlinghampolo.com.