Richard Mille Wins World Polo League Founders Cup Debut, Second Round Play Begins Wednesday
WELLINGTON, Fl., March 2, 2021 – On Monday Richard Mille (Marc Ganzi, Pablo Mac Donough, Jeta Castagnola, Paco de Narvaez) overcame White Birch (Chris Brant, Facu Llorente, Mariano Aguerre, and Santi Tocalino) to advance in the WPL Founders Cup.
White Birch started off with a three-goal lead on handicap and maintained their lead throughout the first three chukkers. Brant, Tocalino, and Aguerre all tallied goals for White Birch while Castagnola, Ganzi, and Mac Donough rallied to bring the score within one point of White Birch 5-6 at the end of the third chukker.
In the second half Richard Mille dominated immediately scoring five goals in the fourth chukker, while White Birch’s Chris Brandt was only able to tap one goal in for his team, leaving the score 10-7 in favor of Richard Mille.
Play slowed in the fifth and sixth chukkers with scoring staying even between both teams. Aguerre added three goals for White Birch, and Tocalino one more, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the persistence of Richard Mille who was able to come out on top ending the sixth chukker 12-11.
Successfully answering five penalties, Jeta Castagnola was the high scorer of the day with six goals.
Second round play will continue with a doubleheader on Wednesday. Casablanca who sits 1-0 after defeating Santa Rita last week will face off with Seminole Casino Coconut Creek at 11am. Seminole Casino Coconut Creek defeated Hawaii Polo Life 9-8 in overtime play during their Founders Cup first round game.
The second game of the day at 4pm will feature Great Oaks and Richard Mille who also won their first round games.
Thursday will feature another doubleheader at 1pm and 4pm. Hawaii Polo Life will meet Santa Rita and Pampa Norte will be facing off with White Birch.
Founded by Grand Champions owners Melissa and Marc Ganzi, and Valiente owner Bob Jornayvaz the World Polo League is the only 26-goal polo in the world outside of Argentina. The WPL was created to preserve the highest level of polo and its rich, hallowed tradition in the United States. The WPL, boasting 13 tournament-quality fields to play on, will continue to follow the season opening All-Star Challenge with a number of top-level tournaments that will include: Founder’s Cup, Palm Beach Open, Triple Crown of Polo, and Beach Polo World Cup, Miami Beach April 21-25.
The World Polo League attracts the sport’s top players from every corner of the world, including: Australia, Chile, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Argentina, Canada, Ecuador, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Germany, Uruguay, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, South Africa, Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Grand Champions and Santa Rita Polo Farm is the largest and most unique polo facility in Wellington with 120 stalls in five self-contained barns, an exercise track, five climate-controlled tack rooms, a vet room, staff quarters, a guest house and three polo fields with state-of-the-art underground irrigation including one field for stick-and-ball and plans to build more in the future.
World Polo League matches will continue to be closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We closely adhere to Florida state and CDC guidelines, and take all measures possible to maintain a safe environment that will allow us to continue playing. We look very forward to the day we can welcome our fans back. In the interim, please visit www.worldpolo.orgfor more information. Matches can be viewed on www.chukkertv.com