The quarter-finals of the Open de France Barnes delivered on all expectations this weekend at the Chantilly Polo Club, with four thrilling matches. Each game was decided in the final chukker, and sometimes even in extra time, with some stunning performances. The stars of Palermo played a big part in this, inspiring their teammates to greater heights.
Over the last 25 years, the Open de France has revealed many talents. This year, it was the turn of the young Briton Louis Hine (19) to burst onto the scene. Partnering with Pelón Stirling, he quickly found his rhythm with the Uruguayan maestro, demonstrating excellent teamwork, initiative, and precision in penalties. Already a handicap 5, he has great potential for improvement. Having scored five goals in the quarter-final, he secured Octogone’s place in the semi-finals following a tough match against Brittany Polo Club (La Baule), who had led for most of the game.
Octogone will face La Magdeleine in the semi-finals on Friday at 2 pm. The southwest Paris club had to work hard to defeat the impressive British team, Clinova, who have continued to make great strides this season. Led by Alfredo Capella and Alejandro Muzzio, the team put up a good fight against the other formidable pair in this Open: Jero del Carril and Facundo Llorente. The latter two scored all 14 of La Magdeleine’s goals, including the final one.
It was a masterpiece of a match, with 27 goals scored in total—close to the 2020 record of 29 goals, when Barto Castagnola (Les Lions) and his brother Jeta (Talandracas) engaged in an unforgettable duel. Jero Del Carril leads the ‘Top Scorers’ ranking with 37 goals since the start of the tournament, ahead of Sapo Caset (Essso).
Tédélou’s nemesis was the latter on Sunday, in a quarter-final that was decided in extra time. The Chantilly-based team had dominated the match for the first four chukkers and seemed to have secured their place in the next round, going into the final chukker with a two-goal lead. However, Sapo Caset and Chulo Guerrero sparked a comeback by scoring two late goals, leveling the score at 10-10 and sending the match into extra time. This extra time initially seemed to favor Tédélou, with an easily awarded penalty … unfortunately missed by Juan-Gris Zavaleta. A few seconds later, the referee blew his whistle for a foul on the other side of the pitch, this time in Essso’s favour. Sapo Caset kept his cool and secured his team’s place in the semi-finals.
Essso will face the winner of the 2023 Open de France, Kazak, on Friday at 4:30 pm. It was another spectacular battle: after dominating the match, Kazak were caught up at the last minute thanks to a resurgent Juan-Martin Zubia, who started the game unimpressively but was decisive in the end, and above all to a heroic Gonzalo Ferrari, who kept Talandracas at bay and scored the equalizer. The suspense during extra time was short-lived. Despite the referee’s instructions to use the ball, Zubia hesitated for half a second, thus conceding an easy penalty to Fran Elizalde and propelling Kazak into the semi-finals for the third time in three Open de France appearances.
And as good news never comes alone, we also learned that the “Argentinian version” of Kazak had qualified for the semi-finals of the Abierto del Jockey Club in Buenos Aires. There, they will face Scone, led by Poroto Cambiaso, on Wednesday. All of which gave Sébastien Aguettant every reason to smile broadly in Chantilly yesterday!
The standard of play in these quarter-finals was so high that none of the teams really deserved to be eliminated—the polo on display was simply magnificent. Now it’s time for the semi-finals, which promise to be equally exciting.
And the action doesn’t stop there: there are many more matches to watch throughout the week until Sunday. The Women’s Open starts tomorrow and will feature eight international teams, including American star Hope Arellano (H10) and defending champion Milly Hine (H9). Milly is the sister of Louis, the revelation of this mixed Open.
Sunshine is expected in Chantilly, and from Friday the village will be open with exhibitors, entertainment, and food trucks—providing plenty of reasons to enjoy a great weekend of polo, sport, and celebration!
The semi-finals of the Open de France Barnes 2025
Friday, September 19, 2:00 p.m.:
Octogone Polo Team (16): Alexis Morange (0), Justo Laulhé (3), Louis Hine (5), David “Pelón” Stirling (8)
vs.
La Magdeleine (17): Alexandre Garese (0), Italo Viglienchio (1), Facundo F. Llorente (8), Jeronimo del Carril (8)
Friday, September 19, 4:30 p.m.:
Essso (16): Ian Gallienne (0), Mack McCaffery (1), Guillermo “Sapo” Caset (9), Javier Guerrero Jr. (6)
vs.
Kazak Polo Team (16): Sébastien Aguettant (0), Ramon Collardin (2), Francisco Elizalde (8), Simon Prado (6)
An international women’s test match between France and England will precede these semi-finals at 1 p.m.
FRANCE (19): Paloma Lauro (3), Ambre Ploix (5), Elena Venot (7), and Lucie Venot (5)
ENGLAND (21): Kristina White (1), Hazel Jackson (10), Tamara Fox (6), and Rebecca Walters (5)
The scores will be annouced in live on ChukkerApp.
The matches will be broadcast live on Pololine TV.