Play continues despite the rain
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
This weekend was one filled with finals on either side of the Atlantic. On Saturday 28th February despite the damp, drizzle and downpours (which were somehow miraculously timed by Mother Nature to appear between games) the gates opened at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club for the 12noon Silver Cup Final between Black Hound (Simon Arber, Tarquin Southwell and Peter Webb) and Silex (Richard Fagan, Michael Henderson and Sebastian Dawnay). Despite some determined play from both sides, it was Richard Fagan and his fellow Irish teammates who lifted up the silverware post match, with Silex winning by 18 goals to Black Hound’s 15.
Following the presentation and a break between games (punctuated by rain) at 14.30 another black shirted team – Black Eagles (Jonathan Munro Ford, Sergio Baselli and Chris Hyde) rode onto a windswept pitch to defend their 2014 Arena Gold Cup win, facing in 2015 Faisal Al-Rifai’s white shirted Gaucho team (Faisal Al-Rifai, Adolfo Casabal and Oscar Mancini). This year the Arena Gold Cup (supported by Snapper and in Association with Land Rover, StaaG and Tally Ho Farm) was once again a battle between two teams both with their sights firmly set on the most sought after of Arena cups. With neither of the teams having lost a match throughout the tournament, ultimately it was Black Eagles with a final scoreboard reading 21-18, who proved to have the Midas touch on Saturday and once again lifted The Arena Gold Cup skywards at the presentation, with Chris Hyde winning MVP (having scored 19 of his team’s 21 goals) and his 23 year old bay mare Zena being awarding BPP.
Despite rain also causing damp conditions for spectators who were attending the PGA Golf Tour in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, the pitches of the International Polo Club, Palm Beach were deemed ‘fit to play’ on Sunday, meaning the CV Whitney Finals could take place. This time there was no dyed red knee pads and boots (as worn by Sugar Erskine (Coca Cola) in the semis and the finals of the Ylvisaker Cup) to symbolically leave rain-damped red dye residue on the whites of a Pieres (Polito – Villa del Lago) as occurred when they faced each other in the semis of the previous tournament. In fact, once again Mother Nature brought with her sun to shine on first the Les Armour Final (CV Whitney Subsidiary), whose outcome ended up being all about the ‘number 11’. As with 11 seconds to go in the final chukka Nico Pieres equalised the scores between Lechuza Caracas and Las Monjitas at 11 all (with Lechuza scoring four goals in the sixth chukka to come from behind, having started the final chukka at 7-11) Victor Vargas’s team then went on to win the game in over time, defeating Los Monjitas 12-11.
The CV Whitney Final (a tournament which was first held in 1979) then followed with Alegria (Julian Mannix, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Sterling Giannico) up against the might of two Pieres in Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Facundo Pieres, Polito Pieres and Ezequiel Martinez Ferrario). It was all about the team in pink in the first chukka with Julian Mannix scoring five goals for Alegria, including one memorable high goal moment when he took the ball off Facundo, then promptly put it through the posts and scored. In the end however, it was Orchard Hill who were able to keep the goal tally rising on their side of the board, to win the 2015 CV Whitney Cup by 16 goals to 13.
High goal continues at The International Polo Club, Palm Beach in the Piaget USPA Gold Cup (4th – 22nd March), followed by the 111th U.S Open Polo Championships (25th March – 19th April).
Across the water, play moves to The All England Polo Club, Hickstead next Saturday 7th March for The International Arena Polo Test Match, where England will take on Ireland at 13.30 playing for The Bryan Morrison Trophy, and Clogau Wales face a 12 goal Ireland team in a 12 goal challenge at 11.30.