Polo Challenge Dominican Republic 2017

March 8th marked the debut of the HB polo team in the Dominican Republic in 2017. Ludovic Pailloncy’s team has joined the Polo Challenge for the Gold Cup. Nacho Novillo Astrada, Lalo James and Gonzalo von Wernich complete the quartet that has already kicked off their Dominican season with the right foot after winning the match against Casa de Campo. The game started off with a tie on the first chukka, 2-2. It was a quite even match, both teams were just a goal away from each other on most chukkas, and finally, in the 5th period, HB finally took the lead and stretched the goal difference to two in the last one, to close the scoreboard on 11-9.

On Friday, March 10th the fourth match of the Copa de Oro, the third trophy of the Polo Challenge, on the 22-goal category took place at Los Establos in Cap Cana. The team of the Italian patron Alessandro Bazzoni was pitted against the Mannix Brothers’ team Sebucan HPA. The Canadian team, which had an excellent campaign during the Bronze Cup, has been having the same luck on neither the Silver nor the Gold Cup, and this game was no exception. The game kicked off with a tie, and from that moment on, Cinque Terre took the lead, closing the second period with a 5-3 score. From that point on, they were able to extend its goal difference quite broadly: by half-time, they were already three goals ahead. During the 5th and 6th chukka, Sebucan HPA stepped up and was able to reduce the goal difference, but they could not take the lead and the game ended in 10-8 for Cinque Terre.

On Sunday March 12th, at Lechuza Caracas RD, the club property of Victor Vargas and home base to his team, hosted two very entertaining matches. 

The first was a competition between Sebucan HPA and Lechuza Caracas. These two teams, who played the final of the Bronze Cup, met once again. Lechuza Caracas due to its machine-like perfect team functioning and the two star players Juanma Nero and David Stirling Jr. was able once more, to triumph. There was not a single moment of the match where Lechuza lost control of it, and their victory became evident since the first chukka, which already positioned them with a two-goal advantage. This difference widened up at a steady pace throughout the chukkas, and the game ended in 13-7.

The second match was a battle between HB Polo, that had a great debut last Thursday, and Cinque Terre. This match was a rowdy one, and the teams had equal chances to win. But after the first chukka, HB Polo took control of the game, leading all periods by a small difference, until the 4th chukka, when this difference was widened to 9-5. Cinque Terre responded quickly, and managed to score four goals on the following chukkas, but this action came too late, and HB won by 10-9.

Polo Challenge continues on Thursday 16th with the following matches:
HB vs. Sebucan-HPA
Cinque Terre vs. Casa de Campo

On Thursday, March 9th, the 12-goal Copa de Oro kicked off with a match between La Potranca and Casa de Campo, that resulted in a victory for the first named team, by 8-7.

On Saturday 11th, two games took place in the Dominican Republic, both in the club Casa de Campo, in the 12-goal category. The first game took place. First, it was a very rowdy match between Pitirri-El Palenque and the locals Casa de Campo, led by the Bensadon duo, father, and son. The strongest team so far, Pitirri-El Palenque, led by Rafa Perez Diez and Enrique Bonetti, were able once again, to dominate the game and win 14-9.

Secondly, the game between La Potranca and Costasur was held. La Potranca, the second strongest team just before Pitirri, was able to lead the match throughout all chukkas and won 12-8.