A great champion in opening of the French Open of Polo |
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A dazzling return in September awaits the polo amateurs with, as the Opening of the French Open, an exhibition game proposed by Richard Mille. The official timekeeper of the Polo of Chantilly is also the partner of the gathering « Chantilly Arts and Elegance Richard Mille » to be held the same weekend in the gardens of the Château de Chantilly. The first edition had known a huge success for its first edition in 2014 with about 10 000 visitors. Richard Mille also counts among the sportive teams the great polo player Pablo Mac Donough Handicap 10. He is among all the n°3 of the legendary team La Dolfina with whom he won the Argentine Open three times after having won it twice with Ellerstina. Last December, he clinched the Triple Crown (victory in the three most prestigious tournaments in the world, the Tortugas, Hurlinghman and Argentina Opens) for the second consecutive year, a rare feat that only one other team reached in more than a century of history in Argentine polo! Pablo McDonough therefore cooks up a 25 goals level game with the Polo Club of Chantilly and the professionals players who will be present at the club at that time for the French Open. This will be the highest level game that will be played in Europe this year! This « Richard Mille » game will be the kick-off of the 15th French Open for which eight teams announced their engagement. Teams from Switzerland, Germany and probably Great-Britain. But the French supporters will clearly be fond of one of last year’s finalist, Sainte-Mesme, which will counts only French players in its ranks, two handicap 5 Clément Delfosse and Brieuc Rigaux, the talented Robert Strom, handicap 4 and his father, Robert Strom, the captain of this great team. They will face a stiff competition, with players of the calibers of Martin Aguerre precisely (h6), Dario Musso (La Quinta, h7) and yet others Argentines, as well as British players as their n°1 (and best European), Luke Tomlinson (h7) or the excellent South-African Chris McKenzie (h6), former double-winner of the Gold Cup in Deauville. (NB : the final teams will soon be know, but these early pre-registration suggest a highly competitive tournament). The « mixed » French Open is the highest level tournament held in Europe during September (from 5th to 20th); in parallel of the final phase (from the 16th) the 4th Feminine French Open will be played, exclusively for female players as the name suggests it and which is also the feminine tournament at the highest level in Europe and for which are expected particularly some British professionals players, who are among the best players in the world. A September month enriched by two other tournaments of lower level, the Trophée Castel and the Coupe du Capitaine des Jeux, which then will make the Polo of Chantilly one of the largest gathering in the world as nearly 800 horses will be concentrated on the land of the Ferme d’Apremont! |