Revamped Les Lions swamp Loro Piana in Queen’s Cup
By Herbert Spencer
German Joachim Gottschalk’s Les Lions slaughtered Italian Alfio Marchini’s Loro Piana 12-3 Saturday in the day’s only league match in the Harcourt Development Queen’s Cup tournament at Guards Polo Club.
The shockingly one-sided match recorded the biggest score difference in two years in this highly competitive 22-goal tournament that usually sees the majority of games won or lost by just a few points.
With his son Max now working abroad, Joe Gottschalk has taken over the line-up of Max’s Les Lion II team who were runners-up in last year’s Queen’s Cup: the 9-goal Argentine brothers Sebastian and Augustin Merlos and 4-goaler Chris Mackensie, 18, of South Africa.
Loro Piana managed to hold on for three chukkas and were down by only a goal at halftime, with Les Lions leading 3-2. But they scored only once in the second half as Les Lions built up their massive lead to win.
In this match at least, Loro Piana appeared just a shadow of the former powerhouse that won the Queen’s Cup in 2007 and the British Open in 2008.
League competition in the Queen’s Cup continues Sunday at Guards when Richard Mille meets Emlor and Piaget plays Enigma.