The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the 2015 British Open Championships at Cowdray Park Polo Club – Day 20 – The Final
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
3:00PM UAE 8 v 14 King Power Foxes, Lawns 2
Under the most perfect of English weather, forty one UAE ponies lined up in the pony lines behind Lawns 2 at Cowdray, opposite the forty two King Power ponies, as spectators gathered for the Final of the 2015 Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup. Introducing the players and their mounts, commentators John Kent and Felix Wheeler kept the crowds informed of penalties and pony power as the last match in the 2015 English high goal season began – The Final of the Jaeger Le-Coultre Gold Cup between UAE – (Jose Ramon Araya (0) Santiago Stirling (4) Lucas Monteverde (8) and Pablo MacDonough (10), and King Power Foxes – Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha (1) Hugo Lewis (1) Gonzalito Pieres (10) and Facundo Pieres (10).
It was UAE’s Pablo MacDonough who found the first goal from a penalty, quickly followed by a field goal from King Power’s patron Top, heading into the second chukka the teams were drawn at 2 all. Astride one of his favourite ponies Galaxie’s Galore (a South African mare), Facundo Pieres found a fantastic field goal in the second to put King Power Foxes ahead by three goals to two, which stretched to 5 v 2 heading into chukka three. With Facundo mounted on another favourite (Galactica) and Hugo Lewis riding Joey, combined with great running field goals from Gonzalito Pieres, the King Power Foxes remained ahead by three goals going into half time – UAE 4 v 7 King Power Foxes.
Narrowing the gap to 5 v 7 with the start of chukka four, UAE continued to keep up the pressure and great play, in a game all about the most fantastic horsemanship and horsepower. Stretching the gap once again with a field goal (5 v 8), King Power Foxes’ patron – Top – then suffered a fall, although able to finally walk off the pitch he was substituted by Kian Hall. So it was that four young players -Jose Ramon Araya (16 years old), Kian Hall (17 years old) and Hugo Lewis (20 years old) found themselves on Lawns two at Cowdray, playing alongside three ten goalers in the Final of the British Open Polo Championships.
With Facundo on Cube (Best Playing Pony 2015 Cartier Queen’s Cup) and Gonzalito on a favourite – Shannon, the penultimate chukka was always going to be a tough one for UAE. Despite Pablo MacDonough finding two quick goals (one from a penalty and one from the field), punctuated by a momentary pause in play as an umpire searched for his whistle, it was King Power Foxes who headed into the final chukka with double figures 10 v 8.
Opening with another fantastic field goal by Facundo Pieres, young English pro Hugo Lewis then showed the crowds just why he had been picked to play as part of team King Power Foxes, running the length of the ground to score the most unbelievable goal number twelve for his side. With minutes left and amidst huge cheers from the direction of the King Power Foxes players’ tent, another goal went through the posts and King Power Foxes rode off the pitch the winners of the 2015 Jaeger Le-Coultre Gold Cup beneath a scoreboard reading – King Power Foxes 14 v 8 UAE.
Driven to the presentation podium in quite the coolest Twisted Land Rovers, the first award (a Twisted Automotive rug) was presented to stunning horsepower of a slightly different kind – Best Playing Pony of the Final (who played in chukka one and five) – ‘Divina’ – Pablo McDonough’s bay mare breed by Adolfo Cambiaso. Most Valuable Player was announced as Facundo Pieres, followed by the presentation of the Gold Cup by Daniel Riedo, Chief Executive, Jaeger-LeCoultre to the winning side. Who this year were King Power Foxes – ‘doing the double’ in the 2015 English high goal season, winning first the Cartier Queen’s Cup at Guards, followed by the Gold Cup at Cowdray. Something which is quite an achievement for any team (in recent years only two other teams have lifted both cups in a season – Dubai (2010) – Rashid Albwardy, Francisco Vismara, Pablo MacDonough and Adolfo Cambiaso, and Zacara (2013) – Lyndon Lea, Facundo Pieres, Rodrigo Andrade and Matt Perry).
One name however, stands out from that list – that of twenty-nine year old Facundo Pieres, who post-match ecstatically explained to me that he ‘didn’t think we would win both tournaments, it’s great to have both – it’s very difficult to achieve that – it’s amazing.’
‘Amazing’ it would seem is rather an understatement to describe the man himself, who first won the Gold Cup in 2009 alongside his brother in Jean-Francois Decaux’s La Bamba de Areco team. Then in in Lyndon Lea’s Zacara (2013), and now in 2015 as part of Top Srivaddhanaprabha’s King Power Foxes has headed up his side to achieve the almost unachievable in polo – double wins in the same season on both Smith’s Lawn and those of Cowdray Estate.