Action

IMAGESOFPOLO.COM A flying Facundo Pieres on the ball, chased by Agustín ‘Tincho’ Merlos, left, and Julián ‘Negro’ de Lusarreta in the Gold Cup final

50 Queen’s Cup

Dubai held La Indiana at bay to triumph in the thrilling final seconds of play

52 Gold Cup

The new international rules made for 22 goals of fast-paced, non-stop action, pleasing players and spectators alike

54 Coronation Cup

Despite a valiant defence, England were no match for the mighty Commonwealth 56 Atlantic Cup

Age-old honour was at stake when college dream teams Harvard and Yale met their peers Oxford and Cambridge

58 Pacific Coast Open

With six well-balanced sides, the only certain thing was anything could happen

60 East Coast Open

White Birch’s Peter Brant experiences agony and euphoria in a win over Audi 62 Côte d’Azur Cup

After suffering losses in the Queen’s and Gold Cups, La Indiana finally got to taste victory in St Tropez

64 Sotogrande Season

There were fewer high-goal teams this year, but the action was no less intense

65 FIP European Championship

Berlin’s Maifeld stadium played host to two cup games during one weekend

Just when things start to get predictable in the polo world, the unexpected happens. King Power Foxes dominated last season, claiming both the Queen’s and Gold Cups, so, when Gonzalito and Facundo Pieres returned for another year with the Thai team, they automatically became the favourites. This season, however, in a dramatic turn of events, King Power Foxes failed even to make the Queen’s Cup final.

They were knocked out of the tournament by Michael Bickford’s La Indiana, after losing the semi-final in the last seconds of the game. La Indiana, in their Queen’s Cup debut, were giving the biggest organisations in polo a run for their money. However, just when it seemed Bickford (1), Nic Roldan (7), Agustín ‘Tincho’ Merlos (8) and Julián ‘Negro’ de Lusarreta (6) might finally have their fairytale ending, Dubai sent them crashing back down to reality.

After losing last year’s Queen’s Cup final to the Pieres brothers, Dubai returned to England with a fierce line-up. World number one Adolfo Cambiaso (10) recruited La Dolfina teammate Juan Martín Nero, who would play the season off nine goals. With two Triple Crown champions on board, Dubai won their sixth Queen’s Cup title after beating La Indiana in a dramatic final.

Despite their all-star line-up, however, Dubai still struggled more than in previous years, most notably in their league game against Britannia El Remanso, which they managed to win only in overtime. They regrouped in the knockout rounds, though, easily defeating RH (15-9) and smashing Zacara in the semis (16-12). They would go into the final as the only undefeated team.

La Indiana presented a good, even line-up. After losing their first game to King Power Foxes, they dominated every opponent they came up against, beating La Bamba de Areco, RH and Sifani by three, three and nine goals respectively. Being a fairly new organisation, many did not expect the team to make it past the semi-final round; their 12-11 win against King Power was the biggest surprise of the season so far, and Dubai would face a worthy opponent in the final.

The hype around La Indiana fizzled out just minutes after the first throw-in. Dubai scored four quick goals and left Bickford’s team looking

Opposite Action in the fifth chukka of the final This page Nic Roldan, middle, hooks Juan Martín Nero, right

feeble as they went into the second chukka 4-0 down. By half time, Dubai had gained a 9-4 lead.

Things were looking bleak for La Indiana. But no one would have predicted the series of events that took place in the final three chukkas. With nothing to lose, they came out fighting. Catching Dubai off guard, de Lusarreta scored three field goals, Merlos converted a penalty and, suddenly, they were back in the game, trailing by just a goal at the end of the fourth (8-9).

Dubai fought back, though: Rashid Albwardy (2), much improved after playing the US season, was useful in attack, and Kian Hall (1) made things tricky for Roldan and Merlos. Dubai went into the sixth with a two-goal advantage, but a penalty from Merlos and an amazing neck-shot goal from de Lusarreta tied the game 11–all with a minute remaining. The crowd was totally transfixed. Could La Indiana pull it off? A foul near their goal resulted in a throw-in, putting them in a vulnerable position. Unfortunately for La Indiana, it was Cambiaso who secured the ball and a small cut-shot was all he needed to score and claim his ninth Queen’s Cup title.

Dubai’s horsepower and high-goal experience may have given them the edge they needed to win the final, but La Indiana’s near-victory rattled Dubai’s star players. ‘We should have won by four goals,’ said Cambiaso. ‘It was our fault they came back. We had a thousand chances to score. They should never even have drawn the game.’

Laurent Feniou, managing director of Cartier UK, led the prize-giving, awarding a timepiece to each member of the Dubai team. The luxury watch brand hosted the Queen’s Cup for a fifth consecutive year, and its signature lunches and stylish after-parties continue to give the tournament the requisite touch of glamour.

The new international rules made for fast-paced action that thrilled the players every bit as much as those watching around the world, reports Darlene Ricker

Until King Power Foxes scampered off with their second consecutive Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup, the 2016 British Open was a grab bag of surprises. It was clear from the get-go that this was going to be a different season, whether you were on the back of a pony, watching from the sidelines or officiating.

The matches were 22 goals of non-stop action, with few of those maddening punctuations that can slow things to a crawl. ‘The HPA was inundated with emails from those who’d watched live on the internet, saying how much the games had improved and what fun it had been to watch them played in an hour and 15 minutes instead of two hours,’ said umpire Julian Appleby.

The speed came from the new international rules launched during the Florida high-goal season in January. England adopted them, as did Argentina, and they made their UK debut in May.

‘The plays different now, but it’s manageable. It’s been very positive and is working well,’ said Appleby. ‘Our priority was to get the players playing as they do in Argentina, with less whistle, and we wanted to encourage them to use the ball more freely and not manufacture fouls. We all had a great season and they loved it.’ Fervent expectations of a final showdown in the British Open between white-hot rivals King Power and Valiente were dashed when the league configuration prematurely pitted the behemoths against each other. King Power eked out a last-gasp win over Valiente in the semis, and La Indiana took Zacara by the same 11–10 margin.

That relegated the final to a tussle between defending champions King Power Foxes and La Indiana, who came into the season as underdogs. If you’d taken the final digits on the scoreboard (9–5) at face value, you’d have thought it was a flat-out massacre. But La Indiana kept the

Opposite Apichet ‘Tal’ Srivaddhanaprabha, left, hooks Michael Bickford This page, from left Merlos and Pieres play tennis with the ball; each winner received an engraved Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso timepiece

double-Pieres-powered team at bay for the first half, which ended 3–all. Had La Indiana not sputtered out in the last two chukkas, out-horsed, they might have pulled off an upset victory.

It wouldn’t have been La Indiana’s first magic trick of the season. Michael Bickford’s team trotted into England in May with an entirely new line-up – and a question mark hanging over their heads. Even though they were packing the triple firepower of Nic Roldan, Agustín ‘Tincho’ Merlos and Julián ‘Negro’ de Lusarreta, few imagined La Indiana would become the only team to volley their way into the final of all three of the 22-goal tournaments: the Queen’s and Gold Cups and Jaeger-LeCoultre Trippetts Challenge. ‘We’re still on cloud nine,’ said Roldan in August. ‘Those great seasons don’t come along all that often.’

La Indiana rode into the British Open with the same strong line-up as Trippetts and Queen’s. Valiente had to regroup, but came toting Aldolfo Cambiaso. Under a deal struck a year ago between patrons Rashid Albwardy (Dubai) and Bob Jornayvaz (Valiente), Cambiaso competed for Dubai in the US 26-goal season and Valiente in the British Open. Dubai was loaned their pick of 50 top horses from Valiente’s exquisite string.

When Jornayvaz was sidelined with a broken foot just before the Open quarter-finals, Cambiaso spent several intense days experimenting with various incarnations of the line-up. The question was which combination of young players could best support him and Juan Martín Nero. The decision to pair 18-year-old Kian Hall with Jornayvaz’s son Rob, 25, was a major factor in Valiente’s 14–7 trouncing of Clarke & Green in the quarter-finals. Hall scored five goals and Jornayvaz one – almost half of Valiente’s goals.

The other quarter-final matches ended with a three-goal spread: La Indiana/Talandracas 12–9; Zacara/HB Polo 9–6. HB Polo wielded a powerful weapon: 10-goaler David ‘Pelón’ Stirling. The team had been champing at the bit to recruit him when he was with El Remanso. ‘We had to wait for him, but this year we got him!’ We’re still on cloud nine. Those great seasons don’t come along all that often

said patron Sébastien Pailloncy, describing playing alongside Stirling ‘like playing with the king’. ‘Valiente may have the master,’ he said, referring to Cambiaso, ‘but we have the king!’

HB Polo moved from France to England a few years ago, and Pailloncy and his brother and fellow patron Ludo were representative of the strong French flavour of this year’s British Open. Three of the 13 teams –Talandracas, La Bamba de Areco and Murus Sanctus – came from France.

Talandracas’s patron Edouard Carmignac returned with Polito Pieres and Guillermo ‘Sapo’ Caset, bringing Tommy Beresford on board, while 2009 British Open winner Jean François Decaux was back with La Bamba de Areco: Cristian ‘Magoo’ Laprida, Diego Cavanagh and Rodrigo Rueda.

Murus Sanctus made their British Open debut this year, with French patrona Corinne Ricard making a strong impression with Alfredo Capella, Facundo Sola and Manuel Elizalde.

It was the Canadian Fred Mannix Jr who lifted the mighty cup after the Commonwealth’s narrow 12–11 victory over England in the Royal Salute Coronation Cup. This is the second time a Commonwealth team have captured this trophy – they won in extra time back in 2002 – but this year’s event will stand out, as the winners were truly representative of the Commonwealth, including as they did a player from Pakistan, Hissam Ali Hyder, for the first time.

The HPA knew England would have a tough game and so it fielded a much younger squad to counteract the Commonwealth powerhouse. ‘The Commonwealth were a strong team on paper and they gelled well as a team on the day,’ said England’s no 2 and Land Rover ambassador Max Charlton. ‘I go back a long way with Hissam and knew that he and his teammates were determined to put on a show. JP [Clarkin] and Chris [Mackenzie] had great games, too, and they were led from the front by Mr Mannix. I thought we did well to hold them so close, right up to the final chukka.’

In fact, the spectators, including HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Royal Salute’s Peter Moore and HPA chairman Stephen Hutchinson, were treated to a fast-paced game, with the scores level, 6–6, at half time. England’s match plan was to play a running game: ‘We really wanted to hit the ball up and play good, open polo, which we did,’ said Charlton. ‘At half time, our coach Russo [Eduardo Heguy] told us to keep using the ball and to pass it as quickly as we could.’

Although Heguy’s advice appeared to pay off in the fourth, with goals from Coronation Cup newcomer Jack Richardson and England captain James Beim, the Commonwealth team were equally fired up. Goals from every member of the team ensured the visitors had a slight advantage going into the final chukka.

Mannix began the final chukka by converting a penalty, but it was England who were in command. Both Beim and James Harper, also making his Coronation Cup debut, shot through a goal each to bring the home side back into contention. But time was against them, and with a score of 12–11, it was victory once again to the Commonwealth.

Opposite James Harper on the ball This page, from top Fred Mannix Jnr receives the cup from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and Stephen Hutchinson; MVP Chris Mackenzie chased by Max Charlton

They may have lost, but England should be proud of their style of play. The Royal Salute Coronation Cup remains the showcase test match for the England Polo Team, and this was a masterclass of open polo. As Charlton reflected later, ‘It is a pleasure and a privilege to wear the England shirt and play for my country. We are following in the footsteps of great players, in front of the royal family, and have the opportunity to play against top-class players, like this Commonwealth team.’

Hutchinson echoed these sentiments. ‘Congratulations to the GT Bank Commonwealth team for their victory here today. Fred Mannix Jr and his fellow Commonwealth players provided us with an impressive display of teamwork and individual play and justly deserved to lift the very special Royal Salute Coronation Cup. Although it would have been nice to see an England victory in my first Royal Salute Coronation Cup as chairman of the HPA, a good game is the aim of the day, and the teams have certainly given us that. I would like to thank the captains and the players, as well as both coaches and all those behind the scenes, for their contribution to this important day for English polo. It is clear that Royal Salute has established a world-class

platform on which polo can be promoted to an increasingly discerning audience.’

The Best Playing Pony prize went to Jack Richardson’s 10-year-old bay mare, Night Lights, while the Garrard MVP prize went to 23-year-old South African Chris Mackenzie, who had been so impressive in defence for the Commonwealth. The HPA’s Ferguson Trophy for Best Young Player of the Year was presented to Tommy Beresford by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The crowds also witnessed The Duke receiving a special tribute: a Royal Salute 90th-Anniversary Limited Edition to honour the Queen’s birthday.

In a change of format, a second game was played later that afternoon. This featured a Piaget Young England team in action against Ireland in a drama-filled match. Max Hutchinson, son of the HPA’s chairman, retired injured and his place was taken by the Irish international Sebastian Dawnay. But the addition of Dawnay could not stop England, led by Ollie Cudmore, from winning the Diamond Jubilee Trophy 4–3. Ireland’s captain Niall Donnelly received the Best Playing Pony prize for his mare Chelsea.

When Harvard and Yale met Oxford and Cambridge to battle it out for collegiate honour, the atmosphere was guaranteed to be electric – both on and off the field

In a packed long weekend of polo, Harvard and Yale Universities were invited to renew the challenge to their rivals across the Atlantic, Oxford and Cambridge. As much a celebration of student polo as a battle for supremacy, the resuscitated Atlantic Cup tournament once again showcased its huge appeal, both to the emergent talent participating as well as the large crowds that it attracted.

The Atlantic Cup preliminaries kicked off on Friday 3 June at Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire, with a determined Cambridge side resolutely fending off strong play from an experienced Harvard team to win by just one goal. Meanwhile, a valiant Yale side led by Elias Vere Nicoll succumbed to defeat by firm favourites Oxford. The underdogs in terms of experience, the latter were certainly the winners in the style stakes.

Saturday 4 June heralded the La Martina Varsity Day, hosted in partnership with Guards Polo Club in front of a huge number of fans from both sides of the pond. The La Martina clothing brand, which has supported university polo for the past 20 years, generated the usual celebratory atmosphere. As the company’s founder, Lando Simonetti, noted, ‘We’ve always been focused on promoting the integrity, sense of honour and sportsmanship that’s at the heart of the sport to young players and their peers.’

This passion was echoed post-match by Yale player Antonia Campbell: ‘We love playing here – it’s the biggest adrenaline rush you’ll ever experience in your life. You can see improvement in play from chukka to chukka and game to game – and if you’re lucky and it works out and you win, it’s the most exhilarating feeling in the world.’

Opposite Johann ColloredoMansfeld of Harvard in front of the pack This page, from top Oxford’s George Pearson at Varsity Day; Cambridge, left, faces Yale in the throw-in

The day started with an alumni match in which the Oxford Old Blues gained the upper hand over the Cambridge Old Blues, and was followed by a confident win by Harvard over their Ivy League rivals, Yale.

Next up was the much-hyped Oxford vs Cambridge match. This fixture has been played annually since 1879 off the stick – that is, with no handicap deductions. Cambridge tried to the bitter end to stem the tide of goals from the much more experienced 3-goal team led by 2-goaler George Pearson, but the match ended with a record win to Oxford, which is undoubtedly one of the strongest student sides around today.

Thanks to the generosity of La Martina and Guards Polo Club, in addition to some thrilling polo, supporters enjoyed live music, giveaways and all the fun of an English garden-partythemed afternoon.

Sunday saw a reprise of the festive spirit, with the sun shining for the Atlantic Cup final. More than 600 spectators were in attendance as Cambridge, led by Theo Wethered, racked up a win over Yale, and Harvard, returning with

their top player, Johann Colloredo-Mansfeld, secured a victory over the Oxford team.

Three sides each having secured two wins, the rankings fell to goal difference, with Yale falling into 4th place and Cambridge 3rd, edged out by Harvard, who were in 2nd after their strong margin against Oxford, with Oxford taking home the Atlantic Cup.

This was a true celebration of university polo: great rivalry, great fun and great support from on-the-day sponsors Tata Communications and Camford 1209, and partners La Martina and the Cambridge County and Guards Polo Clubs.

August’s Gulfstream Pacific Coast Open (PCO) at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, in California, was a three-week guessing game. With six well-balanced teams, two of them new, the only certain thing was that anything could happen. That made for one of the most exciting high-goal tournaments of the US summer season. Restoration Hardware (RH) took home their first PCO trophy after 12 years of trying, defeating FMB Too! 13–9.

The biggest wild card of the event was PCO newcomer FMB Too!, who stunned everyone by smoothly playing their way into the final. The team’s idiosyncratic name came about as the result of an inside joke between Danny and Henry Walker, two patrons of opposing teams who also happen to be brothers. Off the field, they are colleagues and executives at Farmers & Merchants Bank. Henry used to enjoy teasing Danny about his ‘FMB1’ licence plate, claiming he was going to get one that read ‘FMB Too!’ However, he got himself a polo team and gave that the name instead.

Odds-on favourite FMB came into the tournament with an unblemished record, having just won the USPA’s Maserati Silver Cup and Nespresso America Cup at Santa Barbara. But that didn’t stop their opponents from nipping at their heels all the way through the PCO. Against strong opposition, FMB landed in the top spot in the semi-final pairings with a 3–0 record. Klentner Ranch and RH finished 2–1 and FMB Too! grabbed the last semi-final berth after beating Lucchese in the penalty shoot-out. Young Chilean player Felipe Vercellino was the epitome of cool, scoring from the 40- and 60-yard lines for FMB Too! and taking both shots at a dead walk.

The semi-finals showcased fluid, wide-open polo at its finest. ‘You could see the challenge on the field: the team that struggled early on in the tournament [RH] taking on the team that’d had a lot of success [FMB],’ said Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club manager Melanja Jones. ‘RH were very hungry.’

The young guns of RH gelled at just the right juncture in the semi-final to fight back from an 8–4 deficit against FMB, and blazed ahead on a 5-goal run to take the win. In the other semi-final, strong teamwork from all players, particularly the two patrons, Henry Walker and Francisco

Opposite Half-time in the semi-finals of the Pacific Coast Open as a wildfire rages on the horizon

de Narváez, enabled FMB Too! to knock out a very tough Klentner Ranch team.

Both RH and FMB Too! brought everything they had to the final, and goal-scoring was neck-and-neck though the first half. Going into the fourth, RH ‘scrambled their line-up’, said Walker. ‘They moved Santi von Wernich from the back to the front and Costi Caset to the middle.’ And that, he said, presented a major challenge. ‘Costi’s very slippery. If he gets the ball on one of his fast horses, he’s gone.’ RH blew the game open, scoring an unanswered five goals behind explosive runs from Caset and perfect penalty shooting by Jason Crowder. That chukka made all the difference.

FMB Too!’s strategy going into the final was ‘to create an imbalance or mismatch’ in the RH line-up, explained Walker. ‘My job was to eliminate Santi from the field – I was all over him for the entire game. Meanwhile, Paco [Francisco de Narváez’s son] and Pepe [Felipe Vercellino] worked on the others.’ Francisco de Narváez, who played with a fractured wrist and two broken ribs, ‘showed wisdom and depth of knowledge’ throughout the tournament, said Walker. RH team founder Ben Soleimani described

the PCO as ‘a great tournament, but not an easy one to win’. He said it was much more competitive than he had thought it would be. ‘But our team just kept getting better and better, and then we clicked. The four of us played for each other and that’s how we won: through selflessless.’

Coming off the English season, RH took the West Coast by storm in what was Santa Barbara natives Caset and Crowder’s first year back in the United States, and the home-town victory carried deep meaning for them. Indeed, Caset called it the ‘biggest win of my life’ and said he had long dreamed of winning the PCO. To top it off, he went home with an armful of awards: he was named Most Valuable Player and his fourth-chukka horse, Chelo Poncho, was named Best Playing Pony.

A total of eight teams signed up for the East Coast Open, ranging in handicap from 17- to 20-goals, with four of them considered to be serious contenders. White Birch (Santino Magrini, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) were among the favourites, as were the defending Audi team (Marc Ganzi, Leo Mandelbaum, Nic Roldan and Sebastian Merlos). Airstream took the field without patron Peter Orthwein, with 16-year-old Agustin Bottaro taking his place. Guille Aguero, Matias Magrini and Kris Kampsen completed the line-up. Maureen Brennan’s Goose Creek (with Marcos Garcia del Rio, Tomas Garcia del Rio and Mariano Gonzalez) were the fourth serious threat in the field.

The contenders comprised the Faraway team, captained by brothers Bo and Hutton Goodman, (with Inaki Laprida, Julian Daniels and Pelon Escapite); Annabelle Gundlach’s Postage Stamp Farm (with Brandon Phillips, Salva Ulloa and João Paulo Ganon); Luis Rinaldini’s Tupungato (with Santi Torres, Naco Taverna and Gaston Lisioli); and a 17-goal Beluga team led by Chris Brant, son of Greenwich Polo Club founder Peter Brant (with Nick Manifold, Francisco Elizalde and Tommy Biddle).

Neither Audi nor White Birch had difficulties in preliminary play, each amassing perfect 3–0 records – the much-anticipated rematch from last year’s extra-time thriller was on. Audi struck early in the final, with Merlos scoring on a pass from the opening throw-in. Roldan then scored back-to-back goals from the field, with a bewildered White Birch appearing stunned by their opponents’ aggressive lightning attack.

Opposite Hilario Ulloa on the ball in the final This page Sixteen-year-old Santino Magrini, right, scoring the winning goal in extra time

Ulloa finally got White Birch on the scoreboard with a 60-yard penalty conversion, but Audi claimed an early 3–1 lead.

Three more unanswered goals in the second chukka had Audi riding off the field at the end of the period with a commanding 6–1 advantage. The two teams traded goals in the third as White Birch struggled to steady themselves, and the first half ended with Audi five ahead, 9–4.

White Birch made some half-time adjustments in an effort to get back into the game, and the changes began to work: 16-year-old Magrini was sent after Audi’s Mandelbaum in an effort to keep him from harassing Ulloa and Aguerre. It was thought if this duo were free to operate, they could slow down Roldan and put some White Birch goals on the scoreboard. Aguerre also felt they had to control the pace of the game – if Audi were allowed to continue to hit and run, White Birch would be stopped from staging a comeback.

As the fourth chukka got underway, the strategy began to work. Three straight goals from White Birch were accompanied by shut-out defence. Audi continued to lead, but momentum had shifted and White Birch trailed by just two goals, 9–7. Two fifth-chukka penalty goals by Ulloa were countered by a single goal from Merlos, and after five periods of play, Audi were struggling to hold on to a fragile 10–9 lead.

Ulloa broke away from Merlos in the sixth to score his eighth goal of the afternoon, and levelled the score at 10–10. Merlos followed up on a penalty shot of his own (the fifth penalty of the match), racing down the field and giving the lead back to Audi, 11–10. Penalties continued to plague Audi, with Ulloa returning to the penalty line, where he converted a 40-yard shot to deadlock the score at 11–11.

With 32 seconds on the clock, White Birch captain Peter Brant suffered an injury away from the play and was replaced by young player Justin Daniels. In a dramatic effort by Daniels, he broke loose with seconds on the clock in a dash down the field, but the final horn sounded with Daniels short of the Audi goal, resulting in a sudden-death overtime chukka.

After a brief intermission allowing both teams to acquire fresh mounts, Audi and White Birch returned to the field. Following the throw-in, Roldan broke away with the ball and raced toward the White Birch goal. A shot from the American 8-goaler went just wide, however, and the game continued. White Birch mounted an attack on the Audi goal and, with Roldan attempting to clear the ball across the goal mouth, Magrini connected on a well-executed backhander that sent the ball through the posts and gave the 12–11 win in extra time to White Birch.

Ulloa led all scoring with nine goals, Magrini scored twice and Aguerre added another to secure the victory. Roldan’s six set the offensive pace for Audi, meanwhile, and earned him MVP honours. Merlos was credited with four goals and Ganzi scored once. Aguerre’s fifth-chukka pony, Machitos Bersuit, was named BPP.

The 22-goal La Indiana team (Michael Bickford, Nic Roldan, Agustín ‘Tincho’ Merlos and Julian ‘Negro’ de Lusarreta) flirted with infamy this summer as they battled their way to the final of the Queen’s Cup and the Gold Cup in the British Open, only to fall short in the final matches. With a new team and a reorganised effort, Bickford hoped to improve on their earlier efforts in the 18-goal Côte d’Azur Open in St Tropez.

An international trio was recruited by the American-born Bickford: Ruki Baillieu from Australia, Jaime Huidobro from Chile and Jamie Morrison from England. La Indiana got off to an ominous start, suffering an 11-7 opening loss to F Polo (Nicky Sen, Felipe Llorente, Sebastian Harriott and Polito Pieres), with Pieres leading the charge with eight goals.

‘It was our first game together,’ said 3-goaler Morrison. ‘I was playing injured, with a tennis elbow, Ruki hadn’t played much that summer and we were all trying to get our horses right.’

La Indiana bounced back in their next match, building up an early lead against Composite Works (Helen Goddard-Watts, Bautista Ortiz de Urbina, Pablo Jauretche and JM Garcia Laborde) before triumphing 9-6½. The win was gratifying, but the team still wasn’t in sync.

A loss to 21st Luxury (Francisco Menéndez, Eduardo Menéndez, Gualtiero Giori and Silvestre Fanelli) saw their anaemic offence limited to just three goals in the opening four chukkas, all on penalty conversions. At the end of preliminary play, four teams were tied with 1–2 records, but La Indiana won their way through a shoot-out to make it to the semi-finals, meeting the undefeated King Power (Miguel Mendoza, Matías Nigoul, Alfonso Pieres and Gonzalito Pieres).

It had been a King Power team that crushed Bickford’s dream of winning the Queen’s Cup back in June, and now the two teams – albeit with altered line-ups – were facing off again. A change to La Indiana’s alignment sent Morrison to the no 2 position while Baillieu moved to no 3 and Huidobro settled in to the back spot. King Power 10-goaler Gonzalito Pieres controlled

Opposite The teams celebrate with their families This page Ruki Baillieu on the near side, with Valentin Novillo Astrada on his hip

the first half of play, scoring three times in the first chukka alone and running the team’s lead up to 5–1 at the end of the third period.

‘We were playing well, but we just weren’t scoring,’ Morrison explained. ‘We were getting shots on goal, but the ball wasn’t going through the posts. However, we knew that if we kept taking the shots, the goals would come.’

A regrouped La Indiana took the field in the fourth chukka, but it was Pieres who scored the opening goal and ran the lead up to five goals, which became 6–1 when Bickford and company got going. A goal by Morrison was followed by three from Baillieu, two of those on penalty conversions. After four chukkas, the King Power lead stood at a single goal, 6–5. Fifth-chukka goals from both Mendoza and Pieres – the latter another penalty conversion – had King Power ahead by three goals when La Indiana rallied. Bickford scored first, followed by two goals from Morrison that tied the game at 8–8. Baillieu scored the winning goal, giving La Indiana some sense of satisfaction at having knocked King Power out of the Côte d’Azur Open with a 9–8 victory to earn a spot in the final. The Ferne Park team (Rodrigo Rueda, Joaquin Pittaluga, Valentin Novillo Astrada and Jonathan Rothermere) took up the other finalist position on the strength of a 2–1 preliminary record and a 9–7 win over F Polo in the semi-final.

La Indiana took an early lead over Ferne Park, 2–1, but fell behind after the second chukka, 5–4. Unanswered goals from Huidobro and Morrison gave La Indiana a 6–5 edge after the third. They went ahead 8–6 in the fourth chukka, but an injury sustained by Baillieu at the end saw Francisco Menéndez take his place. La Indiana was trailing 9–8 in the fifth, with time running down on the game clock. Huidobro tied the game at 9–9 with a penalty conversion and Menéndez scored the winner, 10–9, with just nine seconds to go.

Huidobro was named Most Valuable Player and Bickford’s Lana (who was played by both Baillieu and Menéndez) was honoured as Best Playing Pony. After suffering losses in the finals of the Queen’s Cup and the British Open, La Indiana were at last able to triumphantly hoist the Côte d’Azur Open cup aloft in victory.

In Sotogrande this August, there were notably fewer teams competing in the high-goal. Only five took part in the 2016 event – down from eight in the previous year and 12 in 2014.

This decline can be attributed to several factors: fewer patrons, the pairing-up of top players to create superteams, and last year’s complaints to Santa Maria Polo Club about problems with the fixtures, refereeing and organisation of the tournaments. Following a successful adjustment to umpiring during the English season, clubs such as Santa Maria should perhaps follow the Hurlingham Polo Association’s initiative with high-goal umpiring (as explained by Peter Wright on page 24).

There were more teams taking part this year in both the medium- and low-goal categories, however. Though the Spanish season is short, it is very intense, with 100-plus games played during four and a half weeks. Cancha III became the main ground for the high-goal finals because of its viewing capacity from both sides, which better accommodated the ever-increasing crowd. Brunei made history by winning the Silver Cups in both the high- and medium-goal categories, as well as the Gold Cup for the medium-goal. Their patron, Bahar Jefri, is no stranger to Sotogrande, having won the Spanish Triple Crown in 2008 with his then-team Amibah. He returned this year with excellent organisation and a high-goal team comprising two 10-goal players, David ‘Pelon’ Stirling and Pablo Mac Donough, and British rookie Josh Cork.

The Casa de Campo Silver Cup final was against Iñigo Zobel’s Ayala, with Facundo and Nico Pieres and Jack Hyde. Despite putting up a strong fight, they were overcome by Brunei’s team strategy and a masterful goal by Mac Donough in the last chukka. Facundo Pieres won MVP and the BPP was awarded to Blancanieves, played by Stirling.

HRH Princess Azemah won the Silver Cup medium-goal match with Brunei teammates Temy Willington, Facundo Fernandez Llorente and Rosendo Torreguitar. HRH Prince Jefri, returning to polo after many years, then took over from Her Royal Highness and went on to win the Gold Cup against Golden Goose.

The Dubai team – Alejo Taranco, Adolfo Cambiaso, Rashid Albwardy and Santiago Stirling (above, from left) – won the Bronze Cup against Lechuza Caracas after being knocked out of the Silver Cup in an unfortunate penalty shoot-out. This being their only loss during the season, Dubai were still the ultimate victors, taking the prestigious Cartier Gold Cup and defending their title from last year.

The Gold Cup final was against Ayala, with Tom Brodie playing in place of Hyde. At the start of the fifth chukka, the scoreboard showed 6–6, but Dubai pushed ahead and convincingly blocked play by the Pieres brothers. Cambiaso suffered a bad fall in the last chukka and was taken off the field to be replaced by Juan Martín Nero for the final three minutes of the match.

It was a great honour for Santa Maria Polo Club that the final was attended by HM King Juan Carlos (above centre) who presented the Gold Cup to patron Ali Abwardy (centre right).

Spectators in Berlin experienced an unmissable double-header in the shape of the 8-goal FIP European Championship and the Maifeld Cup during one of the most memorable weekends of the season

Eight teams – Poland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Ireland and the hosts, Germany – entered the 2016 FIP European Championship in Berlin. After Ireland and France fought their way to the final, it was time to move the thrill of the game from the Preussische Polo & Country Club to the main stage at the Maifeld. The famous sports field is located right behind the city’s Olympic stadium and was used for polo and equestrian dressage in the 1936 Olympics. It is now open only once a year – fittingly, for polo.

The action kicked off between Poland and Slovakia on the Saturday, and they were lucky enough to experience a brand-new Maifeld, renovated especially for the event. The game opened with a degree of uncertainty, as few knew what to expect from them or their horses. Eventually, great teamwork from Poland took them into the lead and they won 6½–4.

The second match of the day was played between Italy and The Netherlands. The new-look Italian team consisted of previous team members Tuky Caivano and Pulli Grilling, with Ginevra d’Orazio – the only woman in the tournament – and Goffredo Cutinelli joining. This proved to be the right formula, as Italy won 6–4.

Later, against the iconic backdrop of the Olympic Stadium, the Tom Tailor Cup of the Maifeld Cup was celebrated. Engel & Völkers (Christopher Winter, Thomas Winter, Oliver Winter and Tim Ward) played the subsidiary final against Eltec (Moritz Gaedeke, Niko Wollemberg, Marcos Riglos and Tatu Gomez Romero). It was an exciting match, during which Eltec took control throughout and won 7½–10.

Both championships resumed during a rainy Sunday afternoon, and it was time for Germany to battle Austria for the bronze. The Germans put up a great fight, showing excellent discipline and solid teamwork. However, even though they started well and kept the lead until the fourth chukka, Austria – a tough opponent – kept them busy by fighting hard until the very end, when Martin Bleier scored three goals in a row and took the game into extra time. Caesar Crasemann then managed to score and end this nail-biting game in his team’s favour, 5–6.

It was then time for the eagerly awaited finals of the prestigious FIP European Championship between France and Ireland. The air was tense and the crowd expectant. Louis Jarrige opened up the scoreboard, but Max Hutchinson wasn’t going to allow Les Bleus to lead for long. He scored shortly after, and in the second chukka – thanks to two goals by Mikey Henderson and one by Creighton Boyd – the game was decided and the four Irishmen and their fast, responsive horses emerged as champions, 7-4. BPP went to Hutchinson’s horse, The One Who Got Away. The weekend concluded with the final of the Maifeld Cup – an exciting match between the Tom Tailor team (Uwe Schröder, Daniel Crasemann, Gastón Maiquez and Cristobal Durrieu) and Allianz Kundler (Paul Netzsch, Juan José Storni, Lucas Labat and Andreas Bihrer). Though the game was interrupted by heavy rain, it continued shortly after and the team from Hamburg kept up its dominance, finally triumphing to take home the coveted cup.

From left Creighton Boyd, Stephen and Max Hutchinson, and Mickey Henderson