British Open: the Queen's Cup

    Polo players tend to protect their patrons’ privacy. It is extremely hard–not to say impossible–to get an interview unless you first go through one of their players. Many times this acts as a philter to requests that don’t even reach their destination. A colleague from Corrientes, a great guy; great professional, who had never had the good fortune of being able to reach the well remembered Kerry Packer, despite numerous attempts, once reasoned: “Look, I may have a good relationship with Gonzalo Pieres;

very good, even, but between giving me a hand or avoiding the annoyance that having to face an Argentine journalist would undoubtedly cause the Australian, I have no doubt as to what Gonzalo’s choice would be. And deep down, I understand that. If I were in his place, I’d probably do the same”.

    During the first quarter of 2007, Alfio Marchini–the only patron today capable of playing among the high goal polo players, and who has certain claims to good criteria–was a very sought-after man. The wave of rumors indicating that he would take part in the Triple Crown caused an upheaval. And no wonder. WE tried to get him to take the floor. It was useless. He only just exchanged a few words with La Nación denying the rumors. Then there was silence. Above all, because of the amount conjecture the issue had lead to.

    One of the Italian millionaire’s dreams was put on stand-by. But it wasn’t the only one. The aim of placing the name Loro Piana on the international circuit as a benchmark was taking shape, and the British season was turning into a treasure whose value seemed incalculable.  To say nothing of the Queen’s Cup.

    There is an oddity on the islands. It is not the Queen’s Cup that is the most important tournament in Great Britain, but the Gold Cup, a competition that succeeds the former on the British calendar, and which closes the polo season there. There have been patrons who would kill to win the Gold Cup, and who have had to wait many years to achieve their aim; permanently changing the men on their teams to reach that elusive trophy. But there are many others who would kill to win the Queen’s Cup, becoming renowned at Guards Polo Club, with Windsor Castle in the background. And, of course, receiving the trophy from Queen Elizabeth II’s hands.

      The Queen’s Cup meant something special for Marchini. Maybe in the future it will be just one more trophy. Not today. And even when he was very close to making a historical double win, losing the Gold Cup final at the hands of La Lechuza, Loro Piana was in clover during May-June  2007.

    The mission was not going to be easy, but let us see why he allowed himself to dream. The 2007 Queen’s Cup, which the previous season had been won by Adolfito Cambiaso and Piqui Díaz Alberdi’s Dubai, had gathered together no less than 22 teams of a maximum rating of 22 goals each, in 19 of which there were Argentine players. How many in total? 47, no less.

The games

Twenty strong 21 and 22-goal teams took part in a tournament, thus setting a new record, with the participation of 44 Argentine players.  The best of world polo met on the Cowdray Park polo grounds opposite the ruins of the famous castle, and at neighboring clubs, to take part in a tournament that lasted for a little over three weeks. To analyze each of the games played would become a bore and lacking in interest, so we will simply remember the most important games that took place and in which, of course, Argentine players played an important role.

After the qualifying rounds and the play-offs, Lechuza Caracas and Loro Piana became finalists. Four Argentines on the field; two experienced patrons, and excellent ponies on both teams guaranteed an even match in which the outcome was expected to depend on small details.

Lechuza Caracas had only just managed to beat Les Lions I in a semi-final that it defined by 14-13, beating Eduardo and Ignacio Heguy’s team, which had started off the game by scoring and keeping a one goal difference up until the second chukka, but which was not able to withstand the final attack by the winner. Meanwhile, clearly stronger, Loro Piana had beaten Ellerston White by a decisive 12-6. Neither Gonzalo Pieres (Jr.) nor Mexican Carlos Gracida were able to stop this team from reaching their triumph, with two phenomenal chukkas (third and fourth, in which the winner made 6 goals to their 0) and displaying enormous strength in their capacity to cancel out the two talented Ellerston White players.

The final, needless to say, was a superb meeting, played with speed and precision. Finally, and without having lost a match, Lechuza Caracas had the pleasure of raising the Gold Cup with brothers Juan Ignacio and Sebastián Merlos, Venezuelan Víctor Vargas (patron) and the British youngster, John Fisher. What weapons did the champion use? An excellent performance in mid-field, with the Merlos brothers on fire, as on their best afternoons at Palermo, and greater precision when it came to making the most of their favorable opportunities. In short, it was an 11-10 victory over an opponent who also arrived at the final unbeaten.

Juan Martín Nero and Martín Espaín’s Loro Piana was a tough opponent, that didn’t start off with an advantage on the score board because Italian patron Alfio Marchini’s handicap had been risen from 1 to 2 goals, and they had to give the winning team 1 goal to begin with, an advantage that was steadily increased by their opponent because of their greater regularity, particularly during the first half of the match, where they extended the difference rapidly.

The final clash, notwithstanding, had its moments of anxiety. The first was when malleable Uruguayan David Stirling (Jr.) again felt pain in his right wrist, the same that had bothered him in previous matches. Stirling (Jr.) decided to bear up, but by the third chukka was not able to continue, and after long discussion (which seemed to cause the rest of the protagonists to lose concentration) was replaced by Pablo Jauretche, another man from Trenque Lauquen, who joined the other men from that location: Nero, Espaín and the Merloses.

Jauretche’s different, more offensive polo gave Loro Piana a better offensive quality. That is why, although Lechuza Caracas never lost control of the score, the game became more balanced in an exciting come-and-go match. But in the fifth chukka, the winner toughened their marking–always in a very even and intense way–and began to twist the game in their favor definitely. Naturally, excitement (and drama) invaded the scene when Juan Ignacio Merlos underwent a violent fall in which he fractured his nose. The replacement was slow in coming, and his brother Agustín stood in for him. This circumstance caused the loser to become more optimistic, reaching a draw when Espaín made his ninth goal for his team. But in the last chukka Lechuza Caracas regained its effectiveness, and with the same vim as at the start of the match (where Sebastián Merlos had become irrepressible at times and marked great differences in mid-field), it arrived at the final celebration. It was precisely when the number two forced a 60-yard penalty and converted it first, and then went on to make a very outstanding personal play, the close of which served for Nero–top goaler for his team with four goals, two of which were penalties–to convert a 60-yard penalty shot, and define the outcome of the game. That 11-10 gave rise to the champion’s being able to celebrate, with Sebastián Merlos as central figure and goaler with nine goals, out of which five were penalty shots (Juan Ignacio Merlos made two goals).

The British Open has been held 52 times since a team made up of four Argentine polo players (Los Indios, with Jorge Marín Moreno, Pablo Nagore, Antonio Heguy and Juan Echeverz) raised one of the two most sought-after cups to be won abroad in 1956. And 15 years have gone by since Juan Ignacio and Sebastián Merlos (together with Urs Schwarzenbach and Martin Brown at that time), were able to repeat the feat they had achieved then with Black Bears.

A long history and many heroic deeds. A lot of glory and a lot of polo. In fact, a lot has been obtained in this new season in which once again two of the best polo players have become renowned. Argentines who belong to a brilliant generation and which continue to give battle in the face of the impetuous advance of the younger generation. Those are the Merloses. Winners by nature, but also through legacy.

The teams

League I

Black Bears: Guy Schwarzenbach (Switzerland) 1, Eduardo Novillo Astrada (Jr.) 9, Javier Novillo Astrada 9 and Favio Lavinia 3. Total: 22.

Les Lions I: Ignatius du Plessis (South Africa) 4, Ignacio Heguy 9, Eduardo Heguy 9 and Joachim Gottschalk (Sweden) 0. Total: 22.

Broncos: George Milford Haven (England) 1, Pablo MacDonough 9, Matías Mac Donough 8 and Santiago Laborde 4. Total: 22.

Sumaya: Oussama Aboughazale (Jordan) 0, Héctor Guerrero 7, Milo Fernández Araujo 8 and Alejandro Novillo Astrada 7. Total: 22.

League II

Dubai: Tariq Albwardy (Saudi Arabia) 1, Lucas Monteverde 8, Adolfo Cambiaso 10 and George Meyrick (England) 3. Total: 22.

Elysian Fields: Michael King (England) 1, James Beim (England) 6, José Donoso (Chile) 7 y Marcos di Paola 8. Total: 22.

Lovelocks: Charly Hanbury (England) 2, Matthew Lodder (England) 3, Jaime García Huidobro (Chile) 8 and Bartolomé Castagnola 9. Total: 22.

Cadenza: Tony Pidgley (England) 1, Tomás Fernández Llorente 7, John P. Clarkin (New Zealand) 8 and Nicolás Espain 6. Total: 22.

League III

Ellerston White: Richard le Poer (Inglaterra) 3, Gonzalo Pieres (Jr.) 9, Carlos Gracida (Mexico) 8 and Jamie Packer (Australia) 2. Total: 22.

Azzurra: Juan Ambroggio 5, Santiago Chavanne 8, Marcos Heguy 9 and Stéfano Marsaglia (Italy) 0. Total: 22.

Zacara: Lyndon Lea (England) 0, Jack Baillieu (Australia) 7, Agustín Merlos 9 and Lucas James 6. Total: 22.

Brittany Polo Club: Jean-Francois Decaux (France) 1, Miguel Novillo Astrada 9, Ignacio Novillo Astrada 9 and Iván Gaona 2. Total: 21.

League IV

Lechuza Caracas: Víctor Vargas (Venezuela) 1, Sebastián Merlos 9, Juan I. Merlos 9 and Henry Fisher (England) 3. Total: 22.

Apes Hill Club Barbados: Ed Hitchman (England) 3, Henry Brett (England) 7, Luke Tomlinson (England) 7 y Tom Morley (England) 5. Total: 22.

Les Lions II: Michel del Carril 6, Mariano González 8, Ernesto Trotz 7 and Max Gottschalk (Sweden) 1. Total: 22.

Grayshurst: Martyn Ratcliffe (England) 0, Gastón Laulhé 7, Alberto Heguy (Jr.) 8 and Glen Gilmore (Australia) 7. Total: 22.

League V

Loro Piana: Alfio Marchini (Italy) 1, David Stirling (Jr.) (Uruguay) 7, Juan M. Nero 9 and Martín Espaín 5. Total: 22.

Talandracas: Edouard Carmignac (France) 0, Guillermo Terrera (Jr.) 7, Alejandro Agote 8 and Ignacio Toccalino 7. Total: 22.

Geebung: Jason Stowe (Australia) 0, Benjamín Araya (Jr.) 6, Bautista Heguy 10 and José Araya 6. Total: 22.

Atlantic Capital: Adrian Kirby (England) 1, Lucas Criado 9, Alejandro Díaz Alberdi 9 and Juan Ruiz Guiñazú (Jr.) 3. Total: 22.

A foul gave Loro Piana its opportunity of shooting a 30 yard penalty which Nero hit. The same way that Ellerston had come by its triumph in the semi-finals decided its fate now, but the other way around. Juanma’s shot was not a high, consistent stroke; simply a passable shot. There is no doubt that it must have been the shot over which he underwent the greatest pressure in his career. It was a goal. It was triumph. It was notoriety. That feeling that, like Marchini, he was the boss of the team. A Marchini whose smile spoke for itself when he received the trophy at the hands of Elizabeth II. Loro Piana was now a part of the select group of British winners. And Nero was a part of the chosen few who are able to carry out their mission successfully. Who are able to feel that they are “the boss of the team”. Those who know about polo know what that means.