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The first ever polo tournament in Denmark took place in Copenhagen’s Fælledparken on the 22nd and 23rd of June. Both royals, like Prince Joachim and Princess Marie as well as Spain’s Princess Tamara Czartoryski, and Danish celebrities, counting Frederik Fetterlein … Continue reading
As the snow polo season draws to a close with St. Moritz, Aspen, Megève, Tianjin and many other snow polo tournaments around the world already finalised, one of the oldest and most prestigious snow polo events has yet to begin – The Cortina Winter Polo Audi Gold Cup will take place from February 17 to 23 February in Fiames, district of Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Back in 1989 four friends – Italo Focacci, Fabrizio Bogiankino, Corrado
Cortina Winter Polo Cup in Italy
Pantanella all from Rome – and Renato Manaigo of Cortina, decided it was time to bring polo to the Dolomites. They first chose Lake Landro, between Cortina and Dobbiaco but later decided to move the tournament to Lake Misurina. The tournament became an annual occasion, went from strength to strength and is now considered one of the most important events in the snow polo season calendar.
Traditionally, the tournament is played on the frozen surface of Lake Misurina, but this year, due to the ice not reaching its required thickness the games have had to be moved to Fiames about a 20 kilometre drive away. Not ideal, but in the end a much better solution than cancelling the tournament all together as was the consequence of the lake of St. Moritz not reaching its required level of thickness in 2012.
This year 5 teams employing more than 100 horses between them will take part in the tournament and Cortina Cup veterans like Luca d’Orazio (participated continuously for the last 11 years and 5-time winner), Dario Musso and Rommy Giannni will saddle up once again, so it’s shaping up to be a pretty exciting event.
The full list of teams and players:
Audi Polo Team:
1 cap. Davide Nanni hp. 1 ITA
2 Paolo Santambrogio hp. 3 ITA
3 David Bernal hp. 7 ARG
4 Fabrizio Bulgarini hp. 3 ITA
HOTEL DE LA POSTE POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Gif Turati hp. 1 ITA
2 Diego White hp. 8 ARG
3 Oscar Carona hp. 3 ITA
4 Franco Piazza hp. 3 ITA
JOHN TAYLOR-MONTECARLO POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Rommy Gianni hp. 2 ITA
2 Luca E. D’Orazio hp. 2 ITA
3 Dario Musso hp. 7 ARG
4 Juan Cruz Greguoli hp. 5 ARG
U.S. POLO ASSN. POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Richard Fagan hp. 2 IRL
2 Marcus Hancock hp. 3 UK
3 Marcus Arraya hp. 7 ARG
4 Santiago Torreguitar hp. 4 ESP
RUINART POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Davide Dondena hp. 1 ITA
2 Horacio Etcheverry hp. 7 ARG
3 Luis Neuforge hp. 4 GER
4 Teodoro Neuforge hp. 2 GER
Notts Uni Polo Club continue their nude calendar tradition – now for the 8th year running. This year half the money raised goes to the British Heart Foundation. The other half will go towards equipment and tournament entry, as for many of the players, uni is the only place they will get a chance to try polo.
The calendar becomes available on the 8th of November at a launch event at Market Bar in Nottingham and shortly thereafter available for purchase online.
According to their Facebook fan page the girls will be present for the launch party. So if you happen to be in the area on the day, dropping by to say hello might not be a bad idea! And if you’d like a couple of naughty previews to see what’s expecting you head over to the fan page.
The London Olympics kicked off this week and living in London we have, of course, been looking very much forward to this event – a great showcase for the city and for Great Britain.
But when looking through the many Olympic disciplines one is conspicuous by its non-appearance; we are, of course, talking about the wonderful game of Polo! Having been excluded since The Games in Berlin in 1936, where Argentina went on to win 11-0 against England in the deciding game, no polo match has ever taken place as part of the Olympics – but this might all be about to change.
Jodie Kidd, the ambassador for MINT Polo in the Park, is campaigning to get polo back in the Olympic programme. Earlier this year, as the teams were drawn for the MINT competition, the former model and polo player was making a great effort to gain awareness of the fact that polo is still not an Olympic sport.
We wish her the very best of luck! Shame that there is no Polo on the Olympic programme in London but maybe there is an opportunity for 2016 in Brazil where golf and rugby are already set to return.
Fancy watching a polo match in the idyllic Swiss Alps?
In about 6 weeks, the Hublot Polo Gold Cup in Gstaad kicks off. It’s a 12-14 handicap game and the teams have recently been confirmed and can be viewed here. Loads of Argentinians in the line-up as always!
The semi-finals are played on Saturday the 18th of August and the final on the Sunday, so it makes great for a long weekend getaway with beautiful polo, played in one of the most scenic polo playing fields in the world. And if you get a chance to do a bit of shopping, the centre of Gstaad has developed into the most popular and shortest shopping street in Switzerland offering plenty of opportunities to part with your money. And before you ask, Yes! There is a ‘La Martina’ shop with great polo gear, along with a wealth of other fashionable and chic outlets.
La Martina shop in Gstaad
Back in 2010 we were lucky enough to pay Gstaad a visit and managed to film a short video of the action on the field:
Alas, with an already jam-packed polo schedule there will be no trip to Gstaad for us this year, but we are happy to help anyone who would like to go. Feel free to comment and to use us as your tour guide if you so desire. We are at your service!
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