Valiente have kept hold of the USPA Piaget Gold Cup. At the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, they beat Zacara 13-9 in front of thousands of spectators, successfully defending the title they won in 2012 and avenging an earlier defeat by the same opponents this season.
Zacara lead, then Valiente take over
The first half belonged to Zacara, who went into the interval ahead 5-4, with Facundo Pieres scoring four of their goals. The game turned in the fourth chukker. Valiente outscored Zacara 5-0 to move 9-5 clear, and Adolfo Cambiaso scored four of those goals himself.
Zacara tried to respond in the fifth, where Pieres found the net twice and Mike Azzaro once, but Santi Torres scored three for Valiente and the gap held. An early sixth-chukker goal from Cambiaso, his fifth of the match, made it 13-8, and Pieres’ strike with under three minutes left was only a consolation.
Awards and the line-up
- MVP: Santi Torres, who scored seven goals.
- Best Playing Pony: Silk, a ten-year-old brown mare ridden by Pelón Stirling.
Valiente’s side featured Cambiaso, Stirling and Torres, while Pieres and Azzaro were among Zacara’s scorers. Three of the world’s eight ten-goal players took the field, which is the kind of billing that fills the stands in Wellington.
Butler Handicap goes to Piaget
The same day brought the final of the 26-goal Butler Handicap, which Piaget won 9-8 against ERG. Sapo Caset scored eight of Piaget’s nine goals and took the MVP award, while his pony Viparita was named Best Playing Pony. Nacho Badiola struck the winning goal.
What comes next
The Gold Cup is the middle leg of the American Triple Crown, which starts with the C.V. Whitney Cup and finishes with the U.S. Open. The Maserati U.S. Open got under way this week at the same venue, so the Florida high-goal season now moves to its biggest prize. If Valiente play as they did over the last three chukkers of this final, they will be hard to stop.
Sources: Town-Crier
