Zacara are the U.S. Open champions again. On Sunday 21 April, at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, they beat Valiente 16-13 to win the Maserati U.S. Open Championship for a second year in a row, with exactly the same four players who took the trophy in 2012.
A final that went back and forth
It began at a sprint. Six goals arrived in the opening six minutes and the first chukker finished 3-3. Valiente edged ahead and led 8-7 at half-time, and they were still in front going into the last chukker at 13-12. Zacara then took over, scoring four unanswered goals to close out the match.
The scorers
- Facundo Pieres scored 12 of Zacara’s goals, nine of them from penalties.
- Magoo Laprida added three and Mike Azzaro one.
- For Valiente, Santi Torres scored six, Adolfo Cambiaso four, Pelón Stirling two and Bob Jornayvaz one.
Zacara’s line-up was Pieres, Lyndon Lea, Laprida and Azzaro. Valiente were built around two ten-goal stars in Cambiaso and Stirling, so beating them from behind says a lot about how well this team has come together.
Prizes and history
- MVP (Seymour Knox Award): Facundo Pieres.
- Best Playing Pony: Medallion, owned by Bob Jornayvaz and ridden by Pelón Stirling.
- Horse of the Year: Corcha, Pieres’ seven-year-old bay mare.
The record books matter here. This was the first time since the 1937-38 season that an identical line-up has returned to win the U.S. Open, and only the fourth time it has happened in American polo history. Keeping four players together for two seasons at this level is no small achievement.
It also rounds off a Wellington season in which Valiente won the Gold Cup but could not finish the job in the biggest final of all. Zacara took the title that mattered most.
Sources: Town-Crier
