Late August is when polo swings across the Channel to Normandy, and this year the Coupe d’Or Marta & Lucien Barrière at the Deauville International Polo Club went to La Esperanza.
A four-team round robin
Three challengers took on the holders Royal Barrière, the 2014 winners, between 19 and 30 August: Talandracas, the Equipe de France and La Esperanza. After a round robin, the final was played on Sunday 30 August between Royal Barrière and La Esperanza.
La Esperanza, in their first appearance in the competition, were Ramiro Zavaleta, Jean-Edouard Mazery, Pierre-Henri N’Goumou and Tito Ruiz Guiñazú. In a close-fought final they beat Royal Barrière by half a goal. Ruiz Guiñazú was named most valuable player of the tournament.
The rest of the Deauville programme
- Coupe de Bronze: Los Lobos (Sébastien Lepage, Martin Podesta, Pierre-Henri N’Goumou and David Amar) won the Coupe de Bronze, and N’Goumou was named its best player.
- Ladies Charriol Polo Cup: Lowell (Françoise Okala, Emmanuelle Morandi, Chloé Sebban and Caroline Anier) finished first, ahead of Charriol in second and the Deauville International Polo Club side in third.
Elsewhere in August
Polo was busy across Europe. At Guards Polo Club, Kildare won the Land Rover Duke of Cornwall Trophy 8-7 in a tournament for eight 16-goal teams, and the Lost Boys took the Major General’s Cup on 30 August. In Switzerland the final of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup at Gstaad on 16 August ended with the title shared between the two finalists.
Deauville remains one of our favourite stops on the summer circuit. The polo sits alongside the racing in a town that wears its sporting history well, and a half-goal margin in a final is the kind of result that keeps both sets of supporters talking.
