Dubai have retained the Cartier Gold Cup at Sotogrande, beating Ayala 12-7 in the final of the 45th INDI International Polo Tournament at the Santa María Polo Club. The event ran from late July to 28 August.
The line-ups
- Dubai: Rashid Albwardy, Santiago Stirling, Alejo Taranco and Adolfo Cambiaso.
- Ayala: Facundo Pieres, Nicolás Pieres, Tom Brodie and patron Iñigo Zobel.
The road to the final
Dubai started the Gold Cup with a rowdy 6-3 win over Dos Lunas A&G Banca Privada, and lost only one game all season. In the semi-finals they beat Lechuza Caracas 12-5. Ayala, meanwhile, beat Brunei 13-12 in the last play of their semi-final, thanks to a goal from Nicolás Pieres, after a first half in which Facundo and Nicolás Pieres and Tom Brodie impressed.
The final
Ayala led 2-1 after the first chukker and 4-3 after the second, but Dubai levelled at 5-5 and the match was still tied at 6-6 after the fourth. In the fifth Dubai moved 9-7 ahead and they held that advantage through the last ten minutes. Cambiaso scored nine goals and was named MVP, but he had to leave the field in the closing three minutes with an injury and was replaced by his La Dolfina team-mate Juan Martín Nero. Dubai blocked most of the attacks the Pieres brothers tried to build.
Stirling pointed out afterwards that it was the first time two Uruguayans, he and Taranco, had won the Gold Cup at Sotogrande, and it was his fourth Gold Cup there. Albwardy admitted it was the hardest match of the season for them. Dubai also won the title in 2015.
The other Sotogrande winners
- Medium goal: Brunei (HRH Prince Jefri, Rosendo Torreguitar, Facundo Fernández Llorente and Guillermo Willington) won the Aerolíneas Argentinas Gold Cup 11-8 over Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, with Fernández Llorente as MVP. They had also won the medium-goal Silver Cup, and lost only once all month.
- Low goal: Lechuza John Smith beat Foxcote 7-5 in the Isolas 1892 Gold Cup.
Sotogrande is one of the great gatherings of professionals in the summer calendar, and this year’s high-goal field was packed with names. To retain the title in that company is the mark of a very good team.
Sources: Hurlingham Polo Magazine (final), Hurlingham Polo Magazine (semi-finals)
