Winter polo is under way in earnest, from the foot of Mont Blanc to the pampas of Uruguay. Here is what happened over the first full week of January.
Snow polo at the foot of Mont Blanc
The Italia Polo Challenge Courmayeur ran from 7 to 10 January at the Entreves Sports Complex. Six teams of three players, drawn from seven nationalities, played over four days on snow. The final went to Fieracavalli Verona, who beat Grand Hotel Royal and Golf 7-5 on their first appearance in the event.
The winning trio was Massimo Giambarresi, Clement Delfosse and Patricio Rattagan, rated at 11 goals between them. Delfosse was named most valuable player of the final, Arlette Heinemann was the best amateur, and Alfredo Bigatti took the best rider award. The best horse of the final was Sinergia, a thoroughbred mare ridden by Rattagan, which is always a nice reminder of how much of this sport depends on the ponies.
RAM finished third, ahead of Courmayeur, Schafhof and the Costa Smeralda side. It is a lovely, compact event and well worth the trip if you fancy snow polo without the crowds of the bigger Alpine weekends, which are coming up in a few weeks.
Uruguay opens its season
In Uruguay the men’s Open final was brought forward to Friday 9 January because of a forecast of heavy rain. Río Negro Los Tapiales beat Cría Opatí Polo Team 11-9. The day before, in Santa Cruz, Savoir won the first Uruguayan Women’s Polo Open, beating El Rincon 6-4. It is great to see a national women’s open added to the calendar there.
What is next
- AlUla Desert Polo, 16 to 17 January: six teams will play at the Mohammed Yousuf Naghi Equestrian Village in Saudi Arabia, among sandstone canyons. The announced line-ups include David Stirling, Naveen Jindal, Nacho Figueras, Lia Salvo, Cata Lavinia, Alejandro Poma, Pablo MacDonough and Jejo Taranco, so the standard should be high.
- Kitzbühel, from 15 January: the snow circuit moves to Austria for the Bendura Bank Snow Polo World Cup.
- Wellington: the Gauntlet of Polo teams are being confirmed ahead of the Whitney Cup in February.
We will bring you the results from all of them as they come in.
Sources: Polo Press, Polo Times (Uruguay), Polo Times (AlUla teams)
