England produced a dominant display on Guards Polo Club’s Queen’s Ground. On Saturday 25 July, they beat Uruguay 14-8 in the Coronation Cup, the main match of the 54th Hurlingham Polo Association International Day.
The Coronation Cup
England received two goals on handicap and were coached by Hilario Ulloa. Uruguay scored first, through Ignacio “Nachi” Viana from a penalty, but England led 5-1 after the first chukka, 8-5 at half-time and 12-7 going into the last. Uruguay relied mostly on penalty conversions in the closing stages.
- England (23 goals): Louis Hine, Ned Hine, Ollie Cudmore and Tommy Beresford
- Uruguay (27 goals): Santiago Stirling, Ignacio Viana, David “Pelon” Stirling and Alejo Taranco
Louis Hine won the Rufino Laulhé Most Valuable Player Trophy, his pony Guri Española took best playing pony, and Ollie Cudmore’s Bockos Amber received the Emerson and Watson Retraining of Racehorses Award. It is great to see the ex-racehorse award continue to be a feature.
The Whitbread Tankard
In the curtain-raiser, Young Argentina beat Young England 9-3. Paco de Narvaez led Young Argentina, who also had Cata Lavinia, Florencio Lanusse and Miguel Novillo Astrada Jr. Young England were Luke Wiles, Segundo Darritchon, Will Harper and Zac Beim. An exhibition match featuring Pony Club players followed, which is a lovely tradition and a good advert for the next generation.
New HPA handicaps
The Hurlingham Polo Association has announced its handicap changes for the 15 to 22 goal category, which take effect on 1 January 2027. Barto Castagnola goes from 9 to 10 goals and is the only player to reach the maximum in this review. Other increases include:
- Lorenzo Chavanne, 8 to 9
- Gonzalo Ferrari, Cruz Heguy, Antonio Heguy, Teo Lacau and Beltran Laulhé, 7 to 8
- Milly Hine and Hazel Jackson, 2 to 3
Among the reductions, Polito Pieres goes from 10 to 9, and Francisco Elizalde and Juan Martin Nero from 9 to 8. There were 26 increases and 17 decreases in total.
It is notable that Castagnola, who played in the Gold Cup final for Dubai and scored six goals in the semi-final, is now alone at the top of the list. Congratulations to Cruz Heguy and Beltran Laulhé too, both of whom were in the winning Gold Cup team and now move up to 8.
Coming up
The summer rolls on at Guards, with the Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup under way, and Sotogrande’s International Tournament beginning its Bronze Cup stage this week. We will report on both.
Sources: Polo Times (Coronation Cup), Polo Times (International Day teams), Polo Press (HPA handicaps)
