The British high-goal season is almost upon us. The draw for this year’s Queen’s Cup was made at Guards Polo Club on the evening of Tuesday 12 May, and the shape of the 22-goal tournament is now clear.
The opening matches
Twelve teams will contest the cup, which is played at Guards in Windsor Great Park and was first held in 1960. League play starts on 19 May with two games. At noon at Coworth Park, VPS Healthcare Sifani meet King Power Foxes. At 3pm at Guards, the holders Zacara take on RH Polo.
The teams to watch
- Zacara: the defending champions will be without Facundo Pieres this year. In his place they can call on ten-goaler Juan Martín Nero, who plays alongside Brazil’s top player Rodrigo Andrade and the young Englishman Jack Hyde.
- King Power Foxes: Facundo joins his brother Gonzalito Pieres, another ten-goaler, in a side that is one of two entries from the Srivaddhanaprabha family.
- RH Polo: Ben Soleimani’s team is new for 2015 and features Francisco Elizalde, Nicolás Pieres and Santiago von Wernich.
- Dubai: Adolfo Cambiaso, the world number one, is looking for a ninth Queen’s Cup victory, playing with Rashid Albwardy and the young Englishman Tom Brodie.
Why this cup matters
The Queen’s Cup takes its name from Queen Elizabeth II, who presented the first silver cup in 1960 and often attends the final. Prince Philip played in the final in 1964 and 1966 and lost both times, while Prince Charles’s team Les Diables Bleus won it in 1986. Cartier sponsors the tournament, which remains one of the glamour dates on the British calendar.
A pleasing detail of this year’s draw is how the Pieres family is spread across the field. Facundo and Gonzalito are together at King Power, Nicolas is at RH Polo and Facundo’s former side Zacara has had to rebuild around Nero. With the first whistle only days away, we are looking forward to seeing how those changes play out on the Guards turf.
Sources: Horse & Hound, Wikipedia
