For the second year running, Rommy Gianni’s Team Cartier left St. Moritz with the Cartier Trophy. The 34th Snow Polo World Cup was played on the frozen lake from 26 to 28 January, and Cartier edged Team Maserati 4.5 to 4 in a final that went down to the wire.
The four teams
- Team Cartier: Rommy Gianni, Juan Cruz Greguoli, Dario Musso and Chris Hyde
- Team Azerbaijan Land of Fire: Rahad Hasanov, Elchin Jamalli, Lala Laplacette and Adrian Laplacette Jr.
- Team Badrutt’s Palace Hotel: Melissa Ganzi, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Juan Bollini and Tito Gaudenzi
- Team Maserati: Zhanna Bandurko and Raya Sidorenko (sharing one place at 0), Gerardo Mazzini (+6), Hissam al Hyder (+6) and Robert Strom (+4), playing together at St. Moritz for the first time
The three days
Cartier and Maserati both won on the first day. On day two they met in a close match that Cartier won 3.5 to 2, while Azerbaijan Land of Fire made a statement by beating Badrutt’s Palace 9-4. The Azerbaijani side beat Badrutt’s Palace again on finals day, which settled the minor placings, and attention turned to the Cartier Trophy.
The final was a rematch of the day-two game, and it was just as tight. Cartier took it by half a goal, which in snow polo, with its handicap halves, is about as close as it gets. Maserati would have been proud of the way they went at it, given that their line-up had never played together on the lake before.
A record weekend
The sun shone for the full three days, and more than 15,000 spectators made it a new tournament record. VIP guests included the England polo player Malcolm Borwick and the Slalom World Champion Giorgio Rocca. The tournament also opened the 2018 Maserati Polo Tour, and Cartier have a long history with the event: the team also won the very first tournament in the 1980s and the title again last year.
St. Moritz remains the only high-goal polo tournament played on snow, and it makes a fine curtain-raiser to the polo year. The grass season is not far away.
Sources: Maserati Club UK, Dallas Burston Polo Club, Attire Club
