The 20-goal Ylvisaker Cup, the last 20-goal event of the Palm Beach season, ended on Sunday 25 February with a win for Valiente over GSA, 8-6, at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. Adolfo Cambiaso scored six of Valiente’s goals and took the Most Valuable Player award.
The teams
- Valiente: Bob Jornayvaz, Bautista Panelo, Santi Torres and Adolfo Cambiaso
- GSA: Henry Porter, Dylan Rossiter, Mariano González and Matías Magrini
How the final went
GSA had lost by one goal to Valiente in an earlier round, and González took the ball straight to goal inside the first minute. Valiente answered twice, but GSA led after two chukkas thanks to two unanswered goals. Cambiaso picked up a loose ball for an easy goal in the third, and Magrini’s goal sent GSA in at half-time ahead 4-3.
The second half was slowed by penalties. Cambiaso opened the fourth with an undefended penalty 2, and then scored four straight goals across the fourth and fifth chukkas, three of them from the penalty line. González was yellow-carded in the fifth but still scored GSA’s first goal since the third chukka. Henry Porter kept pursuing players well above his own handicap. With Valiente leading 7-5 going into the last chukka, Torres collected a final pass and scored. Rossiter got GSA’s last goal, but Valiente held on.
Awards and a debut
GSA’s González took the Best Playing Pony award for the second time in the tournament, with Macarena. The final also marked Panelo’s first high-goal event. He has worked with Valiente’s horses since 2014, and two of his mounts, Chance and Aerea, were bred from La Dolfina and trained by Panelo himself. He was told in December that he would be on the team, so it was all new to him.
Earlier in the tournament
In the quarter-finals on 18 February, GSA beat Pilot 10-9 in a six-goal sixth chukka. Pilot (Curtis Pilot, Timmy Dutta, Gonzalo Pieres and Facundo Pieres) had led 6-3, but González, who was named MVP of that match, helped GSA turn it round. Valiente beat SD Farms 13-6 on the same day.
The tournament honours William Ylvisaker, a legendary figure in American polo. With it done, the high-goal calendar moves to the C.V. Whitney Cup, the first 26-goal event of the season.
