Horse & Hound – 01 August 2019

86 Horse&Hound1 August 2019

Pictures

by

imagesofpolo.com

POLO

CORONATION

CUP

27 July

dited by Martha Terry

[email protected]

@marthaterry1

A dazzlingArgentineansidesealEngland’sfateintheveryfirstchukkato

continuetheirdominanceontheinternationalstage

CoronationCup,RoyalCountyof

BerkshirePoloClub

FIVEtimesanArgentineteam

hascometoEnglandtoplayfor

theCoronationCup,andfive

timestheyhavenowprevailed.

A valianthomesideprovedno

matchfora precociousArgentine

line-up,ledbytheawe-inspiring

FacundoPieres,whocruisedtoa

14-6victoryattheRoyalCountyof

BerkshirePoloClub(RCBPC).

HavingtwoPieresmenon

thefieldneverfailstointimidate

theiropponents.Thistimeit was

Facundo’scousin,27-year-old

Alfonso,wholinedupalongside

thegreat10-goalerratherthan

oneofhisfamousbrothers,but

if anyonethoughtthisPieres

ByPOLLYBRYAN

High five for Argentina

duo would be anything less than

fearsome, they were wrong.

Alfonso proved a deadly weapon

off four goals.

“These are all future 10-goalers

and we weren’t at all surprised

by how good they were,” said

England captain James Beim.

Indeed, this match was a

fascinating window into the future

of top-level polo. Although it was

widely expected Argentina would

triumph, the English could not be

discounted. All four players were

coming into this match off the

back of two seriously successful

seasons, with Beim and James

Harper having scooped both

The winning Argentine team (from left): Alfonso Pieres, Juan Britos,

Barto Castagnola and Facundo Pieres

Argentina’s Juan Britos (right) takes

possession, with England’s Jack

Richardson in pursuit