Facundo Pieres for La Indiana v La Bamba de Areco patron Jean Francois Decaux © Images of Polo
Not surprisingly he was later named Most Valuable Player. Park Place’s hallmark in this competition has been teamwork – with no individuals wanting to steal the limelight. This reaped rewards for them today with both Hilario Ulloa and Tommy Beresford delivering strong performances; be it a perfect pass to a team-mate or being in the right place at the right time to receive the ball.
Tommy Beresford in a massive ride off with Cristian Laprida © Images of Polo
Their patron, Andrey Borodin, who spent Sunday afternoon intently watching La Indiana’s quarter-final game, was equally strong, guaranteeing he was very much part of this competitive quartet. Meanwhile Valiente struggled to find their form today and did not take the lead once in this match. Cristian Laprida tried his best to put Valiente ahead, with some impressive play, but just could not find a response to Park Place’s consistent play.
Nic Roldan scores for La Indiana © Images of Polo
Tensions started to appear in the final two chukkas, with the umpires starting to earn their money. However Valiente still could not close the gap and Park Place ran out the winners, receiving the Hubert Perrodo Trophy from Cari Perrodo and Laurent Feniou of Cartier. Hilario Ulloa received the Best Playing Pony Prize for Minchatos Mesquite, a seven-year-old stallion whom he had played in the third and sixth chukka.
Valiente number 4 Adolfo Cambiaso © Images of Polo
The second match, on The Queen’s Ground, was a very different experience, a stop/start match that was marred by too many umpires’ whistles. Michael Bickford’s La Indiana dominated the game, earning his team their third Cartier Queen’s Cup finals tickets in succession. Ros Packer, the widow of the late Kerry Packer, who had watched this game from the Royal Box, presented the prizes, including the Best Playing Pony prize for the American-bred Ole, played by Facundo Pieres.
Cristian Laprida of Valiente v Hilario Ulloa of Park Place © Images of Polo
Unfortunately, Jean Francois Decaux’s La Bamba de Areco struggled to find the form that had seen them through to today’s semi-finals. Although Juan Martin Nero produced some wonderfully fast runs down the Queen’s Ground, he failed to convert these to goals. It was David Stirling who scored the lion’s share of his team’s tally, firing through five goals.
Alec White and Facundo Pieres surrounded by La Bamba’s David “Pelon” Stirling (3) and Juan Martin Nero (4) © Images of Polo
In fact La Bamba also created too many penalty situations – which Facundo Pieres and Nic Roldan – later named Most Valuable Player – fired through. This sharp shooting paid dividends in the final two chukkas with Pieres and Roldan delivering six goals to only two in reply from La Bamba. Such a performance has now earned Michael Bickford and his team a Cartier Queen’s Cup Final contest against Park Place this Sunday at 3pm.
Ros Packer and Jock Green-Armytage with La Indiana, winners of the day’s second Cartier Queen’s Cup Semi-Final (Facundo Pieres, Michael Bickford, Alec White and Nic Roldan © Images of Polo
Cari Perrodo and her grandchildren with Laurent Feniou, Managing Director of Cartier UK and the victorious Park Place team (Tommy Beresford, Hilario Ulloa, Andrey Borodin and Juan Britos) © Images of Polo
