WATERWORLD : All French- Queen's Cup 2011 Final
Polo is a noble sport meant for the Summer afternoon hours hopefully played under a blazing sun ! The 2011 Queen's Cup , England's Premier High Goal Tournament was played mostly under rain, threat of rain or as in the case of the semi finals & final under aquatic conditions. Where in the Argentine or the USA games under inclement weather are promptly canceled and rightly so, this being England is : PLAY ON. To be fair if games were postponed due to weather some years in England we would have a very short polo season !!
The quality of polo for the Queen's Cup did not disappoint form the early games many games went into sudden death or were decided by minimal differences with all the world's 10 goal players participating with the exception of Marcos Hegy who is on injury . The quarterfinals were fast & furious with very close games: Enigma the eventual finalist defeated Zacara by 2, Les Lions lost by 4 versus to 1870 a talented new team without any Argentine pro's (surprise, surprise) headed by Australians : Ruki Baillieu and Rob Archibald playing way above his 6 goal rating.
The quarterfinal game of Dubai versus Talandracas (the eventual champion) was highly controversial as the Master Cambiaso was leading comfortably by two goals with 3 minutes on the clock when a series of disputed fouls resulted in Talandracas going through to the semi's. High drama indeed as one of the Dubai players had to be restraint by his teammates for wanting to give the umpires a little physical beating after the final bell !! The last quarterfinals featuring the two 10 goal Pieres Brothers for La Bamaba versus Richard Mille with the exceptional 10 goaler Pablo MacDonough a first cousin of Faco & Gonzalito Pieres. The Richard Mille team Captained by Prince Bahar Jefri a nephew of the Sultan of Brunei and a very useful +1 goal young patron. Is always difficult for two +10 goal player together to win in 22 goal polo particularly with so many talented and underhandicaped young players around and the Richard Mille team won by a close score. The Pieres duo won the Gold Cup two years ago when Gonzalito was still at +9 handicap.
The Semi's of The Queen's Cup are the best polo in Europe every year and last week did not disappoint despite the rain. In the first semi final "1870" the aforementioned Australian dominated team and one of only two teams not to feature Argentine pro's on the squad took on "Enigma" polo team coached by the great English +9 goaler Julian Hipwood and Captained by Juan Martin Nero at the +10 goal rating the best back in the world if not history. Played under horrific conditions due to a steady downpour "1870" took an early comfortable lead which it never relinquished until the sudden death chukka , the last three periods saw the superb Nero start to take control assisted by the very experienced Matias Macdonough a ringer at +8 goals both players with much Argentine Open experience. Matias tied the game with 5 seconds left on the final chukka sending the game into sudden death where "1870" missed many chances to win close to the Enigma goal when Nero placed a super ball to young Argentine +3 goaler Juan Juaretche who made a great neck shot to win the match. Jauretche wont be +3 goals for very long !!
The last semi final featured Richard Mille versus Talandracas the come back team, once again Talandracas was behind most of the game and Richard Mille led by two goals with 2 minutes on the clock when Facundo Sola the biggest ringer of the Queen's Cup at +6 goals scored quickly to put Talandracas in the Queen's Cup Final.
No matter what the Queen's Cup was going to France The all French Patron Final was set assisted by three Argentine pro's each side on the field and sadly no home grown players : "Enigma" led by Nero and "Talandracas" with Milo Araujo the MVP went on the number 1 ground under horrific weather conditions to play for the 51st Queen's Cup.
It amazes me how polo players can play such high quality polo under horrific rain a steady downpour for six chukkas and freezing cold too !! For a Havana native playing under such conditions seems sub human but we do not do "stiff upper lip" in Cuba just the Cha,Cha,Cha !! The superb quality of the Queen's Cup Final was not reduced by the weather as both teams went flat out with the score fairly close the whole game, very few accidents and excellent umpiring. Hats off to the players and the real heroes : the horses & grooms who prepared the finest polo ponies in the world so that the players can make spectacular plays under any condition. It looked like the Queen's Cup was going to Enigma when Talandracas the comeback kids put the game into yet another thrilling sudden death over time when Facundo Sola converted a penalty to take the Queen's Cup. Rumor mill has it that Sola was paid a high pro fee to play for Talandracas and believe you me he earned every penny playing sometimes +8 handicap if not higher.
HRH Prince Harry a noted player did the honours of presenting The Queen's Cup having played earlier in a charity match a nearby Coworth Park. On to the cathedral of European Polo : Cowdray Park for the 2011 Gold Cup!
"Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly" 
Rabii Benadada
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