Everybody at Santa María Polo Club awaits the highlight of the year, the Land Rover International Polo Tournament, which will take place from 25th July to 31st August. But before this event begins it is time to take a look back at this year’s exciting polo season, which has already created sensational moments in polo at Santa María.
The season started at the end of March with the Santa María Tournament, followed by the Low Goal Spring Tournament, which was held at the same time as the 35th Memorial José Ignacio Domecq. Polo action continued at Santa María with the 11th edition of the Memorial Conde de Guaqui. Every year the two traditional spring tournaments Memorial José Ignacio Domecq and Memorial Conde de Guaqui, take place at the polo fields of Los Pinos. They are part of the beginning of the season in Santa María Polo Club, commemorating important personalities who had a close relationship to polo and Sotogrande.
One of the highlights of the spring season was once again the Torneo de los Restaurantes „La Quinta“. The tournament is known for having multiple social events, which are hosted by several restaurants. The tournament is being organized by the Santa María Polo Club with the support of the Argentine restaurant La Quinta, which is located next to the Río Sotogrande premises of the Santa María Polo Club. Numerous polo players from Sotogrande come together for this event, offering the perfect combination of entertainment and top polo games in an extraordinary environment.
In June the 15th edition of Andrés Parladé Memorial and the Conde de la Maza Tournament were held at the Río Sotogrande fields at Santa María. The name of the second mentioned tournament traces back to Don Leopolodo Sainz de la Maza and Falco (Excellency Conde de la Maza), who was born in Madrid in 1927 and died in Moron de la Frontera in 2002. He was a 4-goal polo player and contemporary of great polo players like Horacio Heguy, Juan Carlos Harriot, Gaston Dorignac and Chamaco Herrera, among others. He played mostly in Spain, France and Mexico, winning important tournaments such as Deauville Silver Cup, Copa del Rey (Memorial Alfonso XIII) and the Puente de Hierro Open. His love to polo is today reflected in their sons Leopoldo and Ignacio Sainz de la Maza.
After the Jerez Cup, which was held at the end of June, and the Founder E. Zobel Tournament and the Manuel Prado Colon de Carvajal Memorial, taking place in July, the absolute highlight of the polo season at Santa María Polo Club will start at 25th July: the Land Rover International Polo Tournament. More than 136 players, including the five world-class players Adolfo Cambiaso, Facundo Pieres, Juan Martin Nero, Gonzalo Pieres and David Stirling (all 10 goals) and 1,200 horses will be taking part in the tournament, which is considered to be one of the greatest tournament events of the international polo calendar.
Gonzalo Etcheverry, press officer at Santa María Polo Club: “The season 2014 Santa María Polo Club is running steady and the results are being very successful in the quality and quantity of polo. The goal of Santa María Polo Club is to have twelve months of polo and we are fully dedicated to that task. The conditions (weather, infrastructure, logistics) are our advantage for this to be possible, and fortunately, in 2014, this has been a reality.
We started with a very attractive spring season, where for the first time, we implemented two new game levels. To the traditional Medium Handicap of the tournaments Memorial José Ignacio Domecq and Memorial Conde de la Maza, this year the low handicap was added, with four teams playing in that category.
When Easter Holidays ended, Santa María Polo Club started the Low Handicap season, in the Río fields. With more tournaments and teams taking part than ever, this season is the ideal prologue for the Land Rover International Polo Tournament the most important tournament in the club.
Undoubtedly, the best is yet to come in Santa María Polo Club. With the International Polo Tournament so near, and a very promising September, full of tournaments and new features, this club, the most important of Spain, and one of the top clubs worldwide, doesn’t stop and waits all the polo enthusiasts with arms wide open.”
