Talandracas

Polo News

19. September 2022

Twenty years after their first and only victory until today, Talandracas wins the 22nd edition of the Engel & Völkers French Open in a magnificent way. A final as great as this magical tournament that offered throughout eighteen days one fabulous game after the other, especially since the quarter finals where no misstep was allowed. This Open ends with the triumph of a mythical team, Talandracas, of a fabulous mare, Peregrino La Banda „Bandita“ and of a rising star, Juan-Martin Zubia. It is almost sad to see this extraordinary tournament come to an end

Before getting into the details of this final, it is important to applaud the work of the club, and in particular its director and polo manager, Philippe Perrier. It is thanks to them that the Open de France Engel & Völkers has now found its place as one of the three biggest tournaments in Europe. Proof of this is the number of teams engaged (16) and the amount of the top 40 players (11) within these formations. All of which were unanimous in their appreciation of the welcome, the quality of the organisation and the grounds.

In front of a record 2,000 spectators, the final taking place on „Honneur 1“ offered a great game that Talandracas immediately took control of without really worrying about Los Dragones, who seemed to be a bit stunned by what was at stake. The Chantilly team never had the opportunity to put pressure on the Deauville team, which immediately broke away and had a seven-goal lead at the end of the last chukker. The key to this domination was the incredible understanding between the two young Argentinian players from Talandracas, Rufino Bensadon (handicap 4) and Juan Martin Zubia (handicap 6). With notably an incredible neck shot from more than 80 yards on the right side of the goal, he was unmistakably named most valuable player: „Contrary to appearances, it wasn‘t an easy victory,“ Zubia stressed. They were a little slow at the beginning, but afterwards it was a hard fight. They were a complicated team that had won all their games in the qualifying phase, which was not the case for us, and we were prepared for a tough final. Our strength was that our team has grown stronger since Deauville as did my understanding with Rufino with each game. In the end, we understood each other perfectly. But Huguito (Hugues Carmignac) and Edouard have also raised their game since the beginning of August and helped us a lot in this victory.“ The young Argentinean, who is part of the exceptional rising generation of his country, discovered this Open de France Engel & Völkers for the first time: „It is a great tournament, very competitive. Every game was won by one or two goals… even if it wasn‘t the case today, I don‘t know what happened, but it‘s really a very high-level tournament.”

If Zubia was logically crowned MVP, Hugues Carmignac was named best amateur player of this final: „… out of three amateur players, not so bad“, he commented ironically although he was very happy to have won this title with his father, author of a decisive back allowing Bensadon to score a goal: „It is a very emotional moment. This game should have been more complicated than that because we had four very good players on the other side, I don‘t know what happened with them, but from the beginning of the game, our team worked very well. When we arrived in Deauville at the beginning of August, we didn‘t know each other that well and by playing together, the team built itself up and arrived particularly well prepared for this final.”

Talandracas‘ addition to the French Open‘s list of winners is a very nice addition to the history of this increasingly prestigious tournament. Talandracas is indeed the French team with the greatest record: six Gold Cups in Deauville, a Queen‘s Cup and now a second Open de France

FRENCH WOMEN'S OPEN: QUEEN HAZEL

England‘s Hazel Jackson and Rebecca Walters did not miss their moment by leading their team Rouge Absolu Paris to victory in the 12th French Women‘s Open against France’s team DS Automobile 3F. However, the doyenne of world polo, Caroline Anier, gave it her all and fought like hell to hold off the English. Her all-French team had the potential to do well against the British but Hazel Jackson was everywhere, winning 80% of the duels and sending Rebecca Walters, named MVP of this final, to the goal.

The last final of the day, the Castel Trophy, concluded this beautiful day with a victory for the Audaz team in a game just as tight and exciting as those offered to us by this memorable Open de France 2022

RANKING

1. TALANDRACAS (+16)
Edouard Carmignac (Cap, 0)
Rufino Bensadon (+7)
Juan-Martin Zubia (+8)
Hugues Carmignac (+1)

2. LOS DRAGONES (+16)
Sam Sztarkman (Cap, +2)
Jota Chavanne (+5)
Bautista Bayugar (+8)

3. BRITTANY POLO CLUB (+16)
Jean-François Decaux (Cap, +1)
Benjamin Urquiza (+6)
Diego Cavanagh (+8)
Roberto Iturrioz (+1)

4. LA MAGDELEINE (+16)
Alexandre Garese (Cap, 0)
Santiago Tahier (+1)
Tito Ruiz Guinazu (+7)
Facundo F. Llorente (+8)

5. AMANARA (+16)
Nicky Sen (Cap, 0)
Lorenzo Chavanne (+3)
Santiago Chavanne (+7)
Santiago Laborde (+6)

6. LA BERTA (+16)
Juan-Cruz Araya (+3)
Marcos Araya (+6)
Min Podesta (+7)
Bruno Bensoussan (Cap, 0)

7. LA FIJA SANDBOX (+16)
Arthur Madrid (Cap, 0)
Juan-Manuel Garcia Grossi (+4)
Simòn Prado (+5)
Agustin Garcia Grossi (+7)

8. KAZAK (+16)
Sébastien Aduettant (Cap, 0)
Segundo Amadori (+4)
Patrick Paillol (+5)
Jero Del Carril (+7)

9. SAINTE MESME (+16)
Sam Wisbey (0)
Pelayo Berazadi (+5)
Benjamin Panelo (+6)
Robert Strom (Cap, +5)

10. TEDELOU (+16)
Isabelle Larenaudie (Cap, 0)
Ramiro Zavaleta (+4)
Juan Gris Zavaleta (+7)
Simon Zavaleta (+5)

11. MUNGO (+16)
Patrick Eisenchteter (Cap, +1)
Juan Cruz Greguioli (+4)
Juan José Stonri (+5)
Pierre-Henri N’Goumou (+6)

12. MARQUARD MEDIA (+16)
Salvador Jauretche (+4)
Ignacio Kennedy (+5)
Martin Aguerre H (+7)
Tommy Rinderknecht (Cap, 0)

13. BERLIN POLO (+15)
Nico Wollenberg (Cap, 0)
Moritz Gädeke (+3)
Manuel Elizalde (+6)
Casear Manuel Crespo (+6)

14. ETERNAL J (+16)
Jean-Claude Le Grand (Cap, 0)
Julien Reynes (+4)
Louis Jarrige (+4)
Guillermo Terrera (+8)

15. CLINOVA NOA CAPITAL (+15)
Raja Karim (Cap, 0)
Aristide Faggionato (+2)
Alejandro Muzzio (+8)
Nicolas Corti Maderna (+5)

16. SCHOCKEMÖHLE (+16)
Daniel Deistler (Cap, 0)
Patrick Maleitzke (+5)
Antonino Menard (+5)
Valentin Novillo Astrada (+6)
Vanessa Schockemöhle (0)

Progression and prices:

MVP: Juan Martin Zubia (Talandracas)
MVP amateur: Hugues Carmignac (Talandracas)
BPP: Peregrino La Banda „Bandita“ by Grappa Granado and Open Bandera, Zavaleta stud and ridden by Rufino Bensadon (Talandracas)

Progression Talandracas:
2-0 / 3-0 / 6-1 / 10-3 / 11-5.

COMING SOON… THE POLO NATIONS CUP

With the French Open Engel & Völkers barely over, the team at Chantilly Polo Club is already looking ahead to the 2023 season. A 23rd French Open, of course, which will certainly be of the same importance as this 22nd edition of this internationally well-established tournament. This success does not however prevent innovation and, in the Olympic spirit of Paris 2024, the French Polo Federation (FFP) and the Chantilly Polo Club have proposed to the International Polo Federation (FIP) the creation of a Polo Nations Cup. Of which we will see next June so stay tuned, a press release with the details of this new competition will be sent to you soon!

Formate	WORLD	D/A/CH	Turnierausgabe	Platzierungszuschläge
2/1 Seite 4C	14.950 Euro	9.970 Euro	3.850 Euro	Umschlagseite 4 = 50%
1/1 Seite 4C	9.970 Euro	6.750 Euro	2.800 Euro	Umschlagseite 2 = 40%
1/2 Seite 4C	6.490 Euro	4.250 Euro	1.950 Euro	Umschlagseite 3 = 30%
1/4 Seite 4C	3.900 Euro	2.500 Euro	1.080 Euro	Festplatzierung = 25%

Twenty years after their first and only victory until today, Talandracas wins the 22nd edition of the Engel & Völkers French Open in a magnificent way. A final as great…

Europe, Polo News

Barrière Deauville Polo Cup 2022: Battle of the giants and first title for Brittany Polo Club.

30. August 2022

The two most prestigious French polo teams faced each other this afternoon in the final of the Marta & Lucien Barrière Gold Cup: the team from La Baule, Brittany Polo Club and the local team, Talandracas, already six times winner of this Coupe d’Or. With two teams like these, each one having an impressive “resume”, one could only expect an exceptional final. The 2000 or so spectators were not disappointed. If, in the end, it was Brittany Polo Club who lifted the Gold Cup for the first time, further writing their history, it was above all polo that emerged as the big winner of this mythical tournament.

One could only expect a great game because beyond Deauville, these two teams are successful outside France, being the only two French teams of this century to have won the two most prestigious titles in Europe: the Queen‘s Cup at Windsor, in the royal club of Guards and the Gold Cup (British Open) at Cowdray.

Talandracas‘ iconic captain, Edouard Carmignac was presented with the Queen‘s Cup by Prince Harry in 2011. That year he played with two Argentine Open winners, Milo Fernandez Araujo and Lucas Monteverde. In 2014, he was again in the final with Polito Pieres, Juan Martin Nero and Santiago Stirling, but lost to Zacara.

After winning the Gold Cup for the first time in 2009 with Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres, Jean-François Decaux lifted the coveted British trophy again last year with a team consisting of no less than Adolfo and Poroto Cambiaso and Diego Cavanagh.

For this Gold Cup Marta & Lucien Barrière, the two finalist captains had, as usual, recruited great players: Benjamin Urquiza and Diego Cavanagh for Brittany Polo Club and Rufino Bensadon and Juan-Martin Zubia for Talandracas, who play at the highest level in Argentina, in particular in the Abierto, a world elite tournament. Winning in Deauville was therefore a matter of prestige for these great professionals, which explains their commitment on the field this afternoon in Deauville.

The game lived up to its promise and never, until the end of the third chukker, was the gap greater than 1 goal. The scoreboard showed a perfect tie (6-6) when the teams returned to the field after the half time. It was then that Brittany took off to take a 3-goal advantage. But it was not over yet thanks to the genius of Rufino Bensadon, who brought back the game on his own. His opponent Benjamin Urquiza scored again (10-9). However, that wasn‘t the end of the story as Rufino Bensadon had the equaliser at the end of a 60-yard penalty with just seconds to go… yet the ball went just wide of the posts leaving Brittany victorious.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game and that the score would be close,“ said champagne-covered Diego Cavanagh. We went into the last chukker with a three-goal lead, which is always good at this stage of a game. But then Rufino Bensadon put on a real show, he was unstoppable when he went off dribbling the ball and scored three goals that made us having doubts. He‘s an incredible player, full of talent, very quick, almost impossible to ride-off. He was on fire in that last chukker, he put Talandracas back in the game yet fortunately it ended well for us.”

In these very close games, it is often the horses that make the difference and it was indeed a mare ridden by Diego in the last chukker that was crowned best Argentine pony of the final: „DS Soprano is a mare of Benjamin Urquiza, that he gave me in the last chukker in exchange for one of mine. The mare is very easy to handle, very explosive“. A winning exchange! Tomorrow, Diego, Soprano, their teammates and their opponents will leave for Chantilly to prepare for the Engel & Völkers French Open, a tournament of the same level, but with sixteen teams and after this performance in Deauville, Brittany Polo Club is now one of the favourites: „First of all, we‘ll celebrate this victory this evening as we should, savouring the fact of having won this tournament and we‘ll wait until tomorrow to start thinking about the French Open.“ Following this Diego, like most of the protagonists of these tournaments, will fly to Argentina to prepare for the biggest event of the season: the Triple Crown.

The doors of the Deauville International Polo Club closed on this beautiful game which is perfectly in line with the legend of the Marta & Lucien Barrière Gold Cup. A particularly successful season both from a sporting point of view and in terms of attendance. Deauville is a place where people learn to love polo.

Battle between the two pillars of the teams: Diego Cavanagh and Juan-Martin Zubia!

Brittany Polo Club :
Jean-François Decaux (1)
Benjamin Urquiza (6, 7 goals of which 3 penalties)
Diego Cavanagh (8, 3 goals)
Roberto Iturrioz (1)

Talandracas :
Hugues Carmignac (1, 2 goals)
Rufino Bensadon (7, 7 goals of which 4 penalties)
Juan-Martin Zubia (8)
Édouard Carmignac (0)

Progression Brittany Polo Club :
2/0, 4/4, 6/6, 9/6, 10/9

MVP : Rufino Bensadon
MVP Amateur : Hugues Carmignac

BPP AACCP (best Argentinian playing pony of the final) : DS Soprano ridden Diego Cavanagh and belonging to Benjamin Urquiza, 9 years old by Dolfina Popular

BBP of the final: Peregrino Bandita, a mare belonging to Rufino Bensadon, daughter of Open Bandera played in Palermo by Pablo Mac Donough.

Photos by R&B Presse / Pascal Renauldon

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The two most prestigious French polo teams faced each other this afternoon in the final of the Marta & Lucien Barrière Gold Cup: the team from La Baule, Brittany Polo…

Europe, Polo News

60 Years Queen`s Cup 2020

28. October 2019

The Polo Classic: From 19 May to 14 June 2020 the legendary Queen’s Cup at Guards Polo Club will celebrate its 60^th anniversary. Of course, huge festivities are coming up next year. But the 2019 edition was also a breathtaking polo event.

Scone Polo added their name to the Cartier Queen’s Cup at the first time of asking! David Paradice’s team delivered a strong performance on The Queen’s Ground at Guards Polo Club in the second half of this final – playing their crowd-pleasing four-man polo – to win the match and the trophy 9-5. The popular Australian patron not only received the coveted cup from HM The Queen and Laurent Feniou, Managing Director of Cartier UK, but a huge cheer from the crowd too.

Their opponents, Andrey Borodin’s Park Place, were runners-up for the second successive year and, on paper, were favourites to lift the trophy. The game started in Park Place’s favour – they were 2-0 up after the first chukka and although Scone Polo got themselves on even terms in the second (3-3) Park Place seemed to be in the driving seat.

Scone Polo’s story through this year’s competition has been incredible and this final was no exception. Many people had written off this new team after they lost their first two games. Things changed in the third league match of the tournament – they suddenly found a winning way of playing and have not looked back since. Some great teamwork had put this team in the final and it won them the Cup too. Park Place struggled to counteract Scone Polo’s increasing confidence – failing to score at all in the fifth – and all of sudden, with just seven minutes left to play, this was Scone Polo’s game.

Winning player, Englishman James Harper, who had a brilliant game at back for Scone Polo, was named the Cartier Most Valuable Player. He also received the Cartier Best Playing Pony Rug for Twitter – a Jim Gilmore-owned, seven-year-old chestnut mare.

HM The Queen also presented the subsidiary final prize, the Cartier Trophy to Hugues Carmignac, patron of Talandracas, one of 12 teams that had entered this year’s Cartier Queen’s Cup competition. They beat Jean-Francois Decaux’s La Bamba de Areco 11-8 in an earlier match on this day. There was little air between these two teams at half time – 7-6 to Talandracas. Things only changed when La Bamba’s David Stirling retired after the third chukka – he had been injured in the second and although he continued to play until half-time it was clear he was in some pain.

Pablo Pieres subbed for him but a change of personnel always upsets a team’s dynamics and La Bamba failed to score in the next two chukkas. Talandracas, meanwhile, put four more goals on the board. La Bamba got back into the game in the sixth but it was too late and Talandracas won the sub final by three goals. The winning team’s Alejandro Muzzio was later named The Most Valuable Player, receiving his prize from HM The Queen.

www.guardspoloclub.com

RANKING

1. Scone Polo (+22)
David Paradice (0)
James Beim (+7)
Nico Pieres (+9)
James Harper (+6)

2. Park Place (+22)
Andrey Borodin (0)
Juan Britos (+7)
Hilario Ulloa (+10)
Byron Watson (+5)

3. Talandracas (+22)
Hugues Carmignac (0)
Francisco Elizalde (+8)
Julian de Lusarreta (+7)
Alejandro Muzzio (+7)

4. La Bamba De Areco (+22)
Jean-François Decaux (0)
Kian Hall (+3)
David Stirling / Pablo Pieres (+9/+9)
Juan Martin Nero (+10)

The Polo Classic: From 19 May to 14 June 2020 the legendary Queen’s Cup at Guards Polo Club will celebrate its 60th anniversary. Of course, huge festivities are coming up…

Europe, Polo News

Cartier Queen’s Cup 2019

7. May 2019

Guards Polo Club has announced that 12 teams will be playing in the 2019 Cartier Queen’s Cup Tournament (21 May – 16 June).

One of the world’s most prestigious polo tournaments, featuring the sport’s finest high-goal players and their impressive strings of ponies. Three weeks of 22-goal polo culminates in a stunning final, historically played in the presence of HM The Queen.

The teams include the defending champions, Michael Bickford’s La Indiana. His team will not only feature 10-goal star Facundo Pieres but also Brazil’s top player, Rodrigo Andrade. This impressive duo experienced success in this tournament in 2013 with Zacara and will be keen to repeat that feat in 2019. There are several other familiar names in the mix – 2018 finalists, Andrey Borodin’s Park Place, again featuring tournament top scorer Juan Britos – and 2011 winners, the Carmignac family’s Talandracas team. Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor, winners of the 2018 Cartier Trophy (sub final) are hoping to go even further this year by fielding a strong combination of Alfredo Bigatti, Agustin Merlos and Fred Mannix Jnr.

Rashid Albwardy’s Dubai makes a welcome return and will be looking to secure their seventh win in this competition. The Middle East is also represented by HH Sheikha Maitha’s UAE Polo Team, featuring Guillermo Caset and Santiago Toccalino. It is good to see Top Srivaddhanaprabha and his VS King Power team back in this high-goal mix too. Guards patrons Alessandro Bazzoni (Monterosso) and Hilali Noordeen (Casa La Vista Ibiza) are also returning to contest for honours in this world-class contest.

Corinne Ricard is the only lady patron in the mix, bringing her Murus Sanctus Polo Team to play the high-goal this season. This year she can call on the impressive, high-goal experience of Gonzalo Pieres. Fellow Frenchman Jean-Francois Decaux is bringing some of the sport’s big guns to his La Bamba de Areco matches – 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero and 9-goaler David Stirling – ensuring they will deliver some fast-paced polo.

The final team to this list is a new name to the 22-goal polo here in the UK – David Paradice’s Scone Polo. This Australian is no stranger to the game at the highest level though and with Nico Pieres and England captain James Beim in Scone shirts, they definitely warrant being on anyone’s shortlist.

The matches start on Tuesday 21 May – full schedule will be published at www.guardspoloclub.com