Los Samanes 7-goaler Marcelo Frayssinet.
After the absence of high-goal polo on the Venezuelan landscape for years, it has returned in a big way under the guidance and sponsorship of 4-goaler Victor Vargas as nine teams are participating in both 22-goal and 26-goal Gold Cup competitions at the Caracas Polo Club.
On Thursday afternoon Caracas Polo (Victor Vargas, Toto Collardin, Juan Brane and Pablo Jauretche) scoring a 7-5 win over Tucacas (Facundo Castagnola, Santiago Cernadas, Toto Urturi and Marcelo Frayssinet) in the opening match of a three team 26-goal Gold Cup tournament, but that was merely a precursor to the weekend’s action.
Friday afternoon saw six teams take the field in 22-goal Gold Cup play that saw Los Samanes II (Luis Eduardo, Toto Collardin, Juan Brane and Andres James) score a 6-5 win over Sebucan (Gonzalo Mendoza, Sebastian Harriot, Pablo Jauretche and Toto Urturi); Los Samanes (Carlos Silva, Facundo Castagnola, Agustin Canale and Marcelo Frayssinet) edge Eliet Polo (Elias Celis, Jose Rivas, Juan Harriot and Julia Diaz) 10-9; and Caracas Polo (Victor Vargas, Alfredo Vargas, Juan M. Nero and Martin Espain) end the day with an 8-5 win over Mindanao (Jaime Restrepo, Tomas Franco, Santiago Cernadas and Jose Villamil).
The same six teams returned to the field on Saturday where Sebucan beat Mindanao 8-7; Los Samanes and Los Samanes II battled to a 7-7 tie; and Caracas Polo rode past Eliet Polo 9-5.
Twenty-two goal competition will continue through the month with the finals scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 5.