Alegria returns to defend their 2013 C. V. Whitney Cup title.
Less than two months into the 2014 polo season at the International Polo Club and the 26-goal teams are rolling out for the first leg of American polo’s Triple Crown, the C. V. Whitney Cup.
With a field of eight teams featuring the who’s who of polo, competition gets started on Friday, February 21st with four matches.
Alegria team captain Julian Mannix will be returning to defend his team’s 2013 title with a minor adjustment to the roster. Alegria will be returning Mannix, Mariano Aguerre and Hilario Ulloa, but have replaced Facundo Obregon with Clemente Zavaleta.
Last year’s C. V. Whitney Cup final saw Alegria squeak past Zacara (Lyndon Lea, Facundo Pieres, Magoo Laprida and Mike Azzaro) in a 13-12 overtime win. And while Zacara won’t be competing this year, Laprida and Pieres will be taking the field with Paco de Narvaez and George Rawlings as Crab Orchard.
Valiente is looking to take home the 26-goal opener with Bob Jornayvaz, Santi Torres, Sapo Caset and Adolfo Cambiaso. Cambiaso has been sidelined with a groin injury and was forced to watch his team earn a berth in the Ylvisaker Cup finals without him. Valiente will need Cambiaso at full strength if they hope to take this opening t26-goal tournament.
Lechuza Caracas has a new look to it this year with Victor Vargas bringing in Nico Pieres and Nico Espain to team up with 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero, while Audi will be fielding a strong lineup that includes Marc Ganzi, Gonzalito Pieres, Rodrigo Andrade and Gonzalo Del Tour.
Steve Van Andel’s Orchard Hill lineup remains pretty much the same as last year with Santiago Chavanne being the only difference. Chavanne will join Van Andel and brothers Pablo and Matias MacDonough this year.
The 2014 26-goal Coca-Cola roster has a single change with Facundo Obregon replacing Sugar Erskine. Obregon witll be joining team captain Gillian Johnston, Julio Arellano and Sebastian Merlos.
A new look and a new team name comes with Melissa Ganzi’s Flight Options entry. Joining Melissa this year will be the Astrada family, or at least three of them. Eduardo Astrada, Miguel Astrada and Alejandro “Negro” Astrada will hope to lift the wings of Fligt Options this season as the 26-goal competition takes off.
The C. V. Whitney Cup will be followed by the USPA Piaget Gold Cup and the season-ending Maserati US Open Championship.