Scapa’s Marcos Di Paola
Dubai (Martín Valent, Patricio Cieza, Luis Domecq and Adolfo Cambiaso) scored an 11-9 win over previously unbeaten HB Polo (Ludovic Pailloncy, Sebastian Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino and Pite Merlos) Sunday afternoon to finish preliminary play in the 2013 Hublot Gold Cup action at Spain’s Santa Maria Polo Club with an unscathed 3-0 record.
The win boosts Dubai into a semifinal berth on Thursday, August 29 against a yet to be determined opponent. Dubai opened the Spanish high-goal season with great promise, winning the opening Bronze Cup before getting derailed by Royal Salute (Petrus Fernandini, Alejandr0 Muzzio, Jaime Huidobro and Malcolm Borwick) 8-6 in the semifinals of the Silver Cup.
Earlier in the day, Scapa (Michael Redding, Jack Richardson, Eduardo Novillo Astrada and Marcos Di Paola) handed Halcyon Gallery (Charlie Hanbury, Jota Chavanne, Guillermo Terrera and Max Routledge) their third consecutive loss of the tournament while scoring their first win in three attempts. The 13-8 win was little solace to a 1-2 campaign.
Hublot Gold Cup action continues on Monday, August 26 with Ayala (Inigo Zobel, Guillermo Willington, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Jauretche) facing Dos Lunas (A Sainzde Vicuna, Jason Warren, Diego Cavanagh and Tomas Garcia Del Rio) in the 5PM opener. Two games are scheduled to be played at 6:30PM, with Ellerston (Johnny Williams, Ali Patterson, Gonzalo Pieres and Facundo Pieres) attempting to remain unbeaten as they meet a 2-0 UAE (HH Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum, Jack Richardson, Lucas Monteverde and Pablo MacDonough) lineup; while Royal Salute looks for their first win in gold Cup play against winless El Rosario (Alejandro Penafiel, Valerio Zubiaurre, Milo Fernandez and Salvador Ulloa).