The ninth annual La Martina Miami Beach Polo World Cup culminated in a tense final match between the tournament’s top two teams, resulting in a closely-fought win by defending champions The Raleigh.
The Raleigh Hotel (Bash Kazi, John Gobin, Juan Monteverde and David Tafuri) trailed by two goals at halftime but exploded with six third chukker goals to ride past a talented La Martina foursome, consisting of Santi Torres, Carlos Gracida and Guillermo Steta, to win 12-10 in the final afternoon match.
The two teams fought to a 3-3 tie in the opening chukker with La Martina’s Santi Torres scoring the opening goal of the match before converting on a two-point shot from midfield. The Raleigh scored a pair of goals from Juan Monteverde (one on a penalty shot) and a single goal from John Gobin for the 3-3 score.
Polo Hall of Famer Carlos Gracida took the reins in the second period, scoring on a two-point shot from over 50 yards out and a single goal to give La Martina a 6-4 halftime advantage. Monteverde scored The Raleigh team’s only goal of the chukker. The Raleigh team took control of the game in the third period with six goals. Gobin scored twice from the arena and added a 2-pointer. Monteverde scored twice in the chukker for a 10-8 lead. Torres and Gracida scored single goals for La Martina who trailed for the first time all day.
La Martina fought to get back in to the game in the fourth and final period, The Raleigh team’s defense was up to the task. La Martina scored two goals from Torres but responded with single goals from Gobin and Monteverde for the 12-10 victory. Gobin and Monteverde scored six goals apiece for The Raleigh team. Gobin was named MVP for the final match. Santi Torres’ mare “Mary West” received Best Playing Pony honors.
Earlier in the day, Grey Goose scored an 11-9 win over SLH to capture the Carl Fisher International Challenge Cup (1920) while Merchant Hub and The James Royal Palm Hotel/Jet Blue fought to a 10-10 draw in competition for the Fleischmann Memorial Cup.
Although both Merchant Hub and The James Royal Palm Hotel/jet Blue entered the final day with identical 0-2 records, both had recovered from opening round losses in impressive second day efforts.
The James Royal Palm Hotel/jet Blue led The Raleigh 7-6 at the end of the first half before falling behind 12-8 in the third chukker. Oscar Mancini scored five of is game high 12 goals in the final chukker, but The Raleigh managed to hold them off for the narrow 14-13 win,
The luck of the draw had Merchant Hub returning to face La Martina for the second consecutive day, a team that beaten them soundly, 10-5, just the day before, but Merchant Hub had other ideas about the outcome of the game.
The two teams were tied 3-3 after the first chukker and 5-5 at halftime. Luis Escobar scored a goal from the field and then converted a two-point shot to give Merchant Hub a narrow 8-7 advantage with one chukker left to play.
Sunday’s efforts resulted in some high-speed beach polo that ended up in a 10-10 tie. Oscar Mancini scored five times for The James Royal Palm Hotel/jet Blue. Sebastian Dawnay added four goals and Neku Atawodi scored once in the loss. Luis Escobar’s five goals led the Merchant Hub attack. Jamie Morrison was credited with three goals while team captain Tommy Kato converted two penalty shots for goals.
“This year’s tournament was the most exciting competition we have had to-date,” said Bruce Orosz, president and co-founder of The Polo Life, LLC. “We thank all of our patrons, sponsors and supporters for making this year the best ever.”