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hurlinghampolo.com
E V E N T N A M E L O C A T I O N D A T E
A C T I O N
C A R T I E R Q U E E N ’ S C U P , G U R D S P O L O C L U B , U K , M A Y - J U N E 2 0 1 8
C A R T I E R Q U E E N ’ S C U P
After an exciting tournament, beating several very worthy opponents,
a deserving La Indiana won Cartier treasure at last, writes Diana Butler
Michael Bickford and his La Indiana team
collected the Cartier Queen’s Cup at Guards
Polo Club at the third time of asking. In a
22-goal tournament that had delivered great
sport throughout the previous three weeks,
this final did not disappoint either. La Indiana
fought back from a 6–4 deficit at half-time to
win this most prestigious polo trophy 9–7.
Their opponents, Andrey Borodin’s Park
Place, were in their first season of high-goal
polo. They had impressed everyone with their
spectator-friendly, four-man polo leading up
to this match but could not find fortune in
the final. Eleven teams had taken part in
the 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup and the
evenness of the teams was highlighted in
the concluding matches. No team had stood
out head and shoulders above their peers
in the league games and this level-playing-
field had delivered some superb, competitive
polo, much to the delight of players and
spectators alike. Incredibly, despite the
closeness of many of the scores, not one
game had gone into extra time.
The final itself however, was pretty eventful
from the first whistle. Park Place’s Hilario
Ulloa found himself on the floor in the first
couple of minutes following a collision with
La Indiana’s Alec White. Fortunately, Ulloa
returned to the saddle and play resumed
– with White spending the next two minutes
in the sin bin. Meanwhile, Juan Britos,
the tournament’s top scorer converted the
penalty awarded for dangerous play only
for Pieres to convert a penalty before the
end of the chukka.
TONY RAMIREZ/IMAGESOFPOLO.COM
