Black Bears, Dubai and Zacara winners in British Open play on Thursday
Enigma (Jerome Wirth, Charlie Hanbury, Guillermo Willington and Sapo Caset) was looking to improve on its 1-1 record Thursday afternoon in their meeting with Black Bears (Guy Schwarzenbach, Nachi du Plessis, John Paul Clarkin and Patrick O’Dwyer) on the River Field in the 2013 Veuve Clicquot British Open for the Gold Cup at the Cowdray Park Polo Club.
Black Bears got off to an energetic start, scoring three goals in the opening chukker of Thursday’s first British Open game. Enigma was held to a single goal, and trailed 3-1 after the first seven minutes of play.
Defenses stepped up in the second chukker. Enigma and Black Bears exchanged single goals, and after two periods of action, Black Bears maintained their two goal lead, 4-2.
There was no let up from John Paul Clarkin and Nachi du Plessis as the scored three unanswered goals against a stunned Enigma foursome on Cowdray Park’s River Field. Enigma (1-1) continues to have a shot at making the tournament semifinals but is going to have to stage a second half rally if they are to defeat the Black Bears (0-2).
Enigma scored for the first time since the second chukker, but it was a case of too little too late. Black Bears had stretched the lead to seven goals, 9-2, with the opening two goals of the second half. Enigma scored two of the last three goals in the fourth period, but it was the Black Bears with a commanding 10-4 lead at the end of the chukker.
Black Bears continued to roar in the fifth. A smothering defense was aided by two more goals to extend the lead to eight goals, 12-4 with Enigma looking for an answer to the swarming Black Bears attack. Enigma managed a single goal in the chukker, but two more goals had Black Bears on top by an impressive nine goals, 14-5 with one chukker left to play. Two more goals from Black Bears were answered by a single goal from enigma in the worst beat down of the tournament since Enigma’s June 25th 15-5 win over Thai Polo.
The loss drops Enigma’s record to 1-2 while Black Bears (1-2) recorded their first win of the 2013 Veuve Clicquot British Open.
DUBAI 13, LA BAMBA DE ARECO 12
When you have a Pieres and Adolfo Cambiaso on the field at the same time, you can always expect fireworks, Fourth of July or not, but Thursday’s British Open game between Dubai (Rashid Albwardy, Nico Pieres, Adolfo Cambiaso, Alec White) and La Bamba de Areco (Jean Francois Decaux, Polito Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres and Ollie Cudmore) featured no less than three of the Pieres family and Adolfo Cambiaso in a showdown of two undefeated teams.
La Bamba de Areco jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Dubai got their bearings. A Dubai goal cut the lead to a single goal, 2-1, but La Bamba de Areco responded with their third goal of the first chukker. Dubai tagged on a final goal before the period ended with La Bamba de Areco leading, 3-2.
Cambiaso and Nico Pieres wasted little time in setting the course for Dubai in the second chukker. Consecutive goals tied La Bamba de Areco at 3-3 and then sent Dubai ahead, 4-3. The two teams exchanged goals as Dubai maintained their one goal lead, 5-4. Dubai stretched their lead to two goals, 6-4, with their fourth goal of the period. La Bamba de Areco cut the lead back to 6-5 with their second goal of the chukker to end the second chukker.
The third chukker belonged to Dubai. Ringing up three straight goals and shutting down the offensive combination of Gonzalito and Polito Pieres, Dubai rode away with a 9-5 halftime lead.
La Bamba de Areco scored the opening goal of the fourth chukker, but when all was said and done, Dubai continued to be in control. The two teams exchanged goals thru the course of the fourth period of play with Dubai maintaining a four goal lead, 11-7.
Fifth chukker action saw La Bamba de Areco score the first two goals of the chukker, cutting the Dubai lead to two goals, 11-9. The Dubai defense stemmed the La Bamba de Areco attack and the chukker ended with Dubai leading by two goals.
La Bamba de Areco and Dubai exchanged goals in the opening minutes of the sixth chukker, 12-10. A goal by La Bamba de Areco cut the lead to a single goal, 12-11 with three minutes left in the chukker. With one minute on the clock, Gonzalito Pieres ties it up at 12-12. Dubai rallied for the final goal of the game with under a minute to play for the 13-12 win.
Dubai improved their record to 3-0. La Bamba de Areco falls to 2-1.
ZACARA vs. HB POLO
Both HB Polo (Ludovic Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino, Pite Merlos and Sebastian Pailloncy) and Zacara (Facundo Pieres, Lyndon Lea, Rodrigo Andrade and Matt Perry) had trouble getting into synch with teammates in the opening chukker of the final game of the day in the 2013 Veuve Clicquot British Open for the Gold Cup as they settled for an uneventful 1-1 first chukker.
Zacara posted two goals in the second chukker for a 4-2 lead. HB Polo scored once but trailed 4-2 at the end of the second period.
Three unanswered Zacara goals extended the lead to five gals as HB Polo was unable to break through the Zacara defense. At the end of the first half, Zacara was sitting on top of a 7-2 lead.
HB Polo made every effort to put some goals on the scoreboard in the fourth chukker, but Zacara wasn’t having any of it, comfortable to carry their 7-2, five goal lead into the fifth chukker. Neither team scored as Zacara continued to control the game.
Zacara added fur more goals over the final two chukkers of the game while HB Polo added just two more goals with Zacara clearly in control. Zacara continued to make a case for a second consecutive major tournament win as it remained unbeaten at 2-0. HB Polo leaves the field with a disappointing 0-3 record.
British Open play continues on Friday, July 5th with El Remanso (2-0) meeting UAE (2-0) at 1PM followed by a 3PM match between Lucchese (0-2) and Emlor (0-2).
"Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly" 
Rabii Benadada
