• • 
• • Tournament
  • Galleries
  Tweet

  

The Queens Cup

Final already set

Dubai and Ayala will play the much awaited match

By Diana Butler
 
Dubai earned their ticket through to the last day of this high-goal competition after defeating El Remanso 9-6.  There was much anticipation for this game as Dubai are invariably worth watching and El Remanso have impressed with every league game. And this semi-final did not disappoint, both the people at Guards Polo Club and those who watched live all over the world, through PoloLine TV.
 
Although El Remanso were trailing 5-1 at half-time, they rallied in the fourth. Charlie Hanbury put on some great runs down the Queen’s Ground, while  David Stirling showed his class by keeping the Hanburys’ team in the game. With only two goals between the two high-goal sides (7-5) at the end of the fifth, this game was still very open.
 
This was the moment that Cambiaso decided to show the packed grandstands, enjoying some rare summer sunshine, why he has been a 10-goaler for so long. Some wonderful long passes up the ground and some fast, quick play saw the Dubai team pull away, ensuring them a place in Sunday’s final. Not surprisingly he was named Man of the Match and received his prize from the Managing Director of Cartier Ltd  Francois Le Troquer.
 
The second semi-final, the first game to be played on The Duke’s Ground in 2012, saw Ayala defeat Aravali  11-8 in a lovely, flowing game. This was a much closer affair for much of the match with Marcos Di Paola proving really strong in defence for the Aravali team, who are only in their second year of high-goal. In comparison, Ayala  is really the Ellerston team in all but name as Inigo Zobel has taken on the patronage in the absence of Jamie Packer for this competition. So this side can  field some really impressive horsepower, as well as the 10-goal skills of Gonzalito Pieres. This pony power began to come  to the fore in the fifth with devastating effects, especially when a crucial Aravali penalty was saved. Although Mark Tomlinson scored in this chukka, the momentum had clearly turned.
 
Ayala confirmed their superiority at the start of the sixth and final chukka when Pieres successfully converted a penalty, to give Ayala a 10-7 lead with only minutes left to play. EFG Bank Aravali had no intention of giving up without a fight and Di Paola almost immediately successfully converted a penalty to keep his team’s hopes alive too. However Pieres’s penalty taking was accurate and he found the flags once more to give Ayala a win, a place in Sunday’s Cartier Queen’s Cup Final and enable his Zobel to receive the Hubert Perrodo Trophy from Carrie Perrodo. Eduardo Novillo Astrada of Aravali was named Most Valuable Player and one of his mares received the Best Playing Pony Prize.