• • Marc Ganzi, his first time representing the US Team
  • Jeff Hall will play in England for the first time in his career
  • Nick Roldán will stay in UK for the whole season
• • Tournament
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St. Regis Int. Cup

England meets US at Cowdray Park

First international test match of the UK season

England and United States will meet to play the traditional St. Regis International Cup. The match will take place on Saturday May 19, on ground 1 at Cowdray Park Polo Club Ambersham complex.
 
The game will be recorded and shown later on PoloLine TV, day and time yet TBA
 
The 24-goal friendly match features a meeting between England and the US for the first time in 15 years. That's why PoloLine talked in exclusive with three of the four members of the American team, to know their feeelings about the exciting thrill.
 
Jeff Hall
 
This adventure started last summer with Marc (Ganzi), while in Santa Barbara. We originally thought about playing the Westchester Cup and the Coronation Cup this year; we did not have the time to prepare for this season, so this is kind of a prelude to play next year the Westchester and the Coronation Cup. So,next year we will bring horses, and find a place to stay in UK, with the idea to play either the Queen's Cup or the Gold Cup
I've never played in England, and this is a really exciting opportunity for me. We've been here for a few days, just four, but it's really great.
We met up for dinner with the English boys, and we also met at the Audi Awards, and we had a great time. We're enjoying our stay at Cowdray Park. We also played some practices.
Regarding to horses, Zacara lent me some, as well as the Pieres, so that means that I will be very well mounted. 
 
Marc Ganzi
 
The idea about a match between England and the US started in 2009 when we helped the English team. Back then, they went to the US to play the Westchester Cup, and we got in touch with the English players to lend them some horses. The HPA was very grateful for this, and they invited to play us to play in England. The original plan was play the Westchester Cup between the Queen's Cup and the Gold Cup. Finally, the HPA created this international match to give us the opportunity to play in UK. 
The initial idea was bringing a 25-goals team, with Julio Arellano; but Julio had a great opportunity to play in Brazil, so we finally put together a 24-goal team, with Polito Pieres, as he had an American passport.
We've needed a local help from local teams to be properly organized to play. Melissa and I started three years ago with the gesture of giving horses to the British teams. So, I made a phone call to the Pieres, and also see if Adrian Kirby, Polito's patron in England, could get horses for him. We were very fortunate to get some help from some of the best organizations in England to get horses - Adrian, Dubai, Ellerston, all of them were very generous.
This is very exciting for me, it's my first time representing the US team in UK, and I hope to represent the country well. I will play as a back, seems to go quite well. In a match of this level I think it works well. But I will definetly have a very busy day!!
It is a friendly match, and I think we will play with our best intentions, but England has a rich story and they give a lot of importance to their national team. For sure, England will put their best efforts; I expect a very competitive match. They have a great organization, maybe one of the best; they had a lot more practices, they have all the horses here, and we expect to be really tough. On a personal side, my mission is promote US polo and to continue to have good international polo because it's good for the sport, for the HPA, the USPA and the AAP.
It's always very helpful to play in your own environment; we had a couple of practices here and we felt comfortable with the fields. The English boys know how to play in wet conditions. In the US we don't play polo when it rains. Anyway, we have a team with lots of skills. The test of the match will be the physical nature of their polo and the skills.
 
Nick Roldán
 
This is something that was planned some time ago; the idea was come to play with Marc the UK season and organize to play the Coronation Cup. It think it finally didn't happen because there was trouble with the dates, until this match could be arranged. This is something like a pre season for us, to see what happens and definelty come next year. Marc always wanted to play in England, so now we got it.
Really, it was Marc who was very interesting to come to England. We were trying to get some support from the USPA, but they didn't seem interested. Fortunately, we have Marc who is very enthused; he loves polo, he loves travel and he told us to do it. I think that now we're here, the USPA will see that it's very important to get involved with polo in England.
Regarding to horses, I will stay here all the season, at Dubai, so I will get horses from them, which is a pleasure for me. Jeff will have some from Zacara and the Pieres, who helped both Jeff and Marc alot. Polito have his own horses.
We did a couple of practices, mostly for Jeff and Marc to try the horses. Our idea is having fun; we have a great relationship with the British boys. In fact, I think Marc has arranged everything to come to play the Westchester Cup next year.
It will be a friendly match, but as soon as the match starts, we are going to play to win this match. We are very well organized, we have a very good team, so we do want to win.