Scone, SD Farms, Seminole Casino, Valiente Advance Into WPL Founders Cup Semifinals

WELLINGTON, Fl., February 24, 2020---The buildup now begins for this week's semifinals of the World Polo League's Founders Cup.

Scone, SD Farms, Seminole Casino and Valiente survived opening and quarterfinal games and are now one game away from the championship final and shot at the $60,000 winners' prize check.

"It's not a bad place to be," said Valiente 8-goaler Sebastian Merlos. "Now we have to try to find a way to make a plan to get to the final."

In the semifinals, Scone will face Seminole Casino and SD Farms will play Valiente at a site and date still to be determined today by tournament officials.

SCONE 14, STM 11

In the Sunday featured game at CoCo Cabana Stadium, Scone (David Paradise 0, Poroto Cambiaso 4, Diego Cavanagh 9, Adolfo Cambiaso 10) remained undefeated with an impressive victory over STM/ Sainte Mesme (Robert Strom 5, Pablo Spinacci 6, Nacho Novillo Astrada 9, Corcho Zavaleta 7).

STM, making its U.S. and WPL debut, needed time to work on its team chemistry and gain momentum on new horses and first high goal game of the season.

After falling behind 11-4 in the first half, STM outscored Scone, 7-3, in the second half. 

Scone started the game with a 3-0 lead on handicap and led 7-0 after the opening chukker. Scone, with a game already under its belt, was tough to contain with the younger Cambiaso riding circles around defenders and scoring five of his six goals in the first half.

STM found its rhythm and chemistry in the second half but ran out of time to rally.

Fourteen-year-old Poroto Cambiaso was Most Valuable Player.  The World Polo League Best Playing Pony was Dolfina Antonella, played by Poroto Cambiaso. The American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony was Highlands, played by Strom and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm.

Poroto Cambiaso scored a game-high six goals. Cavanagh had three goals and Adolfo Cambiaso added one. 

For STM, Strom led scoring with four goals. Astrada and Zavaleta each had three goals and Spinacci added one goal.

VALIENTE 15, AMAALA 5

On Sunday morning at Grand Champions Field One, Valiente outmuscled Amaala early in the game, pulling away 4-1, 5-1 and 7-1 in the first half. 

With a big opening win over Alegria, Valiente had an advantage with a game under its belt. It was Amaala's first game of the tournament.

With pinpoint passing, attacking offense and stingy defense, Valiente was even more dominant in the second half, outscoring Amaala, 8-4. Nineteen-year-old Joaquin Avendano replaced Bob Jornayvaz in the lineup and was outstanding on defense going up against veteran Tincho Merlos.

Taranco was Most Valuable Player. The World Polo League Best Playing Pony was Rihanna played by Figueras. The APHA Best Playing Pony was No Time, an 8-year-old American thoroughbred mare purchased by Adolfo Cambiaso at the beginning of the season and played by Taranco. 

"We are starting to play better because we are getting to know each other and getting the horses in better shape," Taranco said. "It's nice to win for sure but when you start having good feelings playing with your teammates that makes it a lot better. It was a pity Bob couldn't make it this weekend to play but hopefully for the semifinals he will be here.

"We now will play SD Farms and that will be a good game," Taranco said. "We both play open polo and that will make it very competitive and fun for the spectators and players."

Taranco and Colombres shared game-high scoring honors, each with six goals. Sebastian Merlos added three goals. Figueras led Amaala with three goals and Tincho Merlos had two goals.

"Jejo started the game with two goals in a row and we started very sharp," Merlos said. "The field was amazing. I think that played in our favor. We had a bit of an advantage on horsepower.

"We are starting to know each other and trying to play an open game and have everyone keep their position," Merlos said. "Slowly we are getting to know each other and play better."

SD FARMS 10, CASABLANCA 9
In a wild finish at windy SD Farms Field on Saturday, Zubia scored the winning goal on a converted safety with 40 seconds left to lift SD Farms into the semifinals.

Defending champion Casablanca (Grant Ganzi 3, Juancito Bollini 4, Hilario Ulloa 10, Rodrigo Andrade 8) led for the first four chukkers, 2-1, 4-2, 6-5 and 8-6 before SD Farms (Sayyu Dantata 2, Santi Torres 7, Guillermo Terrera 8, Juan Martin Zubia 8) found its game (attacking and winning the throw-ins) and outscored Casablanca, 3-0, in the fifth chukker to take the lead for the first time, 9-8. Zubia lofted a goal to tie the game, 8-8, after Dantata took Ulloa out of the play. Dantata then came back to score the go-ahead goal.

"They are a good team and came well-prepared, we didn't really figure them out until the last half of the game," Dantata said. "With the coaches we had on our side, we went back in the second half with a game plan. It took us longer but eventually we got the job done.

"I am very excited, these are three very terrific players and with the horses and experience behind us, we have to be good," Dantata said. "If we can't be good at this time I guess we should go home and think about other sports."

Ulloa tied the game at 9-9 with 5:23 minutes left before Zubia's heroics.

"Juan Martin Zubia is one of the best and he is only 20 years old," Dantata said. "He has a bright future ahead of him."

Zubia led scoring with five goals including four penalty conversions. Dantata had three goals and Torres added two. 

"We weren't able to play the game we like in the beginning," Terrera said. "We played four chukkers into their game. But fortunately it took us only two chukkers of our game to beat them."

Ulloa led Casablanca with five goals. Bollini and Andrade each had two goals.

The American Polo Horse Association (AHPA) was created in 2006 by the legendary Polo Hall of Famer Sunny Hale to recognize polo ponies in America and encourages events that showcase them and hard-working dedication of grooms.

Ten teams are competing in the first of three WPL tournaments offering major prize money. The winner of the Founders Cup will earn $60,000 and winner of the Molina Cup subsidiary game will earn $40,000.

Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is the hospitality sponsor for the World Polo League. Open 24/7, 365 days a year, Seminole Casino Coconut Creek presents a fully integrated, energized, stylish and upscale local’s casino experience, world-class dining, including its award-winning steakhouse, NYY Steak and live entertainment.

Tickets, ranging from $15 to $250, for the Sunday featured WPL games at 4 p.m. at Grand Champions Polo Club are on sale now at www.worldpolo.org.

Ticket price breakdown for the new CoCo Cabana Stadium is:

VIP $250, Upper Level (rain or shine, no refunds), includes VIP parking access,  exclusive luxury-style bar and lounge seating, gourmet light dinner buffet, exclusive chef station, VIP Open bar (excluding champagne and bottle service) and VIP swag bags.

VIP $100, Lower Level (rain or shine, no refunds), includes VIP parking access,  exclusive luxury-style bar and lounge seating, gourmet light bites and Worth Avenue retailer experience.

Valet Parking $15, select quality valet parking and general admission is free for fans who park across the field from the stadium.

Co-founded by Grand Champions owner and president Melissa Ganzi and Valiente Polo Farm owner Bob Jornayvaz, the successful World Polo League is the only 26-goal polo in the world outside of Argentina. The WPL is preserving the highest level of polo and its rich, hallowed tradition in the U.S. 

The WPL, with 11 tournament-quality fields to play on, features the Feb. 6-16 All-Star Challenge won by Valiente; Feb. 19-March 1 Founders Cup, March 4-22 Palm Beach Open and March 28-April 18 Triple Crown of Polo. 

The WPL schedule also features the unique April 6-12 U.S. National Mixed Doubles Championship, created by Jornayvaz. It pairs men and women players. There is also the April 9-12 WPL Beach Polo World Cup in Miami Beach.

The World Polo League attracts a large international field of players from all corners of the world  including Australia, Chile, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Argentina, Canada, Ecuador, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Germany, Uruguay, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, South Africa, Nigeria and England.

Grand Champions and Santa Rita Polo Farm is the largest and most unique polo facility in Wellington with 120 stalls in five self-contained barns, exercise track, five climate-controlled tack rooms, vet room, staff quarters, guest house and three polo fields with state-of-the-art underground irrigation including one field for stick-and-ball with plans to build more polo fields in the future.

For more information and to watch the games go to www.worldpolo.org for a complete library of WPL first-season games.