The finalists were La Dolfina and Alegría and having won the Hurlingham and Tortugas Opens La Dolfina had a golden opportunity to win the Triple Crown for the first time.

The match was closely fought but in the last two chukkas La Dolfina turned the screw and came out on top with a 16-11 win.

For a full description of the match as it happened we suggest you visit Buenos Aires Herald. 

Around 4,000 spectators showed up despite of some heavy rain showers the night before. And because of those same showers, leaving the polo field slightly moist, chukkas were shortened to 5.5 minutes and the first game a little delayed; a little surprising for visitors from England where polo in the pouring rain is a very common scenario.

Sal. Oppenheim – with Jo Schneider (0) Valentines Novillo Astrada (+5), Tatu Gomez Romero (+4) and Sven Schneider (+3) – took home the Oppenheim Gold Cup.  Team Lanson with Thomas Winter (5) in the line-up, the highest handicapped German player, had to be content with the second place.

See below for a few snaps of the action on the field.

Polo Blog (PB): For how long have you been connected to polo?

Ignacio Fernandez Llorente (IFL): Pretty much since I was born. My whole family used to play polo and I played my first tournament when I was only 13 years old, and then it went on from there.

PB: With whom did you play polo and at what level?

IFL: While my older brothers were playing with my uncles, I started out playing with my younger siblings at first. Out of 11 siblings, 7 of us took up polo, and we were all playing from a very young age. I eventually reached a 5 goal-handicap, which is not bad at all considering that I never actually devoted myself 100%. I’ve always worked or studied at the same time as playing polo.

PB: What did you study?

IFL: I have a bachelor degree in business administration (BBA). I’m also a certified public account and I have a MBA in economy.

PB: When did you begin to umpire?

IFL: In 2010, I did the umpire’s AAP’s course again, having initially done it back in 1992 when it was still very unusual to have umpires who were also professionals. At that time, I was playing, studying and I had a polo school all at the same time, so there wasn’t too my space to expand my passion and being a polo umpire, which is something I have always wanted to do.

PB: And in all those years how has umpiring improved?

IFL: I think it’s improved a lot, and the current referees are increasingly better prepared for the matches.

PB: Tell us what was your idea to help improving umpiring?

IFL: In trying to improve umpiring, it occurred to me, to record the teams playing. I decided to fix a camera to the front of my helmet, so I could record the game while I was umpiring the game. At first the video did not come out very well because there was a lot of movement but I learned how to fix it in a way that absorbed the movement, and made the recording nice and neat to look at afterwards.

It gives the players and umpires and everybody involved in the match, the chance to see and analyse all their moves and from there learn from the mistakes, strategies etc.
Many players like watching those videos because it gives them the opportunity to spot what exactly went wrong, what would have been the right move and so on.

I have now uploaded more than 40 videos to Youtube, and I think that players are taking great advantage of my videos. If I were a player I would love to be able to see myself in the video, check other players’ moves, where I could improve, or what I ought to change in order to improve my team performance. The majority of the polo players have never seen themselves play – it’s very rare to find a player who has had the chance to watch his own game. The video also serves as proof for cases of indiscipline, or dangerous or unfair player actions.

The purpose of the videos are purely to watch and study the polo, I don’t present the results, who won or lost on the day, handicaps or who scored the goals. In the videos you’ll hear everything that happens on the field, and you’ll be able to see the shots from really interesting angles, which is a great help when wanting to improve your game.

PB: So, Ignacio, how are you planning to continue improving umpiring in the future?

IFL: It is necessary to keep on filming and improving the quality of the videos. I am preparing videos with specific fouls and moves, I also have a new design to raise balls which is different from standard Bochero design, which I’m planning to continue improving.

PB: And where can people watch your polo videos if they want to improve their skills?

IFL: You can find and watch all the videos on my Youtube channel called “inPOLOin” – anyone who is interested is more than welcome to subscribe.

To watch all of Ignacio’s polo videos or to subscribe to the channel go to http://www.youtube.com/user/inpoloin

Below you’ll find a few of the latest videos from Sotogrande and Hamburg. They are truly mesmerising.

Santiago Shanahan (named most valuable player) enjoying a drink at the bar after the match.

Saseline, showed up to take part in the historic event. Also the Mayor of Copenhagen made an appearance by formally opening the tournament.

Four teams had been lined up to compete for the trophy, but in the end it was Team Maserati who won it against Team Shamballa Jewels, after Ryan Pemble converted a penalty with just 15 seconds to go in the very last chukka to win it 9-8.
In the subsidiary final Rossini Caviar Team Stockholm won another thrilling match against Care Service Team Oslo. Final score: 8-5.

Gaps in between the polo matches were very cleverly occupied by various types of entertainment including a seqway polo match, celebrity polo with danish celebrities Thomas Skov and Knaldperlen.

The Competing Teams:

Maserati Team Copenhagen (+10)
Leah Hamdan (0)
Matt Lodder (+4)
Ryan Pemble (+6)

Shamballa Jewels Team London (+9)
Michael Husted (+1)
Greg Greening (+1)
Ross Ainslie (+7)

Rossini Caviar Team Stockholm (+7)
Per Jacobsson (+1)
Niclas Johanssen (+1)
Santiago Shanahan (+5)

Care Service Team Oslo (+7)
Nicholas May (+2)
Thea Museaus (0)
Casimir Gross (+5)

Three matches took place throughout the evening, beginning with the grand opening game between teams Merchant Hub and Hedonism Wines, followed by Maserati Mexico v Royal Salute Scotland and IG Index England v Cheval des Andes Argentina.

The night began with complimentary wine tasting at the Wine Tasting Village, before the matches, and was accompanied by the Argentine band Tanghetto Electro Tango, a mix of classical tango music and electronic beats, who entertained the crowd during the intervals.

All three matches were tense and closely-fought. Team Hedonism Wines took first victory against Merchant Hub with a final score of 10-9. Maserati Mexico, captained by living legend Carlos Gracida, then claimed a well-deserved victory winning 11-10 against Royal Salute Scotland. And finally, Argentina clinched the win from England with a last second penalty scored by Andrea Vianini, leaving the final score at 11-10. A nail-biting finish to an extraordinary match!

The celebration continued at the indigO2, the O2’s smaller entertainment venue, for the Official Gaucho International Polo Tournament 2013 Players After-Party.

The match was off to a flying start with seven goals in the first chukka. More drama followed midway through the second chukka where Nacho Figueras’ pony, unfortunately, took a tumble and appeared to roll over Nacho before getting to its feet – this proved the end for Nacho’s match as he was stretchered off  with a broken acetabulum – chances of him making an appearance at the Gaucho Polo event this week at the O2 arena are now looking very slim indeed!

Meanwhile, Bautista Sorzana, another Argentinian, replaced Nacho Figueras and eventually the game resumed.

As the match continued England took control and were up 4-6 at the end of the second period. But in the 4th and 5th chukka Facundo Pieres showed the world why he is regarded as one of the best players to have ever play the game, and with a number of great goals made sure it was the Argentinians that came out on top – a deserved win and a great start to the English polo season.

Back in 1989 four friends – Italo Focacci, Fabrizio Bogiankino, Corrado

Cortina Winter Polo Cup in Italy

Pantanella all from Rome – and Renato Manaigo of Cortina, decided it was time to bring polo to the Dolomites. They first chose Lake Landro, between Cortina and Dobbiaco but later decided to move the tournament to Lake Misurina. The tournament became an annual occasion, went from strength to strength and is now considered one of the most important events in the snow polo season calendar.

Traditionally, the tournament is played on the frozen surface of Lake Misurina, but this year, due to the ice not reaching its required thickness the games have had to be moved to Fiames about a 20 kilometre drive away. Not ideal, but in the end a much better solution than cancelling the tournament all together as was the consequence of the lake of St. Moritz  not reaching its required level of thickness in 2012.

This year 5 teams employing more than 100 horses between them will take part in the tournament and Cortina Cup veterans like Luca d’Orazio (participated continuously for the last 11 years and 5-time winner), Dario Musso and Rommy Giannni will saddle up once again, so it’s shaping up to be a pretty exciting event.

The full list of teams and players:

Audi Polo Team:
1 cap. Davide Nanni         hp. 1 ITA
2 Paolo Santambrogio     hp. 3 ITA
3 David Bernal                 hp. 7 ARG
4 Fabrizio Bulgarini          hp. 3 ITA

HOTEL DE LA POSTE POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Gif Turati               hp. 1 ITA
2 Diego White                  hp. 8 ARG
3 Oscar Carona               hp. 3 ITA
4 Franco Piazza              hp. 3 ITA

JOHN TAYLOR-MONTECARLO POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Rommy Gianni     hp. 2 ITA
2 Luca E. D’Orazio         hp. 2 ITA
3 Dario Musso                 hp. 7 ARG
4 Juan Cruz Greguoli      hp. 5 ARG

U.S. POLO ASSN. POLO TEAM:
1 cap. Richard Fagan     hp. 2 IRL
2 Marcus Hancock          hp. 3 UK
3 Marcus Arraya              hp. 7 ARG
4 Santiago Torreguitar    hp. 4 ESP

RUINART POLO TEAM: 
1 cap. Davide Dondena  hp. 1 ITA
2 Horacio Etcheverry      hp. 7 ARG
3 Luis Neuforge              hp. 4 GER
4 Teodoro Neuforge       hp. 2 GER

With all teams sporting a combined handicap of 18 and with the likes of Nacho Figueras, Chris Hyde and Eduardo Novillo Astrada, who, with a 9-goal handicap is currently regarded as one of the best players in the world the tournament was always going to be something special.

Sunday’s final on the frozen lake in St. Moritz stood between BMW and Cartier and it was Cartier that got off to the better start being up 5-1 after just 2 chukkas. It looked like it was going to be a comfortable win for Cartier, but BMW managed to fight back bringing the score to 5-4 and pressing hard in the final minutes for the equaliser. Goal line clearences and shots from BMW that were licking the wrong sides of the posts meant Cartier could celebrate their win after the final whistle and take home the coveted trophy.

In the match for third place  Ralph Lauren managed a narrow win of 4-3 against Oppenheim which allowed them to bring home The Deutsche Bank Trophy.

A great year for Polo on Snow at St. Moritz and at The Polo Blog we are already looking forward to the 30th anniversary next year.

Even though polo has been played for thousands of years, the first ever recorded snow polo match only took place a little more than 25 years ago. It all started in St. Moritz where a small group of crazy polo enthusiasts got

Fin del Mundo Snow Polo Cup in Ushuaia in Argentina

the idea to play on the frozen lake. Today, over a quarter of a century later, the St. Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow is not only one of the most prestigious polo tournaments in the world, but snow polo has become one of the most popular kinds of polo there is.

Each year new snow polo events are announced in different parts of the world. Four years after the first polo match in St. Moritz in 1985 Cortina Winter Polo in Italy followed suit. Then Polo Masters, Megève in France, and in 2000 the World Snow Polo Championship in Aspen USA. Since then, the trend really accelerated with a new polo snow polo tournament being announced nearly every year in different parts of the world like China Snow Polo World Cup in Tianjin/China – the first snow polo event in Asia.

For the full chronological list of snow polo tournaments since the first in 1985 see the list on Polo+10 by clicking here.

Since we spend a lot of our time snapping pictures of ‘polo in motion’ and sharing them on this site we thought it would be a really great idea to join Pinterest, where we can share more pictures and create galleries using other people’s photos.

Have a look at some of our first boards on Pinterest by clicking on the links below:

Great Polo Players from around the World

Amazing Polo Grounds from around the World

Different kinds of polo

We plan to add more players and polo fields to our existing boards, so let us know who you would like to add, either by adding your comments below or on Pinterest. And if you have got a great idea for a board let us know about that too!