Lechuza Caracas win the Maserati Silver Cup

Sunday the 13th of August was a big day at Santa Maria Polo Club. Seven teams had competed over two weeks to find the finalists, the two teams who would fight the final battle in the high goal Maserati Silver Cup 2017.

Dos Lunas A&G Banca Privada: James Fewster 1, Pascual Vicuña 6, Facundo Sola 8 and Martin Podesta 5

Lechuza Caracas: Victor Vargas 0, Will Harper 0, David Stirling 10, Juan Martin Nero 10

A warm and windy afternoon in Sotogrande was the perfect setting and attracted many visitors to the main field of Santa Maria Polo Club.

Grandstand were full for the final of the high goal silver cup

Spectators from all over the world were gathered to watch the two spectacular teams go head-to-head in this prestigious final.

I met up with two of my Instagram friends. Laura Douglas, who came all the way from Australia and was live painting on the sidelines (check out her amazing art here). And from the other side of the world, Natalie had come from Texas to visit and witness the talented players go, also my friend Karim was in from Dubai. Truly an international crowd!

Natalie and I after the match

Laura’s amazing art in the making. She paints what she sees and with high goal polo it is fast and furious, so details will be filled in later and the paper will be framed.

The teams were lead on to the field by some sleek and elegant horse power in the shape of Maserati cars and after the national anthem the ball was thrown in and the battle had begun!

Maseratis and the teams, a lot of horsepower on the polo field

A very close match, where the teams evened out several times and were constantly on each other. Juan Ma Nero and David “Pelon” Stirling taking the lead for Lechuza Caracas and working very well as a team (which is not surprising since they play together on the La Dolfina team, in the highest level of polo, the Triple Crown in Argentina). Their team work got them very far, but the boys in dark blue from Dos Lunas gave them a run for their money.

JuanMa Nero, Facundo Sola and Pelon Stirling, the three highest handicapped players of this match chasing each other down the field

The two young Englishmen, James “Jimbo” Fewster and Will Harper.

I watched a few chukkers from the Royal Salute terrace, where Malcolm Borwick told me about the new Royal Salute 21-year-old blended scotch whisky, The Polo Collection, which he is a proud ambassador for. I am not much of a straight-up whisky drinker, but I must say that this one is very nice, smooth and not overwhelming at all, half whisky half water and a large clump of ice is the way to go.

Back to the polo field and the second half of the match, Facundo Sola was stealing ball out of the air and doing manoeuvres that seem physically impossible and taking his Dos Lunas team ahead. But the power behind the two 10 goalers of Lechuza Caracas was too much to take on and when the final hooter went the score was 10-8 and the whole team roared in excitement.

The winners, riding back to camp with big smiles on their faces

Victor Vargas with his family after winning

The trophy ceremony was lead by Spanish actress and model Nieves Alvarez, looking absolutely stunning in a white crochet jumpsuit.

Victor Vargas was named MVP and the mare Marquita, played by Juan Martin Nero got the Best Playing Pony award.