Polo community unites
On Friday 22 April, players united at Grand Champions Polo Club for the inaugural Zavaleta Perpetual Cup, to benefit the recovery fund for Clemente ‘Corchito’ Zavaleta. Zavaleta was injured in a serious accident while playing for Alegria in the World Polo League and has since undergone two surgeries, remaining in hospital in a stable condition. With two 38 goal teams competing, it was the highest handicap match ever played at the Club in its 15-year history, co-owner Marc Ganzi commented, “Melissa and I were honoured to host this important event in order to help the Zavaleta family in these challenging times. It is moments like this when the polo community shines and steps up for our own, we view the polo community as one big family – and this is what families do for each other – we support each other in times of need.”
The Park Place and Pilot line-ups featured five current 10 goal players, Hilario Ulloa, Juan Martin Nero, Facundo Pieres, Pablo MacDonough and Gonzalito Pieres, as well as pending 10 goal player Barto Castagnola who will be raised from 9 to 10 goals in December this year. Although the day was not about the winners or losers, Park Place defeated Pilot, 4-2, in an emotional match for all involved. Facundo Pieres commented, “Messages and support from the polo community all around the world have been overwhelming. I was talking with Magoo Laprida and Hillario Ulloa, who are both quite close to Corchito, and we wanted to create an event to bring people together to show our support for his recovery. We asked the Ganzi family if Grand Champions would give us a place to play a match in his honour and they accepted without hesitation. I think the event was especially nice for his wife Isabella and their daughters as we celebrated our good friend and helped raise funds for his full recovery.”
Zavaleta Perpetual Cup
Park Place (38): Juan Britos (9), Hilario Ulloa (10), Barto Castagnola (9) & Juan Martin Nero (10)
Pilot (38): Facundo Pieres (10), Gonzalito Pieres (10), Magoo Laprida (8) & Pablo MacDonough (10)
Photograph: Eight players played a match to the benefit the recovery fund for Zavaleta. By Candace Ferreira