Legend

WINNERS AGAIN Gonzalo won the Coronation Cup five times. The victorious1976 South America team, from left: Gonzalo, Eduardo Moore, Lord Mountbatten, Antonio Herrera and Anibel Garcia

Peerless Pieres

Gonzalo Pieres’s long and illustrious career has seen him win countless titles, discover and nurture players of the future, and cultivate a successful breeding operation. Alex Webbe reflects on the life of an all-time great

He still carries a slight build and a greying hairline that had begun to recede in his youth. He sports the requisite Argentine stubble across his weathered face as a supplement to his signature moustache. He offers a wisp of a smile as he takes a drag on a cigarette, which he quickly hides behind his back like a young boy who might be scolded. He doesn’t look like a poster boy, or one of the best athletes in the world, but anyone who knows anything about polo speaks his name in awe.

Gonzalo Pieres was born in Argentina on 22 December 1955. Argentine 9-goaler Eduardo Moore spotted Gonzalo as he and his brother Alfonso won the High School Tournament Championships twice. Moore took Gonzalo to England, where he became part of the Vestey organisation, capturing numerous British Opens, Queen’s Cups, and Coronation Cups over the years.

He came to the United States with Moore, and joined Peter Brant’s White Birch organisation, leading the team to Gold Cup Championships in 1983, 1984 and 1986 through 1989. World Cup wins and countless other tournament successes followed.

Gonzalo attributes his successful associations with some of polo’s most notable patrons to good luck, but watching him play, you are aware that luck plays the smallest of roles in his many achievements.

‘He won the game before he set foot on the field,’ said former teammate and opponent Carlos Gracida. ‘His organisation and preparation were spectacular, horses, players, young prospects, everything.’

When he went to work for Peter Brant and his White Birch team, organisation was certainly one of Gonzalo’s most enduring contributions. The development of Brant’s string of horses set his teams apart.

The handicaps of the White Birch players climbed, forcing Pieres to locate and identify young up-and-coming, under-rated players to fill out the line-up. Stars of the future, such as Julio Arellano, Jeff Blake, J J Boote, Juan Bollini, Tiger Kneece, Sapo Caset, Del Carroll Walton, Adolfo Cambiaso and Mariano Aguerre were just some his recruits.

‘Just as Barrantes and Moore had nurtured Pieres in the 1970s, Pieres and Barrantes

brought to the United States another future star, 10-goaler Mariano Aguerre,’ writes Horace Laffaye in his Profiles in Polo, which devotes an entire chapter to Gonzalo Pieres.

Gonzalo brought 3-goal Mariano Aguerre aboard in 1986, and he would later step into Gonzalo’s boots. Young Aguerre would also marry Gonzalo’s daughter Tatiana.

The smooth fluid motion of Gonzalo Pieres on a horse was a spectacle to behold, and this talent was appreciated by his contemporaries.

‘He had the ability to assess a horse and then adapt to the horse rather than try to ride them all the same,’ said former 8-goaler Bart Evans. A horseman born and bred, Evans had a great deal of respect for Gonzalo’s ability to get the most out of his mounts by playing to that specific horse’s strength. When asked the weakest part of his game, Gonzalo offered: ‘I was never a powerful hitter, I was not good at penalty shooting.’ It had little effect on his performance on the field.

‘He had the best control at speed of anyone I had ever seen,’ declared former 8-goal international Dale Smicklas. ‘He was a real team player,’ said former 9-goal teammate Red Armour, who played with him on the Ellerston team that won the USPA Gold Cup in 1995 with a 13-12 win over his former White Birch side. ‘He got the most out of his teammates, he gave them a sense of confidence and elevated their games.’

In seven years, Gonzalo’s La Espadana team won the Argentine Open six times, and he would return to win it two more times with Ellerstina in 1997 and 1998. His introduction of commercial sponsorship was the first step towards professional polo in Argentina, and changed the way the Open teams were organised.

Gonzalo credits Eduardo Moore and Juan Carlos Harriott with having the biggest effect upon his polo and Kerry Packer for having the biggest impact on his business career. ‘He [Packer] made me think on a much bigger, different scale than I had ever considered,’ he reflected. ‘He taught me to think on an international level.’

This philosophy led to a partnership of sorts with the Australian tycoon and polo enthusiast. Packer bought part of Peter Brant’s White Birch property in Argentina, near Pilar, where he and Gonzalo organised stables and a breeding operation. With Packer’s passing, and the maturing play of his sons, Gonzalo increased his operations.

‘We currently have 200 horses [at Ellerstina, his 36-hectare ranch that boasts two polo fields],’ he said. ‘With the boys [sons, Gonzalito, Facundo and Nico] all needing horses we have to figure on 50 for each of them, and then another 50 just to pay for the operation.’

He has 11 studs at work on the ranch, producing 300 embryos a year, keeping 200 and selling 100. He credits Kerry Packer with the success of his breeding operation:

‘He taught me that if you are trying to produce the best product you have to use the best ingredients, and that is what I have

‘He won the game before he set foot on the field. His organisation and preparation were spectacular’

done at Ellerstina, that is what I continue to practice in all of my affairs. He would never relax; he was constantly trying to improve.’

Gonzalo was fortunate enough to have had the services of top ponies Lechuza, Luna and Levicu over the years, and feels that if his sons are to be successful they will need the same calibre of horses under them. Gonzalo says Gonzalito has great speed and quickness, is constantly working, and ‘has all of the shots’.

‘Facundo has great mallet control,’ he says. ‘He is very talented and has power. His only weakness is in not taking the easy plays. When he has too much time, he gets into trouble.’ Facundo won his first major tournament in the US this year with Isla Carroll, and along with brother Gonzalito and cousins Pablo and Matias MacDonough, came within a goal of sweeping the triple crown of polo in Argentina last fall.

Nico, the youngest son, is currently rated at six goals. When asked if he will achieve a 10-goal rating the senior Pieres assures me that he will. ‘He has the ability and the power,’ he says. ‘He just has to learn to be patient and not rush the play.’

Son-in-law Mariano Aguerre must also be accounted for as part of the Pieres clan. Brought into the White Birch operations as a ‘ringer’, the talented young player moved from three goals to nine in four short years. He has led White Birch to seven of its record 11 USPA Gold Cup victories.

Like his father-in-law, however, the US Open eluded him until 2005, when White Birch beat Skeeterville 11-10 in the finals.

Aguerre’s success in the Argentine Open is nearly as impressive as the White Birch success in the US Gold Cup. He earned his first two Argentine Open championships in 1997 and 1998 as a member of the Gonzalo Pieres-led Ellerstina teams. Two years later Aguerre would win the coveted Argentine Open with the Heguys on the Indios Chapaleufu team. He wouldn’t return to the victor’s circle until he joined Adolfo Cambiaso, Lucas Monteverde and Lolo Castagnola and La Dolfina in the winners’ circle in 2005, 2006 and again in 2007, being named MVP while scoring a victory over Gonzalito and Facundo’s Ellerstina team.

A few years ago, Gonzalo and Adolfo Cambiaso organised the Argentine Polo Tour, attracting wealthy patrons from all over the world to play competitive polo with some of the game’s top players. For the last three years we have been operating the Gold Cup at the same time as the Argentine Open. It has been so successful that they have added a Silver Cup and a Bronze Cup to the competition, attracting over 40 teams and 35 patrons last year for the events.

Gonzalo’s professionalism and dedication have served him well, and his continued success is not questioned by former teammate and opponent Julian Hipwood. ‘As talented as he was,’ he reflected. ‘I think what amazed me the most about him was that he never made a mistake in the final chukka.’

1 Gonzalo playing for White Birch at Palm Beach in the Eighties 2 Playing for Ellerston in the Nineties 3 Son-in-law Mariano Aguerre 4 Cowdray Park, 1995, after his first Gold Cup victory. From left: Tatania, Gonzalito, Facundo, Zorrino Force, Gonzalo, Nico, Oscar Raul, Cecilia 5 Kerry Packer, Jim Gilmore and Gonzalo at the Argentine Open