The Talacrest Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup

from Polo Times September 2022

What’s On in September

Ferraris, Polo

& Prizes AplentyPark Place retain Talacrest Trophy

Talacrest are a name synonymous with hosepower, as the world’s leading classic Ferrari dealer and Talacrest’s Chairman, John Collins is a familiar face at Guards Polo Club. Having supported polo for many years at the Club through the Talacrest Young Player of the Year, which awards a large sum of money to an up and coming talent (this year £15,000 was presented to Josh Hyde), but in 2021 the support was taken up a notch as they sponsored the Club’s newest tournament, the 22 goal Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup.

This year saw six teams competing across two leagues, with Park Place and BP Polo reaching the Final on Sunday 14 August, Park Place won the inaugural trophy in 2021, defeating Monterosso 5-4, would they be able to retain their title for 2022? Both teams had already met earlier in the qualify stages on day two of the competition and on that first meeting Park Place had asserted their dominance with a 14-11 win, so there was all to play for come the Final.

“Park Place turned up the heat and established an effective attack between Ulloa, Merlos and Juan Britos”

27 JUL 14 AUG FINAL

Where: Guards Polo Club, Windsor

Photography by ©www.imagesofpolo.com Santos Merlos and Joevy Beh vie for possession

Best Ferrari at the Club: Nigel Chiltern-Hunt’s F40

Talacrest Young Player of the Year: Josh Hyde

BP Polo began with a two goal handicap advantage, which they swiftly built upon to lead 5-1 in the opening phase of the second chukka, but this only served to ignite Park Place’s attack and Santos Merlos scored three unanswered goals to help tie the scores, 5-5. An evenly matched third chukka saw both sides struggling to gain the upper hand as each goal was answered by the opposing side, with the scores again tied at half-time, 7-7.

Keen not to repeat their slow start at the beginning of the match, Park Place turned up the heat and established an effective attack between Ulloa, Merlos and Juan Britos who scored a goal apiece to just one in reply from BP Polo’s Joevy Beh. The fifth chukka was Ulloa’s time to

BPP

JB Salsita, played by Hilario Ulloa

MVP

Genaro Ringa

shine as he scored four goals which began to see Park Place’s momentum build as they pulled away from their opponents. Merlos added his own contribution to the goal pot, which left BP Polo with a daunting six goal deficit to overcome as the time seeped away, undeterred they scored a further two goals to take BP Polo’s overall score to 11 – a Final winning score in any other game. Substituting for Sam Wisbey in the sixth chukka, Andrey Borodin made an immediate impact for his Park Place organisation, scoring the final goal and Park Place secured their second consecutive Talacrest Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup title with a 1611 victory. For social pictures from the day, please turn to the Sidelines pages

“This only served to ignite Park Place’s attack”