P O L O I N T H E PA M PA S
In the black Hilario Ulloa prepares to join Ellerstina for the Triple Crown By Lucas Noel
SERGIO LLAMERA
After a great Gold Cup for the British Open and while he is waiting for his first appearance with Ellerstina, Hilario Ulloa plans the most transcendental moment of the year: the Argentine Triple Crown. Lincoln is a city of 28,000 inhabitants, located northwest of Buenos Aires. It is, as its number of residents suggests, extremely quiet. Ulloa is a native of this city and on the family farm, he carried out the required quarantine upon his arrival from England, where he reached the semifinals of the Gold Cup with Park Place Vaara.
All this secluded time allowed the next member of Ellerstina to diagram the most important moment of this year. To use the word ‘diagram’ is perhaps exaggerated because in Argentina it is not yet known how the season will take place. The dates for the Tortugas and Hurlingham Open, let alone the Palermo schedule, are not yet confirmed. While the organizational conflicts are being resolved, Hilario has two clear challenges that monopolize his attention: to integrate himself into the tactical scheme of the Pieres brothers and find the formula to defeat La Dolfina. All this dressed in black. You were summoned to play in Britain at the last minute, a surprise in one of the 44 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
most important competitions. Did you wonder how far you would go? Yes, I was very happy. I knew it was going to be a very difficult year. I had already settled in the countryside to spend the winter and make new horses. Suddenly, Andrey [Borodin] called me and, within 48 hours, I was in England, in summer and we started playing right away. It was a pleasure to compete and play for Park Place. We had a great Gold Cup. We could have even played better in the semifinal (defeated by Next Generation with the Cambiasos), but still, we were very close. Do you feel you have formed a true partnership with Juan Britos on the field? Also, you played with two English boys with great potential: Nicholas Rogerson and Will Harper. We have been playing together with Juano for a while now and we understand each other very well. That was a little bit Andrey’s idea and also to prepare for the season in Florida, in the United States, where we will also be playing together. It was great for us. And as for Will Harper, he is without a doubt one of the great promises of English polo. He emerged, he played incredible and it was a pleasure. When you meet a young man like that in a quartet, you automatically have a great team. How did you adapt to the lack of spectators? Playing without people takes away the atmosphere, takes away the passion, takes away the extra the games have—having your people, your family, your audience cheering, especially when a semi-final is played. You live differently and this year it was so much colder. Looking at the bright side, with the enormous problem that exists in the whole world, we were lucky to be playing, to be competing and, at the same time, to be working. What did you think of some of the changes to the rules in order to avoid players being crowded on the field? I think maybe it helped to realize that you adapt to everything. They changed the rules, some for the better and others I don’t know if that much. But we were all very happy to be in England playing. We put
