Polo Grand Slam: US Open 2023 Champion Team ¨ Park Place¨ with an unstopable Hilario Ulloa defeats Valiente 12 vs.11 ¡! Congratulations - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury/Quality Family Lifestyle MAGAZINE 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

Team Park Place - (Hilario Ulloa, Andrey Borodin, Juan Britos, Jason Wates) wins first U.S. Open polo championship, beating Valiente  12  vs. 11 in rainy Finals, at National Polo Center Wellington FLORIDA, monday 24.04.2023 ¡!

The $100,000 US Open Polo Grand Slam, Wellington  is one of the most prestigious Tournaments of the Sport, and third leg of the Gauntlet of Polo.
Only few high end POLO Grand Slams are played cross the world,
1. US Open Polo Championship - USA
2. Argentine Open - Abierto de Palermo - Argentine
3. Queen¨s Cup - UK
4. T.I.P. Gold Cup Sotogrande - Spain (home of 2022 FIP XII Polo Worldchampions ¨ SPAIN¨

In a battle of unbeatens, Park Place (Andrey Borodin, Juan Britos, Hilario Ulloa, Jason Wates) finished the tournament undefeated at 5-0, denying legendary 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso his 10th U.S. Open title.
Valiente (Robert Jornayvaz/Rufino Merlos, 1, Peke Gonzalez, Agustin Nero, Adolfo Cambiaso) finished 5-1.

MVP

For his Herculean effort that featured the game-winner with 40 seconds left and defensive stop of a Cambiaso game-tying goal in the final seconds, Argentine 10-goaler Hilario Ulloa, 37, was named Most Valuable Player, one of three top honors he swept.

Hilario Ulloa uses to play the  Spanish Sotogrande Gold Cup with Spains Worldchampion Pelayo Berazadi as team mate at BN Polo team ¡!


BPP

Ulloa’s horse, Latia Kavaska, played in the third and sixth chukkers, was awarded two Best Playing Pony awards:
- Willis Hartman U.S. Open award and
- Argentine-bred award

In one of the finest performances in his career, Ulloa scored a game-high 10 goals. An emotional Ulloa congratulated his teammates and then dropped to his knees in tears. Britos came over, tapped him on the shoulder and hugged his longtime teammate.

“This win means a lot to me,” Ulloa said. “The U.S. Open I enjoy the most. It’s been a lot of hard work for Park Place and sacrifice for people working hard. We have been trying four, five years to get one of these main tournaments. It’s been a tough journey because we have been in semifinals and finals, but we really wanted to win this. This is the one we had to fight the most to get it.”


Park Place showed up to the field on Monday at 8:30 a.m. and was ready to play at 10. The game did not start until 1:15 p.m. The teams played in a steady rain for most of the second half.

“It was strange to go to bed yesterday, not knowing exactly what was going to happen,” Ulloa said. “Today was a really long morning. We were sitting for four, five hours outside the field. We really wanted to play because the field was in great condition.”

Victory means a lot for their Patron and billionaire Russian Borodin
Borodin bought Park Place, Britain’s most expensive house, for $219 million in 2012. He was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom in 2013. The billionaire Russian paid $23 million for the massive equestrian compound in Wellington that was once home to the Lechuza Caracas polo team. Ulloa has played with Park Place for six years, including five years in the U.S.
“This win means a lot,” Borodin said. “It has been our journey for several years to achieve this. A big thank you to my organization and the team. Everyone gave everything they could give. Tonight we have big party.”

In front of a packed house at National Polo Center on Sunday, Valiente was leading Park Place 6-5 at the half before tournament officials postponed the game after a 45-minute rain delay, the second of the game.

The game resumed on Monday with Park Place awarded an automatic goal on a penalty-one when a foul was called at the end of the third chukker. The game was tied 6-6 as play resumed.

The lead changed hands only twice with Valiente leading by as many as two goals, 8-6, in the fourth and 10-8 in the fifth chukkers. With 1:44 left Ulloa scored the tying goal (11-11) on an incredible angled neck shot.

“We started off a bit anxious and not quite ready at the beginning,” Ulloa said. “But everything paid off in the end. We really played as a team and used all our players. We had amazing horsepower.”

Added Britos of his first U.S. Open title, “I have been dreaming about this moment for a very, very long time. It’s hard to put into words. It’s been a lot of years of work. There have been so many people fighting for this title. This is something very special.”

Wates, a 3-goaler, is the first Jamaican-born player to compete in the U.S. Open. He became a U.S. citizen last year. More than 50 friends and family from Jamaica made the trip to watch him play and were waving Jamaican flags throughout the game.

“We knew this final was pretty special,” Wates said. “We had good energy and this one felt like it was ours. We went to the field going for it and looking for it. We played every play like it was the last one. This is my first big title. This is the cherry on top. Winning the Open is the biggest thing you can win.”

In addition to Ulloa’s 10 goals, Park Place was awarded two penalty one goals. Valiente got balanced scoring from its lineup. Cambiaso had four, Gonzalez three and Nero and Rufino each had two goals.

The final statistics were close. Park Place converted 8-of-13 shots on goal for 62 percent, Valiente 8-of-14 for 57 percent; Park Place converted all four of its penalty shots, Valiente converted 3-of-4; both teams won 11 throw-ins and each team had three assists. Valiente led in fouls, 12-7.

Adolfo and his son Poroto Cambiaso, Scone patron David Paradice and La Dolfina players were scheduled to leave late Monday for a tournament in Australia.


Fixture - 13 Teams competing US Open Polo Championship 2023

Bracket I
1. Aspen (22) - Francisco “Pancho” Bensadon (7), Mariano Gonzalez (5), Rufino Bensadon (8), Stewart Armstrong (2)
2. Two Trees By Jefferies (21) - Juan Sánchez Elia (5), Mariano Aguerre (7), Miguel Novillo Astrada (8), Will Johnston (1)
3. Park Place (22) - Hilario Ulloa (10), Juan Britos (9), Andrey Borodin (0), Jason Wates (3)

Bracket II
4. La Elina (22) - Jared Zenni* (6), Jeff Hall (6), Matt Coppola* (5), Nicolas “Nico” Escobar* (5)
5. Dazos (21) - David Farache (0), Dylan Rossiter (6), Nicolas “Nico” Pieres (9), Santiago “Santi” Torres* (6)
6. Pilot (22) - Curtis Pilot (0), Facundo Pieres (10), Matias "Colo" Gonzalez (4), Matias Torres Zavaleta (8)

Bracket III
7. Shack Attack – Santiago Toccalino (8), Santino Magrini* (4), TBA, TBA
8. La Fe (22) - Francisco Elizalde (9), Louis Devaleix (1), Lucas Diaz Alberdi (6), Roberto “Robi” Bilbao (6)
9. Dutta Corp/Show+ (22) - Joaquin Avendaño (4), Mariano “Nino” Obregon (6), Timmy Dutta* (4), Tomas Garcia del Rio (8)

Bracket IV
10. Valiente (22) - Adolfo Cambiaso (10), Bob Jornayvaz (0), Lucas “Luckitas” Criado Jr. (6), Mariano “Peke” Gonzalez (6)
11. Scone (22) - Cody Ellis* (4), David “Pelon” Stirling (9), David Paradice (0), Poroto Cambiaso (9)

Bracket V
12. Palm Beach Equine - Scott Swerdlin (0), Raul “Gringo” Colombres (8), Christian ‘Magoo’ Laprida (8), TBA
13. Tamera (22) - Alejandro Poma (1), Diego Cavanagh (9), Pedro “Pedrinho” Zacharias (7), Segundo Saravi (5)

All photos courtesy of ©David Lominska