Sheikha Maitha’s UAE Polo Sets World Record in the Game of Polo - Wins 3 Major Tournaments In A Streak, Not Losing A Game
Winning one game is one thing, staying a winner is a different ball game. It takes more than good skills to stay a winner. It takes ‘ride or die’ skills, players sync, a shy quiet calculating coach, wits well applied, well-crafted mallets, and horses that just don't hear but also listen with full attention, when their owner whistles ‘stay calm’. And might we add, that it helps if the Patron of the team is quite prayerful.
'The Journey Is More Important Than The End' - MMRM1 [Sheikha Maitha Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum]
UAE Polo led by Sheikha Maitha a.k.a. MMRM1, started the game with a quick goal by Tomas Panelo; a finalist in the Ride Or Die Polo MVP Award 2019, and went on to demolish Habtoor, leading in every chukker, till the end of the game. Habtoor Polo is no new opponent. UAE beat Habtoor in the Silver Cup Semi Finals, eliminated them in the Polo Masters and finally demolished them in the race for the Julius Baer Gold Cup. As the umpires kept busy whistling away on fouls, MMRM1 was busy whistling to the UAE Polo horses to remain calm. You know, Keep Calm and Play Polo.
The Mallets That Won The Gold Cup
Habtoor playing on home grounds, had crowd advantage. The UAE Team couldn't care less, and despite numerous attempts to suck up fouls from team members especially sharp-shooter Alejandro Muzzio, which in turn gave Habtoor 4 bonus goals, the game ended 10-8. So many whistles though.
From 3rd Chukker
The 8-3 margin in the 3rd Chukker going into half-time was epic. The UAE had no time for the witty games. They just wanted to play pure polo, as sent down from the Heavens to Mankind, unadulterated. The kind of Polo you can only witness at Palermo, and they brought it on. While Habtoor played more of a game of wits, looking for every foul in the book, to slow the game down, UAE just played polo, never lost their fast rhythm, exhibiting the best of the skills of the players and the ponies. It was the Finals, and that’s what you do in the Finals, when the whole world is watching. You give the people a Good Game; their money’s worth.
In the heat of the whistles and penalties, the Knights of UAE did what they do best, fight on and entertain the crowd with 10 goals shot on target, sniper shots reading 99.3% accuracy on the DubaiPoloSport Sniper Scale, assassin hooks forming all sorts of shapes, like the Arabic alphabets. Very calm, very collected. Their horses were in on it too. They just all were there to play. The kitchen was getting very hot, and UAE loves the heat. Panelo and Muzzio are like diamonds. They crystallize with higher temperature. The hotter the game gets, the more accurate their shots become, from any angle.
With each run, the UAE horses out-paced the Habtoor horses; talk about horsepower. Well-dressed Horses with sound V12 Italian engines. When we mean well-dressed, we mean down to shin boots and bell boots for every pony, whether playing or in reserve. Well padded blankets so the friction from the saddle don't make the horse thro' u out [American Accent] :)
Benoit sets up the play, MMRM1 keeps opponents at bay [the best Defender in the tournament, by the way], Panelo and Muzzio handles the goals, and the ponies? Their job description was:
1. ensure no player falls off
2. deliver each player to their final destination at the quickest possible time, like Emirates Express SkyCargo.
5th Chukker
The ‘Dinner Is Served Home Run’ by Alejandro Muzzio in the 5th Chukker, had a bloodline of a race horse breed, deliver him to the Habtoor goal mouth in precisely, 17 seconds. 17 seconds from Zabeel Downtown [UAE Goal Side] to AlHabtoor City [Habtoor Goal Side]. Well-trained Polo Ponies. Has Monteverde discipline written all over.
Now the UAE Team has a coach, a rather shy man of very few words. He is in charge behind-the-scenes. His name is Lucas Monteverde, a retired Polo warrior-turned horse breeder and trainer, of course from Argentina. Lucas must pay excellent attention to details, and must either eat a lot of fish, or take a lot of Omega 3 supplements as he evidently has high cognition. Also a good benefit from being shy and speaking less, he gets the chance to observe, think more and not just come up with strategies to counter the opponents, but figure out practical ways to have his team execute them to winning success.
No other team at the Dubai Polo Season, had coordination better than the UAE players. No better networking. No better play syncing. Being on the sidelines with Polo aficionados, we kept hearing comments like: ‘the black shirts are playing better’, ‘their horses are running faster’, ‘wow, what a pass, how do they handle it?’, ‘the blue guys are fighting for their lives’, ‘so many whistles against the black shirts, stop stopping the flow of the game.’
Dubai Polo Sport Sidelines
Two German fans, who we have only just introduced to the game of Polo in the past month via the Dubai Polo Sport Blog, [one of them having flown in from Frankfurt to watch the Finals live, while the other drove in from Abu Dhabi] commented, after Hugo Lewis’ horse ran off, that the horse couldn’t take the heat anymore.
Polo World Record
UAE Polo set a world record, and just as we feared, a record they may not even be able to break themselves, just like Usain Bolt. They cleared all 3 tournaments that they signed up for in the Dubai Gold Cup Series; The Silver Cup, the Dubai Polo Masters Cup and the Gold Cup respectively. Riding through the entire tournament, back to back, unbeaten in every single game. Complete team at the end, losing none to injury from start to finish.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, graced the occasion, was treated to a lovely afternoon of Polo, and found pleasure in giving away the Julius Baer Gold Cup 2019 prizes. Trevor Weller, Director - Prestige Division of Bentley Emirates, joined him on the stage to award prizes to the Bentley Cup runner up - Dubai Wolves and the winners - Zedan Polo Team.
Régis Burger, Head Middle East, Julius Baer (Middle East) Ltd., joined the stage to give the awards to the runner up of the Julius Baer Gold Cup 2019 final - Habtoor Polo - and the champions - UAE Polo Team.
Alejandro Muzzio was awarded the Most Valuable Player and Milly, his pony, who played the 1st and 5th Chukkers, was named the Best Playing Pony. While Milly was irritable due to noisy crowd and camera flashes and clicks, MMRM1 whistled from about 25 meters away to the horse, to Keep Calm and Take Pictures. And Milly actually made eye contact in the direction of the familiar sound, allowed herself to be led to the centre of the stage, and stayed calm for pictures.
The Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series held in the UAE is one of only five tournaments in the world played in the WPT Championship Cup category, at par with world-class Polo tournaments held in Argentina, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.
Founded by Mohammed Al Habtoor in 2009, The Silver Cup and the Dubai Challenge Cup fall under the World Polo Tour (WPT) Challenge Cup Category awarding the winners of the Silver Cup, 50 points, the finalists, 25, semi-finalists, 10, and the rest of the players with 5 points. The Dubai Challenge Cup winners are awarded 20 points.
The Gold Cup is under the WPT Championship Cup – the highest competition in terms of point allocation, awarding its winners, 80 points.
The Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club a state-of-the-art polo and equestrian community devoted to equine sports is the home ground of the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series.
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