La Herradura won against Cocoa-Cola in an exciting overtime chuckker in the first round of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup at the IPC in Wellington last Sunday. The team included Hall of Famers and former 10-goalers, Memo and Carlos Gracida who are defending Memorial Cup champions. They started strong with a 4-0 lead, with Carlos Gracida scoring a goal and a penalty shot. Jose Donoso and Alberto Fernandez followed by both scoring a single goal.
The first half of the match ended with La Herradura leading 7-4. They continued to lead until the sixth chukker, when Sugar Erskine from Coca-Cola made two single goals and a penalty shot, and Gillian Johnston scored a goal tying them at 11-11. The match heated up in an overtime chukker when Carlos Gracida scored a penalty shot from 30-yards with only three minutes left to play leading La Herradura to victory with a final score of 12-11.
At the end of the match, legendary Memo Gracida was honored as MVP along with City of Honor, his 7-year-old stallion, being honored with ‘Best Playing Pony.’
This Sunday, January 20th, teams including Piaget, Lucchese, Zacara, Valiente, Villa del Lago, ERG, Faraway, and Lechuza Caracas will duke it out to see who makes it to the Joe Barry Memorial Cup finals on January 27th. To purchase tickets, visit internationalpoloclub.com