“We want to win no matter what”
The U.S. is preparing for one of its most important national-team events of the year: the Westchester Cup. An American team will be playing at the English Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in Windsor, Berkshire, on Saturday, July 28. The formation will have youth and experience: Peke Gonzalez, Nic Roldan, Julio Arellano and Jeff Hall.
Peke, Argentine but with an American passport, told CLICKPOLOUSA about his expectations. “It is the first time I’ll be representing USA and that’s great. I was born in Argentina, but have a bond with American polo through my father Mariano Gonzalez. I’ve been playing in the U.S. every year since I was born, and spend half of my year here. I started playing children’s tournaments, then started playing 12-goal cups with my dad and, two years later, we’re facing the 20-goal together. I hope I can keep playing as much as I can.”
When asked about the Westchester Cup, Gonzalez responded, “It’ll be great. The English team is amazing, three of the players just won the Gold Cup and the last player is Tommy Beresford, who is very talented, so it’ll be tough. But I think that our team is very good as well, we’ll see how it goes…” It’s not a derby, but Peke still thinks it is a very important match. “I don’t know if I would call it a derby, but it’s definitely a special match where we both want to win. I hope it makes for a good game.”
Peke Gonzalez is ready for one of the most important games of the year. A very active 2018: The U.S., Argentina and Canada. It’s a very intense year of polo for Peke. As he has for a few years now, Peke’s spending his first half of the year playing in the U.S. and before returning to Argentina for the second half.
“It’s been a great year for me thus far,” he told CLICKPOLOUSA. “I started the year playing the 12 and the 20-Goal cups in Palm Beach [Florida] in January, February and March. Then I took a trip to Cordoba, Argentina, to play the Washington Cup at Adolfito Cambiaso’s place in April. After that, I came back to play in Santa Barbara, California, for the May and June 12-Goal cups.”
After the U.S. and Argentina, Peke visited a new venue: “I played in Calgary, in Canada, through most of June. It was very good. And now, I’m here in England to play the Westchester Cup.”
After the Westchester, Peke will return to the U.S. for one of his goals of the year: The East Coast Open. “I’ll be playing in Greenwich, with Maureen Brennan, Matias Magrini and my father. It’ll be fun!”
His annual tour will end in Argentina, where he plans on playing the Municipalidad and the Camara with Toro Ruiz, Matias Magrini and his dad. “Repeating the formation that won the 2017 Provincia Cup,” he said of their victory last year at the important tournament with finals in Palermo.