On a spectacular final day, The Kusnacht Practice won the 40th Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz Sunday on the frozen Lake St. Moritz.
By Sharon Robb
Photos by Tony Ramirez, Images of Polo
In front of a record crowd of 26,200, The Kusnacht Practice (Eduardo Greghi, 0, Francisco Belaustegui, 3, Chris Mackenzie, 6, Isidro Strada, 7) rallied in the second half for a 5-4.5 victory over favorites and two-time champion Azerbaijan Land Of Fire (Elchin Jamalli, 2, Tarian Gurbanaliyev, 0, Adrian Laplacette, 6, Raul Laplacette, 6).
The Best Playing Patron Award went to Eduardo Greghi. The Best Playing Pony was Dolfina Aureliana, owned by Adolfo Cambiaso and played by Chris Mackenzie. The Most Valuable Player was Isidro Strada.
The first two games of the six-team tournament were just as exciting with several Grand Champions Polo Club players competing.
In the opening final for the Casablanca Trophy, Mackage (Tommy Collingwood, 5, Benji Daniels, 1, Nic Roldan, 7, Grant Ganzi, 3) defeated Taos (Cameron Bacon, 0, Dillon Bacon, 3, Max Charlton, 6, Alfredo Bigatti, 7), 4-2, in a penalty shootout. Despite challenging weather conditions including snow flurries and over a foot of snow, Mackage players braved the elements to play well on the final day.
“It is called snow polo for a reason,” said founder Reto Gaudenzi.
Playing in over a foot of snow Mackage and Taos, still trying to adjust to playing in a snow opened with a 0-0 first chukker. The good-natured players were smiling as they dug the ball out of the snow several times. Daniels scored the opening goal when he lofted the ball from 40 yards out with 10 seconds remaining.
After another scoreless chukker, the remaining goals were scored in the fourth and final chukker. Bigatti scored the tying goal when he scooped up the ball and sent it through the goal posts for a 1-1 tie. Still undecided, the game went into a penalty shootout. Ganzi, Collingwood and Daniels all converted 20-yard penalty shots to clinch the win.
Before the second game the snow stopped, the sun came out and snow plow went to work to create a denser, faster playing surface. In the Mackage Trophy final, World Polo League (Melissa Ganzi, 0, Jason Crowder, 5, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, Mariano Gracida, 4) defeated Flexjet (Jonathan Tidswell-Pretorius/Niclas Johansson, 0, Pelayo Berazadi, 5, Facundo Sola, 8, Tito Gaudenzi, 2) with an impressive 7-5.5 victory.
World Polo League controlled the momentum from start to finish, playing well as a team. Trailing 2.5-1 after the first chukker, World Polo League went to work with Crowder and Gracida scoring to take the lead, 3-2.5 in the second chukker. While it was close in the second half, World Polo League never trailed to take the decisive win. Crowder converted a 20-yard penalty in the final minute for the icing on the cake.
Ganzi, President of Grand Champions Polo Club and co-founder of the 26-goal World Polo League, was the first woman to win the 35th Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz in 2019. She was the first woman to compete in the tournament in 2016 and first woman to make the final in 2017. It was her eighth appearance in the tournament.
In the championship final, the Swiss team The Kusnacht Practice fell behind early, 3.5-0 early in the opening chukker. The Kusnacht Practice clawed its way back with back-to-back penalty conversions by Strada to trail 3.5-2. In the second half, Astrada scored a 40-yarder to cut the lead, 3.5-3. With two minutes left in the third chukker Mackenzie hit an incredibly angled lofted shot to move his team into the lead, 4-3.5.
The Kusnacht Practice never lost its lead in the final chukker. Strada opened the chukker with a 40-yard penalty conversion for a 5-3.5 led. In the final two minutes it was an impenetrable defense that sealed the win.
“What a finish! We were treated to fantastic matches with an unbelievable final with a completely full house, plus ecstatic spectators and wonderful polo, truly St. Moritz at its best,” Gaundenzi said.
Earlier in the tournament on Friday’s opening day, Taos defeated Mackage, 9-5; Flexjet topped World Polo League, 6-4.5; and Azerbaijan edged The Kusnacht Practice, 5.5-5. On Saturday, Flexjet edged Mackage, 7.5-7 for the President’s Cup; The Kusnacht Practice defeated Taos, 6-4, for the One & Only Trophy and Azerbaijan edged the World Polo League, 3.5-3 for the Wami Trophy.
The world’s most prestigious polo tournament on snow was the first snow polo tournament in the sport’s history created by polo promoter and visionary Reto Gaudenzi, founder and CEO of Snow Polo World Cup in 1985. The 2026 tournament dates are Jan. 30-Feb. 1.
Jan-Erik Franck, the voice of polo, handled the snow polo announcing duties in St. Moritz and Kitzbuhel. He is now headed to Wellington, Fla. to announce alongside Dale Schwetz the 26-goal World Polo League’s seventh season that begins in February.