Daily Racing Form will meet Valiente in final
WELLINGTON — Jared Zenni and his Daily Racing Form teammates know exactly what they will be up against today in the final of the 114th U.S. Open at International Polo Club Palm Beach.
The University of Miami senior and his first-year team will play defending champion Valiente, led by 10-goalers Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Pieres, the top two players in the world.
Valiente is one victory away from w inning its second consecutive Triple Crown, North America’s crown jewel in polo.
Valiente won the C.V. Whitney Cup and USPA Gold Cup 26-goal tourna- ments, the first two legs of the Triple Crown and is riding a 17-game winning streak that dates to the Ylvi- saker Cup.
Joining Zenni will be 10-goaler Hilario Ulloa, whose horses were recently named best string of the 2018 season; and cousins Agustin and Mariano Obre- gon. Joining Cambiaso and Pieres will be Bob Jornayvaz and Tommy Beresford.
Zenni and Agustin Obregon, childhood friends and longtime polo teammates, were members of the winning Palm Beach Illustrated 2017 $100,000 World Cup team. Zenni and Obregons are making their U.S. Open debut.
“I thinkour goal all along was to try and make the final and then see what happens in the final,” Zenni said. “I think it depends on what kind of day you have. It’s a little luck, too.
“I’ve always dreamed about playing in the U.S. Open. I wanted to make the final and fight to win it. Now that it’s reality that I am in the U.S. Open final as a 22-year-old kid, I still can’t get my head around it.”
In their first meeting earlier in the season, Daily Racing Form was leading Valiente for four chukkers before Valiente rallied. “I think it got in our heads that we were ahead and we messed up,” Zenni said.
Since then, the team’s horsepower has improved and confidence is soaring. The team also added Julio Arellano as a coach. His daughter, Hope, was an alternate for Zenni’s father, Jim, during the 20-goal season.
Arellano, a Cardinal Newman and Florida Atlantic alum, was recently named to the U.S. team alo ng with Jeff Hall, Nic Roldan, another Cardinal Newman alum, and Costi Caset for the July 28 Westchester Cup against England in Berkshire.
“Julio has played so many U.S. Opens and won it, and Hilario has already won the Triple Crown, so that’s a lot of knowledge for me and the Obregons,” Zenni said. “He’s helped me have confidence in myself. He told me we deserve to be here and not to be scared of them. They should be scared of us.
“I don’t think anyone is scared of Valiente. If we are, we’ve already lost. We have respect for them. Obviously, we have to play well. If we play our game, we have a chance of winning.”
Both undefeated teams (3-0) are coming off impressive semifinal wins. Daily Racing Form, leading 8-1 at halftime, defeated U.S. Polo Assn. 11-8, and Valiente topped Flexjet 17-9, led by Facundo Pieres’ gamehigh 11 goals.
It will be the final time for at least three years the U.S. Open will be contested at the 26-goal level. In an attempt to help the growth of polo, the U.S. Polo Association voted to move IPC’s tournaments from 20-26 goals to 18-22 goals for a three-year period (20192021).
The World Polo League has already been formed by team patrons Marc and Melissa Ganzi and Bob Jornayvaz to help fill the void for 26-goal tournaments beginning in February 2019.
The U.S. Open ends the four-month winter high goal polo season in Wellington.