C.V. Whitney Cup 2020 | U.S. POLO ASSN.

February 5 - 23, 2020

C.V. Whitney Cup

GAUNTLET OF POLO®

Las Monjitas captures the C.V. Whitney Cup, Final Score: 11-10

All games will be livestreamed on Global Polo TV.

All game times reported in EST.

C.V. Whitney Cup

Tournament History

Originally known as the U.S. Handicap, the C.V. Whitney Cup was first competed for in 1979 by handicap, and played in conjunction with the U.S. Open Polo Championship®. Played at Retama Polo Center in San Antonio, Texas, it was won the first two years by Tulsa. Nine years later, in 1988, the tournament was renamed for C.V. (Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny”) Whitney, an avid polo player and three-time winner of the U.S. Open in 1928, 1937 and 1938, and son of 10-goal Hall of Famer Harry Payne Whitney. In its inaugural years in 1988 and 1989, Mr. Whitney was on hand in Lexington, Kentucky, to make the first presentations of the C.V. Whitney Cup. The winner of the cup those first two years was the Ft. Lauderdale team of Jack Oxley, Joey Casey, Ernesto Trotz and Bart Evans.

Now played as a stand-alone tournament, the C.V. Whitney Cup is the first of three 22-goal tournaments in the GAUNTLET OF POLO® at the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) in Wellington, Florida. Its home since 2003, it will be followed by the USPA Gold Cup® and the U.S. Open Polo Championship®. In 2015 the Orchard Hill team defeated Alegria in the highest-scoring final in C.V. Whitney Cup history 16-13. Orchard Hill defended their title in 2016, defeating Audi 11-9, but the defending champions lost the trophy to rival Valiente in 2017 14-11. Notable past winners include Valiente (2012, 2014, 2017, 2018), Lechuza (1999, 2002, 2011) and White Birch (1995, 1996, 2000, 2001 and 2005).

Surviving a fierce single-elimination tournament in 2019, Pilot and Las Monjitas emerged out of a field of 16 challengers to contend for the C.V. Whitney Cup Final. Confident coming off a strong semifinal game, Pilot demonstrated a series of expertly timed plays by the Pieres brothers, capitalizing on Las Monjitas’ three-man team for a portion of the second half to easily sweep the first 22-goal title 13-6. 2019 C.V. Whitney Cup Champions, Pilot, return this year with Lucas Escobar to defend their title against a strong field of contenders, including five 10-goalers, the highest-handicapped of all polo players. The 10-goalers competing this year include Sapo Caset, Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Polito Pieres and Pelon Stirling.

History was made during the first GAUNTLET OF POLO® in 2019, when Pilot captured all three events to win the $500,000 bonus and earn $1 million over the course of the series. Alongside Pilot are 13 other teams. Click here to learn more about the GAUNTLET OF POLO®.

Photo: 2020 C.V. Whitney Cup Champions: Las Monjitas - Mackenzie Weisz, Francisco Elizalde, Camilo Bautista, David 'Pelon' Stirling. ©David Lominska

C.V. Whitney Cup

Tournament Format

Teams that were involved in the Ylvisaker Cup Semifinals (Coca-Cola, La Indiana, Patagones, Santa Clara*) will be seeded 3, 6, 8, 12. Brackets I and II will play within their bracket with the remaining four playing cross bracket (III will play against IV, V will play against VI). The winners of Bracket I and Bracket II, along with the winners of the cross brackets, III/IV and V/VI will advance to the C.V. Whitney Cup Semifinals. Both brackets I and II will be ranked 1-3, brackets III/IV and V/VI, teams will be ranked 1-4 on win loss. In the event of a two-way tie who beat who will be used. All other ties will be broken by a one man shoot out.

*Members of the Ylvisaker Cup semifinalist team Stable Door Polo are represented on the GAUNTLET OF POLO® Santa Clara team.

C.V. Whitney Cup

Brackets

Semifinals
Finals
Wed, February 19th
Las Monjitas (4-0) 10
Patagones (2-1) 9
Wed, February 19th
Pilot (2-1) 10
La Indiana (3-1) 12
Sun, February 23rd
Las Monjitas (4-0) 11
La Indiana (3-1) 10

C.V. Whitney Cup

Tournament Games

Saturday, Feb 8, 2020

February 08

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Park Place logo

Park Place (1-1)

7

La Indiana logo

La Indiana (3-1)

11

Sunday, Feb 9, 2020

February 09

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Las Monjitas logo

Las Monjitas (4-0)

10

Equuleus logo

Equuleus (0-2)

8

February 09

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Postage Stamp Farm logo

Postage Stamp Farm (2-0)

9

Daily Racing Form logo

Daily Racing Form (0-2)

7

February 09

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Santa Clara logo

Santa Clara (0-2)

10

Tonkawa logo

Tonkawa (1-1)

14

Monday, Feb 10, 2020

February 10

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Patagones logo

Patagones (2-1)

10

Old Hickory Bourbon logo

Old Hickory Bourbon (0-2)

8

February 10

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Pilot logo

Pilot (2-1)

10

Dutta Corp logo

Dutta Corp (1-1)

9

Wednesday, Feb 12, 2020

February 12

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Las Monjitas logo

Las Monjitas (4-0)

15

Coca-Cola logo

Coca-Cola (1-1)

13

February 12

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Park Place logo

Park Place (1-1)

9

Cessna logo

Cessna (0-2)

8

Friday, Feb 14, 2020

February 14

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Postage Stamp Farm logo

Postage Stamp Farm (2-0)

12

Old Hickory Bourbon logo

Old Hickory Bourbon (0-2)

5

February 14

Final OT

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Pilot logo

Pilot (2-1)

12

Tonkawa logo

Tonkawa (1-1)

11

February 14

Final OT

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Santa Clara logo

Santa Clara (0-2)

11

Dutta Corp logo

Dutta Corp (1-1)

12

Sunday, Feb 16, 2020

February 16

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Patagones logo

Patagones (2-1)

9

Daily Racing Form logo

Daily Racing Form (0-2)

8

February 16

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Equuleus logo

Equuleus (0-2)

9

Coca-Cola logo

Coca-Cola (1-1)

11

February 16

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Cessna logo

Cessna (0-2)

9

La Indiana logo

La Indiana (3-1)

11

Wednesday, Feb 19, 2020

February 19

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Las Monjitas logo

Las Monjitas (4-0)

10

Patagones logo

Patagones (2-1)

9

February 19

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Pilot logo

Pilot (2-1)

10

La Indiana logo

La Indiana (3-1)

12

Sunday, Feb 23, 2020

February 23

Final

C.V. Whitney Cup®

Las Monjitas logo

Las Monjitas (4-0)

11

La Indiana logo

La Indiana (3-1)

10

C.V. Whitney Cup

The Venue

The International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) is the premier destination for high-goal polo in the United States. Home to the most prestigious polo tournaments in the nation, IPC has hosted the U.S. Open Polo Championship® for over 10 years. Located in the heart of the horse centric village of Wellington, Florida, polo enthusiasts flock to the club every winter to witness top level polo competition that garners some of the world’s best players, including Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Nico Pieres, Polito Pieres, Sapo Caset, Pelon Stirling and Jeff Hall. Sunday matches at 3:00pm ET on the U.S. Polo Assn. Field, home of the official licensed brand for the USPA, are ticketed but all other games are free and open to the public.

Club Website Purchase Tickets