The second Gold Cup match Bamba de Areco & Les Lions was played on Ambersham 1 between two sets of brothers : Facundo & Nico  Pieres versus Agustin & Sebastian Merlos.  Facundo & Sebastian carrying the ten goal rating .  All four players are experienced Palermo Open players with all except Nico previous winners of the Argentine Open.  The expectations of the match were very and did not disappoint from the throw in it became obvious that Facundo came to play his best polo, the first three chukkas were close with a slight edge to Bamba de Areco it seemed that Agustin Merlos was misfiring a bit at goal from his usual high standard.  The fourth chukka proved decisive as Facundo gave an exhibition of what it is to carry the maximum handicap and scoredd four times to break the game open after that it was catch up time for the Merlos boys and a great job they did to get back to within 1 goal before the bell sounded.  One of the most enjoyable aspects of the Gold Cup at least for this writer is seeing the quality of horse flesh on show the best in the world if anything it seemed Facundo was slightly better mounted than the Merlos brothers but this is maximum level in all areas players, horses etc.  Its great for my dog "Santo" the friendly labrador to be back at Cowdray Park a dog friendly polo club.