Interviews
El Paraíso Polo Team, a review
Ignacio Toccalino and an exclusive interview with LivingPolo.com, referred to the season which has ended
By Ramón Casares, Wildlife Photography
-How do you see this season, overall?
-Ignacio Toccalino: It’s positive. We started off by qualifying, and that’s already something which is good, we improved. We ended up playing well. We found it tough to find a rythm at Hurlingham, and against La Dolfina, at Palermo, we did not do so well, but we played well against La Aguada, during part of the match.
-Was it better or worse than you expected?
-Our idea was to try and do like we did; we were hoping to win one match. We had a bit of luck that Buatista was not part of Chapa Uno, but it was important to defeat them.
-The fact of qualifying for Palermo means that the season is a very good one, or after that you also feel you have to do well in the matches?
-Merely qualifying is not good.Year after year you want to improve a little. You can’t say it’s bad, but you always want to play better and win. This year the objective was to win one match at Palermo and we managed that.
-Is it tiring to have to take part in qualifying?
-Without any doubts, to have to qualify is tiring and you reach Palermo in inferior conditions. The horses are tired and you find the rest of the teams are not tired and, to cap it all, you’re a small team.
-Is there more tension than in a match of the Abierto?
-Yes, there is much nervousness, to qualify or not defines your whole season. So as to not get so tired, the qualifying rounds could be played at the end of April, when we return from the United States, and before we go off to England. In this way, you know quite a some time beforehand about whether you’re in or not, or how things are looking for the whole year. You can even bring some horses from abroad if you have qualified, or train the ones you have here better.
-Which was the worst match?
-Against La Dolfina at Hurlingham. The fact is that you have just finished qualifying, against 30- or 31-handicap teams, and in three days you start of by playing against a 40-handicap one, that during the last month has been playing against teams with a similar handicap.
-Did you attain the goals which you had aimed at prior to the season’s start?
-Yes. We had two: To qualify and to win one match at Palermo.
-Have you had talks regarding next year, or is it still to early for that?
-No, we’ve not met yet. Nothing has been spoken.
-How do you see things from a personal point of view?
Fine. Year after year I am improving my horses and I’m feeling more at ease at this level, which is superior to last year’s.
By Santiago Martella, Argentina Correspondent
