Pilot wins US Open as teen star Lorenzo Chavanne sweeps the board
Pilot’s US Open Polo Championship 15-10 win against BTA was a milestone victory for patron Curtis Pilot – giving him his third Open title and a third time winning both the USPA Gold Cup and the Open in the same year. It was also a landmark for 10-goal Jeta Castagnola who, as an already established candidate for being the world’s best player, put his name on the historic Tiffany trophy for the first time on Sunday at the National Polo Center in Wellington.
But it was 18-year old Lorenzo Chavanne – playing only his second high goal season on the international stage – who swept the awards board and was responsible for keeping Pilot in the running for the US Open with his faultless performance in a critical penalty shootout at the end of league play. Selected for the Seymour Knox Most Valuable Player [MVP] award, Lorenzo also won the Willis Hartman award for Best Playing Pony [BPP] for Open Texas and BPP Argentine for Open Silaba in the US Open finals’ presentation.
Earlier in the week, Lorenzo’s horses won Best String of 2026 and Texas V8 was singled out as Horse of the Year – these accolades added on to MVP of the USPA Gold Cup final for Lorenzo, where Texas V8 also took BPP. “It’s almost everything for a player to have a good horse and a good string,” he said. “In the US Open, you have to start looking for horses and try to be the best-mounted, because if not, you’re going home soon.”
Lorenzo’s father, Santiago Chavanne, has been instrumental in building horsepower foundations for his son. “He’s been in Argentina and doing the best he can,” said Lorenzo who has a pragmatic approach to his profession that belies his years. “I try to buy every [horse] I can that I like – and that are in my reach. I’m really, really happy to have those kinds of opportunities.”
Lorenzo was one talking point of the 2026 high goal season – and sidelines speculation was awash with the subject of his seven-goal handicap and whether he will see an end of season raise of one or potentially two goals. BTA had their own plotlines running – starting when KC Krueger stepped in for her father, Kelly Beal, at the beginning of the team’s second high goal season and proceeded to blaze an inspirational trail for women polo players.
“KC is a machine,” Lorenzo said, after her fearless marking cramped his style more than once in the final. “She plays at a different level to her handicap and she’s been doing amazing.”
BTA – captained by the 10-goal talent of Tommy Panelo and dependent on the support of 7-goal Nachi Viana – was a popular team on the Sunday field and its supporters were loud. “I could hear them,” KC said of the partisan stadium crowd.
Ultimately beaten, BTA had been far from defeated. BTA coach Tommy Biddle pointed to the emotional and tactical elements of the match. “They started a little slow, which I didn’t really want to happen, but it happens – big game, butterflies and all that,” he said. Adjustments were made, and the team rallied. “We made some changes in the throw ins and who was marking who,” he said, and he reminded the team at halftime that they had overcome an 8-5 deficit before, telling them to focus on the next goal.
This the BTA line up accomplished, and were shadowing Pilot by a goal on a 10-11 scoreline with less than two minutes left in the fifth chukker. An open goal penalty converted by Lorenzo expanded Pilot’s lead, which was consolidated with three more goals in the sixth and final chukker. “They fought hard,” Tommy Biddle said of BTA. “It was just great working with them. It was a great season.”
The narrow margin of the scoreline during the fourth and fifth chukkers came as no surprise to Jeta. “BTA is a very good team,” he said. “Ultimately, we knew that if we wanted to win, we had to play very well. And luckily, we were able to do that.”
Family was a theme of the closing high goal match of the Florida season. Lorenzo’s father is Jeta’s godfather and both players’ fathers – Santiago and Lolo Castagnola – played together back in the day. KC was playing alongside her husband Steve for BTA. “This season we just wanted to compete and play well and give ourselves chances,” Steve said. “And we exceeded our expectations. We enjoyed it immensely and hopefully we’ll be back.”
For KC, the final was daunting to begin with. “I would say it was a little nerve-wracking at the beginning. It’s our first time in the U.S. Open final and I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew that the team we were playing against has won twice against us, and we know that they have good horses. They’re quick, they’ve all been playing well above their handicaps, so you have to respect them,” she said of Curtis, Jeta, Lorenzo and six-goal Mackie Weisz. “I tried to enjoy the moment and appreciate what everybody [on and off the field] has done. It was a very special thing to be a part of.”
‘Pilot wins US Open’ is the headline, but it is born out of the individual storylines behind it. “We had a wonderful time this season,” said Jeta. “It was really great to enjoy ourselves coming here to play polo – and, of course, actually being able to win adds a huge bonus.”
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