The championship commences
Last week saw the first round of matches for the Buckmaster, Rocksavage and Hipwood. On Monday 10 July, Cirencester beat Beaufort in a Buckmaster match played at Billingbear Park. This was followed by matches at the Guards Polo Club on Tuesday 11 July, with a win for Strathearn against Kirtlington in a Buckmaster match. In two Hipwood matches, Lutheridge beat Kirtlingon and Oxford Polo beat Ranelagh. This was followed by two Rocksavage matches at Trewsbury Farm on Thursday 13 July in which Longdole beat Kirtlington and Lutheridge beat Oxford Polo. The week ended with two Buckmaster matches at the Dubai grounds, with wins for Strathearn against Beaufort and Northwood against Norfolk.
There have been two notable changes to the Buckmaster teams. Pacho Singh is no longer able to play and Segundo Darritchon has replaced him. Segundo Darritchon won The Polo Magazine Most Valuable Player award at the recent Guards La Aguada International Youth Tournament. The team will be known as Norfolk moving forward. Also, Ned Hine is no longer able to play in the Northwood team. He has been replaced by Ollie Cork. On Friday 14 July, Cruz Novillo Astrada from the Beaufort team was replaced by Luke Wiles for the match.
Both Northwood and the newly named Norfolk started the week on a high, winning their matches on Monday 17 July against Strathearn and Kirtlington respectively.
Matches in all sections continue this week, with Buckmaster matches at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club, Cirencester Park Polo Club and the Zacara grounds. In the Rocksavage series, play will take place at the Longdole Polo Club and Kirtlington Park Polo Club whilst the Hipwood series will be played at Cirencester Park Polo Club and Ranelagh Farm Polo Club.
A full round-up of the Buckmaster, Rocksavage and Hipwood series will be in the September issue of Polo Times. If you’re not already a subscriber, click here to make sure you don’t miss out.
Results so far:
Buckmaster Series
10 July: Cirencester vs Beaufort – 6½-5
11 July: Strathearn vs Kirtlington – 6-1½
14 July: Beaufort vs Strathearn – 5-8½
14 July: Jaipur vs Northwood – 5-11
17 July: Strathearn vs Northwood – 4½-6
17 July: Norfolk vs Kirtlington – 8-0
Rocksavage
13 July: Lutheridge vs Oxford Polo – 6½-5
13 July: Longdole vs Kirtlington – 4-2½
Hipwood
11 July: Lutheridge vs Kirtlington – 14-2½
11 July: Ranelagh vs Oxford Polo – 1-7
The Buckmaster section (under 19) teams:
Cirencester (2): Dominic Lodge (1), Patrick Lodge (0), Oscar Luard (1) & Jack Aldridge (0)
Strathearn (1): James Emlyn (1), Valentine Hutley (0), Angus Rowan Hamilton (0) & Charlie Cadogan (0)
Norfolk (0): Eric Appen (0), Charlie Townsend (0), Tom Townsend (0) & Segundo Darritchon (0)
Beaufort (3): Freddie Jodrell (0), Henry Frisby (0), William Penfold (1) & Cruz Novillo-Astrada (2)/Luke Wiles (1 – substituted 14 July)
Northwood (3): Ollie Cork (2), Milly Hine (0), Manuel Novillo-Astrada (0) & Alex Webb (1)
Kirtlington (0): Jake Rigby (0), Johnny Brown (0), Charlie Tighe (0) & George Deverell (0)
The Rocksavage section (under 17) teams:
Longdole (-1): Kiki Severn (-1), Cruz Heugy (0), Alexsander Horvat (-1) & Luke Wiles (1)
Oxford Polo (0): Monte Swain-Grainger (0), George Deverell (0), George Hobbs (0) & Ben Barnes (0)
Kirtlington (-2): Tom Jodrell (-1), Tamara Gibbons (0), Johnny Beck-Brown (0) & Jasmine Stanhope-White (-1)
Lutheridge (-4): Louis Heard (-1), Ed Walker (-1), Marcus Speed (-1) & Lorna Fleming (-1)
The Hipwood section (under 14) teams:
Kirtlington (-8): Toby Bradshaw (-2), George Tomblin (-2), George Smith (-2) & Harry Pitt (-2)
Ranelagh (-8): Olly Heard (-2), Benjamin Manchini (-2), Lucas Stern (-2) & Robbie Slatter (-2)
Lutheridge (-6): Fred Thame (-2), Alfie Hyde (-1), Ed Walker (-1) & Louis Hine (-2)
Hurtwood (-8): William Drewett (-2), Beanie Bradley (-2), Harry Fuller (-2) & Myles Murphy (-2)
Oxford Polo (-8): Freddie Pritchard (-2), Wilbur Millar (-2), Squidge Grayson (-2) & Ben Fleming (-2)
Photograph: The 2016 Buckmaster Champions, El Remanso. By ©www.imagesofpolo.com