Some great teamwork from Shalimar resulted in victory in the Hildon Archie David Cup Final on Sunday, defeating Snake Bite 8-5 in a thrilling final. Patron Kassem Shafi received the UK’s leading 8-goal championship trophy from Hildon’s James Burston and Samantha Greatbanks.
Vieri Antinori showed Shalimar’s intent from the first minute, firing through a goal in less than 60 seconds. Team-mate Milly Hine, who was later named The Polo Magazine Most Valuable Player, repeated this feat in the second minute, giving Shalimar a lead which they never relinquished.
- David Ashby-Vieri Antinori
- Cork-Milli Hyne
Maximillian Kirchhoff’s Snake Bite were equally competitive – resulting in some fast, flowing polo on The Queen’s Ground, but they failed to convert some good runs to goals. Meanwhile, teenager Milly Hine, was playing well above her handicap and had no qualms in riding off some higher-handicapped opposition.
Milly Hine
The sub final, for the Caterham Cup, was equally competitive. Not surprising as 26 teams had entered this year’s Hildon Archie David Cup competition, ensuring that all those entered had to be at their peak for every game. This Caterham Cup match saw a 7-5 win for Mindi Byrne’s Tex8n Polo. The Chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association, Stephen Hutchinson’s Tayto team started strongly, but some great team-work from D’Artagnan Giercke, Nico San Roman and Nicolas Fontanarrosa put Tex8n ahead by half time. Tayto fought back strongly in the second half, but Tex8n Polo kept their cool to win through.
A hallmark of the Archie David competition is that the Guards teams that are knocked out after the league stages can play for the Claude Pert Cup. This year’s cup final featured Mo Sheikh’s BHC Polo and Stefan Sund’s Previse Polo Team. Sund’s boys came out best in this match, winning the Claude Pert 9-7.