Four 15-22 goal Finals
Over the weekend, 18 – 19 May, the UK saw a bonanza of polo across all levels, but especially in the medium and high goal with the Finals of The La Martina Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Centenary Trophy at Guards Polo Club, The Prince of Wales Trophy at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club and The Trippetts Challenge played for the James Wentworth Stanley Cup at Cowdray Park Polo Club. Here we bring you a short round-up of the scores, with full reports to follow in Polo Times – are you not a subscriber? Why not? Click here to subscribe now! The first of the UK’s high goal tournaments, The Prince of Wales Trophy, came to an end on Saturday 18 May at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club. Dubai got off to a strong start, dominating the first two chukkas so by the start of the third chukka Marchfield trailled 3-6. However, Marchfield, led by 10 goal Argentine powerhouse Pablo Mac Donough, managed to not only lock down Dubai’s attacks but also levelled the scores to 6-6 at half-time. This meant the second half was a totally different game to the first as a reinvigorated Marchfield dominated the plays to reach a 13-7 lead by the end of the fifth chukka. However, the mighty Dubai weren’t ready to give up that easily and scored four goals to none in reply from Marchfield in the final chukka. Yet, it wasn’t enough, and Marchfield secured The Prince of Wales Trophy with a final score of 13-11. This year The Trippetts Challenge played for the James Wentworth Stanley Cup had five locally based sides taking part in the competition with Michael Bickford’s La Indiana and Corinne Ricard’s Murus Sanctus making it through to the Final. La Indiana led the scoring from the start and despite Alfie Hyde being substituted for patron Michael Bickford due to injury, La Indiana continued their goal scoring spree and ended the match with a convincing 12-8 win. Meanwhile, on Sunday 19 May, the Finals of La Martina Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Centenary Trophy were played at Guards Polo Club between Bardon and OS Challengers. A strong partnership and some impressively angled goals from Santiago Laborde and Matias Machado delivered victory for Bardon in a tense, penalty-packed Final on The Queen’s Ground, with a final score of 9-8. La Martina has supported this competitive 15-goal contest for more than a decade and this was the second time patron Andras Tombor has put his name on this silverware, having won the honours in 2017. Matias was later named The Polo Magazine’s Most Valuable Player. Nick Hine, publisher of Polo Times, then awarded Matias Machado with the Best Playing Pony blanket for Aruba, who is owned by team-mate Santiago but whom Matias had played in the second and fourth chukkas. Also on Sunday, Black Bears Polo Club hosted The Oxfordshire Cup Final between Black Bears and Ferne Park. Black Bears secured an early lead, but Ferne Park fought back and relentlessly piled on the goals. The final chukka saw the goals tied at 8-8 and with the trophy at stake, it was Black Bear’s Ollie Cudmore who managed to secure the winning goal for his team. Best Playing Pony plaudits went to Paco O’Dwyer’s pony Malibu and Ollie Cudmore was justifiably awarded the Most Valuable Player prize. Photograph: The weekend saw a bonanza of polo action across the UK. By ©www.imagesofpolo, Mark Saunders & Mark Beaumont
