Game Reports

Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup 2014 Day 9 By Victoria Elsbury-Legg 2pm Thai Polo 5 v 10 EFG Bank Aravali Group , Ambersham 1

Group C 

For the second time in the 2014 English high goal season, Zacara once again came up against an all-England pro team.  Last time it was Fox & Hounds at Coworth,  this time it was the turn of George Hanbury (1), Mark Tomlinson (2), James Beim (3) and James Harper (4), playing as Halcyon Gallery on the quintessentially English Ambersham grounds, to illustrate to Facundo Pieres a little of the action he can expect from England when he plays for his country at the upcoming Audi International at Guards.

Empowered by their recent Warwickshire Cup win at Cirencester, Halcyon Gallery seemed ready to take on the 2011 and 2013 Gold Cup winners.   In the words of number 4, James Harper, ‘We went into the game with confidence, knowing we had no pressure on us but to enjoy it and have a go.  I’m very pleased with how my horses are coping playing in the high goal. I do have some from Ellerston, but 6/7 of the horses I’m playing are mine.  It’s great they are going well enough to compete against teams like Zacara.  We started off well in the first few chukkas.  The third was a big turning point in the game and we never really recovered from it.  All of Zacara team, especially Facu, are extremely well mounted and you can’t afford to have any weak chukkas against them.’

This was indeed the case, as James Beim put the first goal on the board in the opening minutes for Halcyon Gallery, who despite dominating the play, went into the second at 1 all, with Facundo converting a penalty in the last seconds of the opening chukka.

 A field goal from Mark Tomlinson in chukka  two put the all-England pro team back in the lead again, followed by some great play by Lyndon Lea and another field goal from an English pro, but this one on the other team, and a missed penalty from Facundo and  it was 2all at the end of the second.  Some fast riding by Facundo mounted on Galactica and a converted penalty 2 meant at 4-2, Zacara were now leading the game.  A disputed goal at half time was put on the board at the start of the fourth, putting the black shirted players 5-2 up.

A goal from Harper and  Beim’s third of the match, shortened Zacara’s lead in the fourth, to 5-4.  Helped by the power of the bay mare, Antonia, Del Tour scored a great sixth goal for his team, despite such determined defence from Halcyon Gallery that it resulted in Tomlinson losing the head of his stick.

Going into chukka 5, the scoreboard read Zacara 7 – 4 Halcyon Gallery, but it wasn’t to stay like that for long with Pieres, closely followed by Del Tour both scoring to make it 9-4.  Despite the goals on the board, this was to be a difficult day for all of team Zacara, as the stunning bay mare, Winter Oak ridden by Del Tour tragically suffered a broken leg.

Chukka 5 ended 10 – 5 to Zacara and the one goal in chukka 6 belonged to Halcyon Gallery, putting a final score on the board of 10-6.

Understandably it was a sober Zacara who acknowledged they were the first team to win three straight games in the 2014 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, as they rode off the pitch, and whose grooms untacked and cooled down their charges in the pony lines, as once more the beautiful sport of polo sadly illustrated the fragility of life.

Tomorrow’s match:

2pm Thai Polo v EFG Bank Aravali Group , Ambersham 1

UAE v Zacara

Dubai and Black Bears victorious on the seventh day of the Gold Cup at Cowdray Park

Talandracas v HB Polo

Thai Polo v Halcyon Gallery

Group A/B

After disappointment during the Cartier Queen’s Cup and frustration at the finals of the Warwickshire, Black Bears made up for it today in their first game of the Veuve Cliquot Gold Cup at Cowdray.  Trailing 1-4 to El Remanso at the end of the first chukka, they made a spectacular come back in the following chukka, evening the score to 4 all midway through and going into the third leading 6-4, having stopped El Remanso from scoring at all in the second.

The men in black continued to dominating throughout the game with another great goal at the end of the third putting them in the lead once again at 7-6.   With an undefended penalty in favour of El Remanso at the beginning of the fourth, the scores were once again level at 7 all.  Black Bears led the way again with another goal, closely followed by an equaliser and a Jaeger-LeCoultre scoreboard reading 8 on each side.

Black Bears however, were determined to keep El Remanso under their paws for the rest of the game, with Charlie Hanbury and team only having the chance to score one more goal, allowing Guy Schwarzenbach and the rest of the Black Bears to successfully maintain their lead and end  the match with a final score of 12 – 9.

3.00 pm King Power v Enigma, Ambersham 1

First day’s play in the 2014 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open Polo Championship

Group A/B

After success in the first matches of the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup 2014 yesterday, by Zacara over Thai Polo to lift the Carlos Gracida Trophy and UAE over EFG Bank Aravali, today it was the turn of Lucchese and HB Polo to meet on the lawns at Cowdray Park Polo Club.

John Muse, Luke Tomlinson and the rest of team Lucchese took an early lead 3-0 up at the end of chukka two.   By half time the gap had been narrowed to 4-2, by Ludovic & Sebastien Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino and Pite Merlos, but HB Polo could not come any closer than a two goal difference, trailing 7-5 in the fifth.  Victory it seemed was inevitable for Lucchese who concluded their first game of the 2014 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup winning 8 -5 to HB Polo, with the Pieres on their team living up to the family name, being the top goal scoring of the match, scoring 5 of the 8 goals.

3pm Talandracas 12 v 11 El Rosario – Brooks

White Birch scored seven unanswered goals in the third chukker on their way to a 14-10 win.