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ABI HANCOCK / THE ART OF POLO
El Remanso, champions James Beim, Ollie
Cudmore and James Harper certainly
benefitted from playing the high goal
together over the last three years. Twenty-
two year old Tommy Beresford was chosen to
complete the line-up, becoming the second
Beresford to play the Westchester Cup (the
first was Capt. Hon. John Beresford, who won
the trophy in 1900).
The event was spectacularly British, with
sporting fans flying in from around the world
to watch the contest. An intensely competitive
match was anticipated as eight world-class
players rode onto the field. Due to the
handicap difference, England started with
a goal on the board before the USA equalised
with a goal straight from the throw to draw
level at 1–1. But the USA’s high was short
lived. Cudmore scored a hat-trick before the
end of the first and set the tone for chukkas
to come.The game started unravelling for
USA all too soon. By the second half, Roldan
Opposite
: Peke Gonzalez (far right).
This page
: James Harper (right) moves
through traffic
and his men were trailing by five. While the
fourth was the USA’s best chukka of the
match, England were merciless, maintaining
an admirable discipline throughout.They took
a comfortable 12–6 win to keep the Cup on
home turf.‘This is massive for us,’ shared
Beim, who received the MVP award and BPP
prize for his mare Salsita.‘The Cup has been
going for more than 100 years so there is a
huge amount of history behind it.’
After the game, Roldan was realistic
about what lies ahead for the American
squad:‘I think we have a lot of work to do
building up the international team and
finding time for us to play together.’ Arellano
agrees:‘They beat us forward and
backwards. I knew it was going to be really
tough and it didn’t work out for us today. I will
be remembering this one and thinking about
challenging them next time.’ Despite the loss,
Arellano shared his joy at having represented
his country alongside his daughter, Hope,
who won the Junior Westchester Cup the
day before in an electrifying final.
The result of the Westchester Cup was
tough for American polo fans to digest, but
the day marked the beginning of a new era
of international polo, with associations and
players working to raise the level of junior,
male and female polo. USA has already
invited England to play stateside in 2019, and
strategic talks have begun. England may be
current Westchester Cup winners, but how
will they fare on foreign soil? The United
States still lead by two wins in the general
ranking. Will England be able to keep their
cool and make it 9–10?
