Four Quarters Orange prove best in 15-goal contest
Simon Arber receives The Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup from HM The Queen
HM The Queen, accompanied by Mr Khalaf Al Habtoor, presented Simon Arber with the Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup after his Four Quarters Orange defeated Mad Dogs 6-3 on Guards Polo Club’s famous Queen’s Ground. The black and orange shirts dominated the game and never looked threatened by their opponents, Alan Fall’s Mad Dogs. They came to this final unbeaten, but struggled to find their form of previous matches, despite fielding the eight-goal skills of Alejandro Novillo Astrada. However just reaching this year’s final was impressive enough as the Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup is the UK’s leading 15-goal tournament and 18 top-class teams entered this year’s competition. Such a strong entry ensured that these two teams had already played five tough matches in order to reach this final.
The star of the show was undoubtedly the young South African Bradley Mallett who produced a brilliant performance for Four Quarters Orange and was rewarded with the Most Valuable Player Award. He also stepped up to receive the Al Habtoor Best Playing Pony Award from HM The Queen and Mr Khalaf Al Habtoor for Typhoon, a seven-year-old pony owned by Christopher Hanbury, but played by Bradley in both the third and sixth chukkas.
The day started with the Al Habtoor Challenge match, featuring several members of this tournament sponsor’s family. Mohammed Al Habtoor’s team, Habtoor Polo, won the day, defeating Matthias Norman’s Penihue Polo 5-4. This game was followed by the Mountbatten Cup match – the subsidiary of the Royal Windsor Tournament – and honours went to Jonathan Munro Ford’s Black Eagles. They had an impressive 11-3 over Clinton McCarthy’s Emlor C. The day concluded with a wonderful carriage driving display by the British Driving Society. Her Majesty and Guards Polo Club’s President, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, joined the Royal Box guests on the lower terrace to watch this magnificent display and then presented rosettes to all the class champions.
Four Quarters Orange: Simon Arber (0); Bradley Mallett (4); Jack Richardson (5); Tom Morley (6). Mad Dogs: Alan Fall (0); Freddie Dear (3); Guy Gibrat (4); Alejandro Novillo Astrada (8).
Black Eagles: Charlie Holley (0); Jonny Good (5); Chris Hyde (6); Roddy Williams (4). Emlor C: Laura Ormerod (0); Will White (3); Manuel Plaza (6); Manuel Fernandez Llorente (6).
Habtoor Polo: Ahmed Al Habtoor (0); Habtoor Al Habtoor (0); Mohammed Al Habtoor (0); Guillermo Cuitino (6). Penihue Polo: Matthias Norman (-1); Tariq Al Habtoor (0); Justo Cuitino (3); Juan Cruz Guevara (6).