Silver Spring wallop Zacara in Gold Cup
By Herbert Spencer
Adrian Kirby’s Silver Spring 1870 dominated Lydon Lea’s Zacara 10-5 in Wednesday’s match for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, producing an impressive display of player and pony power from Australasia.
Of the 20 teams in the British Open at Cowdray Park Polo Club, Silver Spring is the only side without at least one South American professional in the line-up, with Argentines predominating. Kirby’s pros instead are all from Down Under: Ruki Baillieu and Rob Archibald from Australia and John Paul Clarkin from New Zealand.
Not only that, but most of Silver Springs ponies were New Zealand and Australian thoroughbreds in a tournament dominated by mounts from Argentina. Silver Spring’s pony power contributed greatly to their runaway victory, with the Aussies and Kiwis outpacing Zacara’s players by several lengths on open runs to goal.
Zacara’s 9-goalers Eduardo and Javier Novillo Astrada desperately tried to slow Silver Spring’s fast, open game but without success. Only at the end of the second chukka, with Silver Spring leading 7-0, did Zacara finally get on the scoreboard with a spot conversion. Lea’s Argentines just managed another four goals before the final horn.
In the day’s second match at Cowdray Park, Edouard Carmignac’s Talandracas beat Nick Britten-Long’s Cirencester Park Polo Club 12-9.