A tumultuous day at Cowdray Park Polo Club on Sunday 20th July for the final of the British Open Polo Championship for the Cowdray Gold Cup. The tone was set by the skies, heavy rainfall in the morning and cloud cover interspersed with flashes of sunshine much like the drama on the field where stoppages and injuries plagued a game otherwise filled with flashes of brilliance.
History was made under these dramatic conditions with the Cambiaso legacy continuing to grow. As if a 9th Gold Cup title for Adolfo Cambiaso wasn’t enough, it was his daughter Mia who claimed the day becoming the first Father/ Daughter duo to win, the first Argentinian woman to win, the 3rd woman in the world to win and adding the coveted MVP and BPP awards to her CV. What a day to be a Cambiaso!
While it might have been a board sweeping day for La Dolfina/ Scone and the Cambiasos in particular, that is not to say that Kazak made it easy for them. In their first high goal season, they took everyone by surprise to not only reach the final, but come very close to victory of the whole thing. Anyone who saw their epic battle in the semi finals against La Dolfina/ La Marques de Riscal was surely gunning for this “under dog” of a team as they took on such a well established organisation. Nico Pieres, Fran Elizalde, Chris Mackenzie and Sebastien Aguettant put on a great performance, pushing the La Dolfina/ Scone side to the last second, making the most of the disruptions to creep up on the scoreboard and put themselves in a position to equalise with just seconds to go.
The game started with possession heavily in La Dolfina/ Scone’s favour. Mia started as she meant to go on, relentlessly neutralising Kazak’s Nico Pieres and never letting him get free while Paco de Narvaez and Hugo Taylor worked tirelessly up front putting themselves in space for passes up from Cambiaso. 20 shots on goal was a testament to the work the forwards were doing throughout. Kazak just couldn’t get a look in and it seemed it would be a textbook walkover, but Kazak were not giving up and despite being 7-3 down going into the 5th they bounced back, outscoring La Dolfina/ Scone to put themselves right back in the game and bringing a bit of sizzle back to the ground.
A crash in the last saw Cambiaso leave the field with a broken hand to be replaced by Tommy Panelo. La Dolfina/ Scone had to just hold on to their lead, not foul and keep possession and despite Kazak’s best efforts, this is what they did, running the clock down and denying Kazak’s desperate attempts at goal to seal the win and claim the most prestigious title and trophy of the UK season.
Watch all Gold Cup matches here: https://cowdraypolo.co.uk/cowdray-tv/
Image credit Mark Beaumont
Stats provided by International Polo Academy