The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the 2015 British Open Championships at Cowdray Park Polo Club – Day 2
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
11am Apes Hill 11 v 10 Talandracas, Ambersham 2
With the Barbados and French flags fluttering in the breeze above the stands (fresh from their Warwickshire Cup win at Cirencester) Apes Hill got off to a flying start in the first match of day two of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup ending the first chukka 5-1 up to Talandracas. With some great play and determination from all on the Apes Hill side and fantastic goals from Tom Morley and Ralph Richardson by half time the Sir Cow Williams sponsored side continued to retain their lead at Apes Hill 7 v 3 Talandracas.
A fired up Talandracas emerged from their team tent in the second half ending the forth chukka only one goal behind Apes Hill (8 v 7). It was however an equally fired up Apes Hill who they were facing across the pitch, quite determined not to lose their lead as both teams headed into the final chukka with a scoreboard reading Apes Hill 10 v 8 Talandracas. With the team in grey and pink narrowing the gap to just one goal (10 v 9) there was all to play for in another exhilarating match of polo, which despite a missed goal by Talandracas, was drawn to an exciting equalising score by a fantastic goal by patron Edouard Carmignac playing at number 4.
With double figures (10 all) for both teams on the scoreboard and a missed penalty rolling wide on the ground for Apes Hill it looked like the climax of this exciting game might be reached in an extra chukka, but with seconds to go six goaler Tom Morley executed a great pass to his nine goal team mate Eduardo Novillo Astrada who put the ball between the posts for Apes Hill to achieve a well-deserved 11 -10 win over Talandracas.
1pm HB Polo 9 v 17 Dubai, Brooksfield
Play then moved from Ambersham to Brooksfield for the second match of the day with commentary by the familiar voice of Terry Hanlon, where it was HB Polo – Ludovic Pailloncy (1) Cristian Laprida (8) Ignacio Toccalino (8) and Sebastien Pailloncy (3) facing a slightly altered Dubai line up of Cowdray based Josh Cork (0) Martin Valent (4) Diego Cavanagh (8) and Adolfo Cambiaso (10). It all seemed to go the way of Dubai in the first half of the game with the scoreboard reading HB 3 v 8 Dubai at half-time. With the second half proving to be more of the same with an equally tough three chukkas for the team in blue, as despite an altered team line-up, it seemed that Adolfo Cambiaso was once again heading up his side and back on form, recovered from his injury which forced him to sit out the Final of the Cartier Queen’s Cup as the game headed into the penultimate chukka with HB Polo just managing to get one back at the end of chukka four, the scores were HB Polo 6 v 11 Dubai.
Heading into chukka six, HB Polo were eight goals behind (HB 6 v 14 Dubai) having been unable to add anything further to their score in chukka five. For Dubai, chukka six seemed to be all about retaining their eight goal lead as the scoreboard rapidly jumped from: 6 v 14 to 7 v 14, 7 v 15, 8 v 16 then to a Dubai lead of nine goals at 8 v 17, but with HB Polo scoring a final goal Dubai rode off the pitch having maintained their eight goal lead at the start of the chukka, with a final score of HB Polo 9 v 17 Dubai.
3pm Thai Polo 6 v 10 King Power, Ambersham 1
In the final of three matches on the second day of the 2015 The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup two Thailand based patrons met on Ambersham 1 – Tal Srivaddhanaprabha heading up King Power and Harald Link – Thai Polo. As winners of the Subsidiary Final of the Cartier Queen’s Cup it was a confident King Power who ended the first chukka with 3 goals to Thai Polo’s 1, not to be outdone however by the team in blue, the orange shirted Thai Polo levelled things up at 4 all in the second. By the end of the first half King Power had regained their lead going into the fourth with a 7 v 5 lead, but chukka four was to be one of stop and starts and only one goal – stretching King Power’s lead further at 8 v 5.
An unfortunate slip in chukka five resulted in Temi Willington’s horse ending up with a bridle over his head, and an injured Temi being substituted for the remainder of the match by Francisco Elizalde. Despite a great attempt to score by Nic Roldan in the closing seconds of play, at the end of chukka six it was King Power with double figures on the board and Thai Polo trailing with a final score of Thai Polo 6 v 10 King Power.
Matches on Thursday 25th June 2015
12pm El Remanso v VPS Healthcare Sifani
3pm King Power Foxes v La Indiana