The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup – Day 9

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the 2015 British Open Championships at Cowdray Park Polo Club – Day 9

 

By Victoria Elsbury-Legg

 

11:00AM Apes Hill 10 v 9 La Indiana Group A/B – L2

 

Lining up for a morning match on a very sunny Lawns two for the eighteenth of the full thirty two games in the 2015 Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup were Apes Hill (2015 winners of the Warwickshire at Cirencester) and La Indiana (2015 winners of The Prince of Wales at the Berkshire).  Not only were they already high goal winners in 2015, but both teams had two England International players on their sides – Mark Tomlinson and Tom Morley (Apes Hill) and James Beim and James Harper (La Indiana).   

 

With Apes Hill with two wins already to their name they were keen to join Dubai and El Remanso and make it three, whilst La Indiana (despite a tight game against King Power Foxes) had not won either of their leagues games to date.   First to score in the first minute were La Indiana, with Apes Hill equalising at the end of the chukka to one all.   Plenty of stunning retrained racehorses were also on the pitch – James Beim on Flare, Michael Bickford atop of Ballerina, James Harper mounted on True Colours and Mark Tomlinson on one of his favourites – Milly. 

 

Cantering back onto the pitch for chukka number two was Celeste (Tom Morley), Gumboot (John Paul Clarkin) and Lucky (James Beim), and as the chukka came to a close (with a backdrop of King Power lorries arriving for the second game) La Indiana had managed to put themselves ahead by four goals to Apes Hill’s two.   In the third Eduardo Novillo Astrada was briefly on the floor off his horse holding his right shoulder, whilst James Beim waited for play to resume atop Husky with John Paul on Trilogy.   

 

A penalty equalised play at 5 all in chukka four, then Apes Hill took the lead for the first time at 6 v 5, quickly rising to 7 v 5 as tennis met polo on the pitch with Astrada and Clarkin involved in a volley.  With chukka five came the arrival of a helicopter behind the trees, bringing with it players for the following King Power Foxes v Talandracas match on Lawns 1, a broken stick for James Harper and 8 all on the scoreboard at the bell into chukka six.

 

Play paused briefly for Michael Bickford to receive a bandage on his leg, then rose to Apes Hill 9 v 8 La Indiana, only for John Paul Clarkin to score a great equalising field goal.   Looking for a win, James Harper over enthusiastically reached for the ball whilst defending himself from an equally enthusiastic opposition, resulting in a tumble, but despite a race to score neither team could find the posts and it went to a golden goal in chukka seven.

 

With Apes Hill bringing forty six ponies to the ground and La Indiana forty three, players picked their mounts and returned to reach a result – with Eduardo Novillo Astrada finding the tenth and winning goal for Apes Hill. 

 

1:00PM King Power Foxes 13 v 8 Talandracas Group A/B – L1

 

Next at 1pm it was Pieres facing Pieres as Facundo and Gonzalito lined up for King Power Foxes (alongside Top Srivaddhanaprabha and Hugo Lewis) and Polito Pieres rode onto the pitch with the same teammates as in the opening two chukkas of Sunday’s match (Edouard Carmignac, Ali Paterson and Sapo Caset).   Mutterings of surprise could be heard amongst the spectators as it was Talandracas who found all the goals in chukka one, ending at 3 v 0 King Power Foxes. 

 

With seagulls rapidly raising their wings and leaving the pitch to get out of the way of the pink hatted Polito Pieres as he sped up and down the pitch, King Power Foxes managed to equalise at 3 all in chukka two. Going into the half time bell the raised voices of Gonzalito and Facundo echoed across the ground, demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the state of play as they left the pitch with a goal lead (5 v 4). Play rapidly drew level at 5 all turning to 8 v 6 to King Power Foxes by chukka five, but, with a technical being issued things began to look heated as Facundo Pieres argued his case – resulting in him being given a yellow card. 

 

Amidst the shouts that continued in the penultimate chukka Hugo Lewis found a fantastic goal for King Power Foxes two minutes into the chukka, and continued to demonstrate the great play he has been showing throughout the 2015 English high goal season.  Bouncing the ball on the end of his stick, Facundo Pieres ended chukka five with a flourish for his side scoring goal number twelve to Talandracas seventh.  The match finally concluding with King Power Foxes joining El Remanso, Dubai and Apes Hill with three straight wins at 13 v 7 Talandracas. 

 

Upcoming matches: 

Saturday 4th July 

3:00PM King Power- v -UAE Cooch Behar Cup Group C  

Sunday 5th July

1:00PM RH Polo- v -Dubai Group C  

3:00PM Thai Polo- v -HB Polo Argentine Ambassador’s Cup Group C  

Monday 6th July 

 

2:00PM Apes Hill- v -VPS Healthcare Sifani Group A/B