Young stars shine in Pommery Archie David Cup
The Bahlsen family’s Dell Park team captured the fiercely competitive Pommery Archie David Cup on the last Sunday of June, defeating Jonathan Munro Ford’s Black Eagles 91/2-7 on The Queen’s Ground. Dell Park began this match with a handicap advantage despite being an 8-goal team as teenage player Jack Hyde had seen his handicap rise to 2 goals in the mid-season handicaps, so making Black Eagles a nine-goal team.
Sixteen-year-old Sascha Bahlsen stepped forward to receive the prestigious cup, the UK’s leading 8-goal tournament, from Pommery’s Chairman Nick Hyde. This was the start of a run of success for Dell Park who went on to win the high-goal Indian Empire Shield just five days later, also at Guards Polo Club. Just reaching the final of the Archie David tournament is always considered an achievement by the players due to the number of entries and this year was no exception – 27 leading teams took part.
Sascha’s team-mate and Guards Club Ambassador Max Charlton was named Most Valuable Player after scoring six of Dell Park’s nine goals. Fellow Dell Park player Isaac (Zac) Hagedoorn was presented with the Pommery Best Playing Pony prize for his eight-year-old South African mare Sweet.
Dell Park is believed to be the youngest team ever to win the Archie David – which has been played at Guards Polo Club for almost 60 years – as Charlie Holley is just 18 and Max and Zac are only in their early 20s. So a fantastic performance from a talented team of young players whom we are sure to hear more from over the coming years at Smith’s Lawn.
The sub final, played for the Caterham Cup, saw a comprehensive victory for Elio Leoni-Sceti’s Il Sole team. They defeated Alan Fall’s Mad Dogs (rec ½ goal) 7-1½ on The Queen’s Ground. Earlier in the day Martina Lewis’s Yaguara won the Claude Pert Cup – a competition exclusively for Guards Polo Club teams who have been knocked out in the early stages of the main competition. They defeated Faisal Al-Rifai’s Gaucho 8-6½.
Dell Park: Sascha Bahlsen (-1); Charlie Holley (0); Zac Hagedoorn (3); Max Charlton (6).
Black Eagles: Jonathan Munro Ford (0); Jack Hyde (2); Jack Mesquita (1); Chris Hyde (6).
Il Sole: Elio Leoni-Sceti (-1); Ed Morris Lowe (2); Tomas Palacios Bacque (3), Tomas Iriate (4). Mad Dogs: Alan Fall (0); Ali Walker (0) Freddie Dear (3) Guy Gibrat (4).
Yaguara: Martina Lewis (-1); Ed Banner Eve (1); Manuel Guevara (2); Juan Cruz Guevara (6). Gaucho: Gustav Rausing (0); Faisal Al-Rifai (1); Juan Cruz Merlos (2); Adolfo Casabal (4).