Duke of Cornwall Trophy
Impressive pony power nudges Park Place into the lead in this exciting final
Land Rover Duke of Cornwall Trophy, Guards Polo Club, Berks
SUMMER had returned to the Queen’s Ground as spectators basked in the sunshine for the last high-goal final of the season at Guards.
Park Place and Golden Falcons had both gone through the earlier rounds unbeaten, but there was to be no freewheeling to victory in this final leg — the Russian billionaire Andrey Borodin’s Park Place clinched the title by the narrowest of margins, 8-7½.
A backhand goal from Park Place’s four-goaler Carlos Ulloa in the opening minutes set the tone for the match, with the eventual winners maintaining their lead throughout by varying margins.
But Khaled Badr-El-Din’s Golden Falcons steadily mounted the pressure, testing their opposition’s nerves. With the score standing at 5-2½ in the second, England captain James Beim mounted a defiant attack to make it 5-3½, swiftly followed up by another from Golden Falcons team-mate James Harper with seconds on the clock. The half-time score was a cliff-hanger at 5-4½.
As ponies and players began to tire, and perhaps nerves were fraying, there was some scrappy play in the third. And when Chris Mackenzie slotted through a goal on the near side in the fourth, he put Park Place back in a seemingly comfortable lead at 8-5½.
But a 40-yard penalty for Golden Falcons followed by six-goaler Beim breaking away with the ball and scoring with a neck shot, meant that the score was now tantalisingly close at 8-7½.
Victory suddenly looked in the reach of Golden Falcons, but the bell rang out just seconds too early for them as they made a final attack on goal, extinguishing their flurry of hope.
‘WE HELD IT TOGETHER’
PARK PLACE’S young Argentine Juan Britos was crowned the most valuable player, and the eight-yearold Distincta, whom he played in the first and last chukkas, was named the best playing pony.
“She’s super quick and has a big heart,” said Britos about the mare. “It was a difficult match as it’s the end of the season and the horses are tired, but we have a great team and managed to hold it together.”
“It could have gone either way,” added Golden Falcons’ Beim, who will be heading to Argentina for the winter. “We had a few bad bounces towards the end and missed too many early goals which put us on the back foot from the beginning. But Park Place is a massive organisation with a lot of money behind it and so we did well [to lose by just half a goal].”