Polo Gold Cup, plus the Indian Empire Shield and British Ladies’ Championships
The all-British team sign off a glittering high-goal campaign with victory in the toughest European tournament of all, with Charlie Hanbury in a starring role
TWO of the best semi-finals in recent years made 18 July one of the highlights of the season — as 12 teams reduced to four, and then two. The biggest cheer of the day came in a brilliant game where El Remanso saw off the mighty La Indiana, winners of the preceding month’s Queen’s Cup, in extra time. La Bamba de Areco then defeated RH Polo, also in extra time to set up the clincher.
El Remanso, an all-British team on their third attempt at winning the Gold Cup, had a slightly more orthodox preparation for the grand finale this year — Charlie Hanbury got married the day before the final in 2017, not the most conventional lead-in to the denouement of the toughest high-goal tournament in Europe.
This game was always going to be El Remanso’s swansong. This was the last year they would have a high-goal team; decades of total immersion in polo coming to an end. Charlie Hanbury’s passion for breeding and producing horses was set to culminate in the ultimate field test on Lawns Two, a just reward for his efforts as he played four home-breds in the final. What could be more perfect than to win the Gold Cup?
Soaring on the overwhelming support from the huge crowd, El Remanso did just that, the team galloping its last ever runs at goal, earning the right to etch their name on to the magnificent trophy as the first all-British team to win since 1969.
TWISTS AND TURNS
IT was not an easy win, although initially La Bamba were on the back foot, stunned as Hanbury scorched directly to goal from the very first throw-in, scoring the first goal in under 30 seconds and setting the blistering pace from the get-go. Juan Martin Nero scored twice “with more twists and turns than a Boris Johnson speech,” yelled the commentator, then El Remanso got a penalty, and Hanbury scored yet again — and it was only the first chukka.
James Harper added to the tally in the second, with the most impressive goal of the game, a longer shot than an easy Brexit, 4-2. There followed more classic, wonderful polo in the third, with
sky-high passes and drag-racing speed runs, and El Remanso’s lead remained, despite two goals in answer from La Bamba, to end the first half 6-4.
However, Polito Pieres and Nero are not at the top of the handicap for nothing — and they properly lit the afterburners in the fourth. Harper capitalised on a rare Nero error and scored a backhand, but Pieres soared past on a rocket of a pony and returned the favour, bam, bam, bam thrice more. Suddenly it was 9-8, thanks largely to the efforts of the young, hard-working Byron Watson.
The fifth was charged, passions high on both sides of the boards as James Beim made a stunning run but was doggedly marked by Watson. La Bamba equalised first and then Pieres defied physics with a seemingly impossible 180° spin at a gallop, taking the ball off and scoring again, illustrating the sudden shift in La Bamba’s control as they scored twice, taking the lead by 11-9.
The El Remanso supporters took to their feet in agony, not wanting the dream to die as a goal for each side, from Ollie Cudmore and Watson, nudged the score up to 12-10 at the end of the fifth.
THE ULTIMATE REWARD
THE moment of El Remanso’s reckoning arrived in the final chukka, and Cudmore scored a 30, dragging the dream within reach once more. Beim, Hanbury and Harper interacted beautifully to score again, only for La Bamba to fly down the field but hit tantalisingly wide.
Then it was El Remanso stealing the ball, and Cudmore who made the final, desperate shot to goal with only seconds to go. The flag waved and La Bamba didn’t even bother to ride back on to the field as they knew it was all over.
“The semis were tough, but the grounds are so good here and there was so much support from the home crowd,” said Charlie, who was awarded most valuable player. “My parents have done so much for polo and to give Mum and Dad back the ultimate reward means so much.”
His nine-year-old homebred mare Lovelocks Sex won best patron’s pony, while Pelon Stirling’s best playing pony went to Blanca De Nieve, played by Pieres.