First match of the day was between VS King Power and Park Place playing for the Ellerston Cup.
By Liz Higgins, Cowdray Park, Midhurst, UK
Large crowds attended Cowdray Park Polo Club for the Semi Finals of the King Power Gold Cup for the British Open. First match of the day was between VS King Power and Park Place playing for the Ellerston Cup. For VS King Power, ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha played at 1 with Juan Martin Zubia at 2, Polito Pieres at 3 and Marcos di Paola at Back. Andrey Borodin took the number 1 position for his side with Juan Britos at 2, Hilario Ulloa at 3 and Benjamin Urquiza at Back.
A total of 21 goals was scored in the match with the scores level-pegging throughout, at half time 6-6, chukka 4 ending on 7-7 and chukka 5 at 8-8. Chukka 6 opened with Urquiza stealing the ball from the King Power patron, a pass to Britos and then on to Ulloa, the 10 goaler racing away to move the score on to 9-8 in Park Place’s favour. But a penalty hit from 30 yards by Zubia brought the scores level again on 9-9. Ulloa raced away from the throw- in to make a beautiful under-the-neck shot his seventh goal of the match and take Park Place ahead again.
A penalty was awarded to VS King Power, Zubia finding the mark from 40 yards, and it was all square at 10-10. With the crowd on the edge of their seats as the clock ran down, Zubia snatched the ball from the throw-in and raced all the way to the Park Place goal to achieve his sixth goal of the match and an 11-10 victory for VS King Power taking them into Sunday’s Final.
The Ellerston Cup was presented by Mrs Roz Packer, Robert Mehm, Vice President of EFG Private Banking, presented individual prizes to all players and Mrs Courtney Mehm presented the award for Player Best to his Handicap to 6 goal player Juan Martin Zubia.
The prize for Best Playing Pony of the match, presented by Sol Daurella on behalf of Schweppes was judged to be Lavinia Carta played by Hilario Ulloa. The Retraining of Racehorses award for best re-trained thoroughbred from the racetrack, sponsored by Lycetts and presented by Piers Plunkett, went to Sunset Trading played by Benjamin Urquiza.
Photo: Mark Beaumont
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