The Gold Cup

29JUNE FINAL 25JULY

Where: Cowdray Polo Club, Midhurst

Electric Dreams

Thai Polo NP secure victory in electrifying Final as lightning strikes matched the supercharged action

The Gold Cup Final Teams:

Thai Polo NP (22)

Louis Hine (2) Ned Hine (4) Nico Pieres (9) James Harper (7)

UAE Polo Team (22)

HH Sheikha Maitha (0) Tomás Panelo (6) Polito Pieres (9) Tomás Beresford (7) Chukka Scores: 2-0, 3-1, 5-2, 7-4, 9-5, 9-7 to Thai Polo NP

Photography by ©www.imagesopolo.com

As Gold Cup Final day dawned, the heatwave the UK had been basking in had well and truly passed and the dark skies loomed with the threat of storms, but in true British style the spectators were unperturbed by the wet weather and turned out en masse complete with parasols, umbrellas and car boots full of wet weather gear. It was wonderful to witness the crowds return to the iconic and beautiful Lawns Grounds at Cowdray, to meet up with many old friends and faces. With the dreaded face masks and the Covid-19 embargos on spectators rescinded, it seemed that normality had returned and everybody was excited and delighted to return to watch Harald

Link’s Thai Polo NP take on H.H Sheika Maitha’s UAE Polo Team. The Gold Cup for the British Open is widely recognised as one of the three top tournaments in the world, alongside The Argentine Open and The US Open. With 13 teams in the original draw, competition had been intense to reach the Final, so with such strong form pre-match predictions in the sidelines resulted in split options on the result. Thai Polo NP saw the young and talented Hine brothers – 18-year-old Ned and 15-year-old Louis joined by the experience of James Harper who won the tournament with the all British line-up of El Remanso in 2019. The fourth man on the team was Nicolas Pires, bringing expertise to try to secure his first ever Gold Cup. Thai Polo NP had shown great form in the qualifiers, securing two somewhat surprising victories in the league and Semi Final stages of the tournament against the father and son duo of Adolfo Cambiaso and his son Poroto for Scone. However, UAE were not to be ignored, having secured The Cartier Queen’s Cup at Guards Polo Club, the firepower of Polito Pieres, Tomás Beresford and Tomás Panelo were seen by many as more than a match for their opponents – so the jury was well and truly out as to which team would be lifting the trophy later in the afternoon.

As the skies looked more and more ominous Thai Polo NP came out of the traps with fluid and instinctive four man play, the two Hine brothers displaying the fraternal playing connection which looks so easy, but is so hard to achieve. At this level of polo there is no time to think, reactions are quicksilver fast, decisions are immediate and the two brothers were able to be everywhere at once, backing each other up with that intuitive ease which comes from playing as a duo since early childhood. So, with just two minutes on the clock the young Ned Hine established his dominance in the number 2 shirt to set up the hugely experienced James Harper who found the posts with poise. Another two goals for Thai Polo NP with nothing in reply from UAE meant they were in a dominant position as the weather gods took hold of the situation in the dying moments of the first chukka.

The black skies that had been threatening a storm all afternoon unleashed their fury, with claps of thunder and lightening and torrential rain stopping play for almost one hour. It was a challenging hiatus for both teams, but when play resumed the break seemed to have suited UAE and they were able to reverse their scoreless drought with a penalty from Tomás Beresford and Tomás Panelo to bring their team to just one goal short of Thai Polo NP. But, two goals from Thai Polo

Despite the thunder, Thai Polo NP stormed to victory

NP in reply, including a fantastic goal from Louis Hine saw the score rest in their favour 5-2 at half-time. It turned out that this was a lead that having been established, UAE were unable to overturn, with Thai Polo NP leading throughout the remaining three chukkas.

So, the second half of the match saw Thai Polo NP and UAE Polo Team battling in open play with goals trading back and forth. It was a great game of polo, despite the challenging conditions due to the persistent downpour. Despite challenges from UAE, it was a case of too little too late in the face of the balanced attack of Thai Polo NP who overcame the rain to claim the hard-fought tournament victory with a final score of 9-7.

It was a well-deserved victory for Thai Polo NP, with every player finding the scoreboard, outshooting UAE Polo Team 22-5 throughout the game and impressively holding Polito Pieres scoreless, their solid defence helped guide them to victory, despite the best efforts of Panelo and Beresford who combined for all seven of their team’s goals.

The Hon. Emily Pearson, daughter of Lord Cowdray, presented the magnificent trophy to Thai Polo NP Captain, Nico Pieres. The win was the first Gold Cup title for brothers Ned and Louis Hine, whose father, Andrew, first won the tournament in 1983 when aged 18, while James Harper enjoyed his second title win and Nico Pieres’ inaugural Gold Cup title. Securing the win of this hugely important tournament is pivotal for every player, but surely particularly significant for the youngest player on the field, Louis Hine, as last year he was not allowed to play in the Gold Cup due to his age under HPA guidelines – as we all know, how things can change in a year!

BPP

Best Playing Pony UK: Open Lourdes (Virgin x Sportivo) – a nine-year-old Argentine mare, played by Nico Pieres Best Polo Argentino Bred: Open Fanta, played by Nico Pieres

Peter Wright & Julian Appleby MVP

Nico Pieres

UAE Polo failed to make it a double bounce after their success in The Cartier Queen’s Cup

The trade village returned once more to The Gold Cup sidelines