Phoenician Cup

EMLOR FIGHT BACK FOR PHOENICIAN GOLD

SUNDAY 27TH JUNE 2021 PHOENICIAN CUP

TEAMS EMLOR BLACK, MAD DOGS OJO CALIENTE, AINSLEY SADDLERY

James McCarthy’s Emlor Black overcame a competitive Mad Dogs team to win the Phoenician Cup for the first time. Emlor Black won this thrilling 12-goal final 6-5 thanks to a golden goal. Alan Fall’s team put up a strong fight, forcing this spirited match into extra time.

Emlor Black’s Terence Lent was named the Most Valuable Player, while Mad Dogs’ Charlie Hanbury received the Polo Times Best Playing Pony prize for Lovelocks Cubic. This home-bred pony is by Open Nueva York out of Metrical. All the prizes were presented by Jeannie Holmes, a long-standing friend of the Arida family.

The tournament had been played in memory of its founder, Eddy Arida, who died earlier in the year. Eddy created the Phoenician Tournament some 40 years ago and generously continued to support the competition long after he had retired from competitive polo. In fact he would have been thrilled that the final delivered such a competitive match. Guards Polo Club had hoped to make finals day a celebration of Eddy’s life but the ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic meant that the Arida family could not travel to the UK.

The sub final was played later in the season and saw victory for Ana Escobedo’s Ojo Caliente. They beat Andrew Dechet’s Ainsley Saddlery 8-3. ✸

TEAMS

Emlor Black: James McCarthy (2); Terence Lent (2); Hugo Taylor (3); Nacho Gonzalez (4). Mad Dogs: Alan Fall (1); George Pearson (2); Charlie Hanbury (4); Will Emerson (5). Ojo Caliente: Ana Escobedo (0); Zac Beim (2); Jonny Good (4); John Paul Clarkin (6). Ainsley Saddlery: Andrew Dechet (1); George Deverall (2); Manuel Plaza (6); Fabio Lavinia (3).