The Gold Cup
style irrigators, with rain guns attached, to water the playing surfaces.” Repair work he leaves in the capable hands of KGB Contractors of Chichester. “However, the equipment I inherited is on borrowed time,” he adds, “as we are looking to replace the irrigators with boom sprayers because the reels, now 15 to 17 years old, have come to the end of their lifespan.” The job of grounds manager at a sports club as prestigious as Cowdray brings its fair share of headaches, Julian concedes, but he is keen to stress that the positives far outweigh any downsides to the role. “The best part of my job is the satisfaction of seeing thousands of
people descend on Cowdray during Gold Cup week to enjoy the polo, played on surfaces that we’ve dedicated so much time to,” explains Julian. “The downside to the job would be playing on very wet days and machinery breakdowns.” Yet all this pales into insignificance when you are showered with praise from some of the most respected players in the game. “My best individual moment to date was during my first season in charge when I received an email from management notifying me that Carlos Gracida, one of the greatest-ever polo players, rated lawn one a ten out of ten. I still have the email, framed and hanging on my wall at home.”
The Gold Cup for the British Open Polo Championship was inaugurated at Cowdray Park in 1956. In the early days, Prince Philip was a regular contender with Her Majesty the Queen having presented the Gold Cup on more than one occasion. Cowdray Park’s own team lost in the very first final but was victorious in 1958, 1961 and 1962, coming runners-up 11 more times. For the past 15 years, leading champagne
house Veuve Clicquot has sponsored the Gold Cup. Taking on the sponsorship was the brand’s first venture into the UK polo scene but it fitted perfectly with the company’s status as ‘Champagne of the Season’. It also helped that Clicquot’s branding closely matches the distinctive bright yellow paint used throughout the Cowdray estate.
The Gold Cup is the most coveted trophy in polo and 2009 saw sixteen teams in contention in the British Open Polo Championship and the world's finest players in action. The tournament opened on 23 June with forty matches played before the final was contested on Sunday 19 July, when some 15,000 spectators flocked to the famous Cowdray Lawns for a day of world- class polo. This year’s winners were La Bamba
www.cowdraypolo.co.uk.
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