THE LAST DAY
OF THE SEASON by Freddie Ventura
The second of October marked the last day of the 2016 polo season at HPC. Whilst this annual event is never looked forward to, we had continued some two weeks longer than just about every other polo club in the country, so even the most diehard enthusiasts had to concede the game was up.
The final Sunday got underway with the Aylesford Trophy, in aid of the Gurkha Welfare Trust (the leading Gurkha zcharity which provides financial, development and medical aid to Gurkha veterans, their families and communities). This was a well matched contest played in great spirit by all participants. Even our seasoned timekeeper was relaxing the rules - no player incurred a fine despite the match starting three and a half minutes late - though I do note in passing that both umpires where chastised for not blowing their whistles sufficiently loud throughout!
Next up was the Farewell Cup played for as an American tournament (3 teams competing rather than 2). The HPC
American tournament is quite a spectacle, usually only witnessed by the most avid polo supporters either well before noon or well after 5pm, but this week given a prime slot. The game will feature at least 17 players, be played at a minus 2 goal level (often lower, but never higher) and will take around 2 hours. This contest saw the combined strength of Healy and Dowie be too great for the Ventura & Davis squads and the Hollywood team left with the silver.
The ‘formal‘ polo was over, time to move onto the more ‘eccentric’ end of season activities. The grooms annual race was next: for those who have not seen this before - a groom must tack up a pony, complete a section of stick and ball, untack the pony, run on foot to a finish line, first downing a bottle of lager..... or something along those lines. I would congratulate the winner (if I knew who that person was)... but as everyone who participated seem to get a prize, let us say, in true English sports day tradition, everyone was a winner.
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HPC • THE LONDON POLO CLUB
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