Guards Polo Club Official Yearbook 2017 Official Yearbook 2017

royal windsor cup HM The Queen and HRH The Duke Edinburgh walk out to meet the class winners of the British Driving Society Show on The Queen’s Ground, accompanied by Barrie Luck of the BDS S imon Arber’s Four Quarters Orange kept their nerve to win the Bentley Motors Royal Windsor Cup Final last June. This was Arber’s second time in winning the UK’s leading 15-goal trophy – his team added its name to Guards Polo Club’s oldest trophy in 2014 – a rare accolade that only a handful of teams have ever achieved. After narrowly winning the match 8-7 over Ludo Ephson’s Poulton Balvanera, Arber received this historic trophy from HM The Queen and Kevin Rose, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Sales and Marketing. Poulton Balvanera had put up a strong fight throughout the five chukkas, even though Ephson’s team had failed to score at all in the first chukka. However, they soon came into the game and the match became so tight that extra time seemed likely, until Mark Tomlinson fired through the last goal of the game with just a few moments left on the clock. In fact, the fifth chukka was so decisive that Mark Tomlinson was awarded the Best Playing Pony prize for Casey, whom he had played in both this chukka and the second period of play. Mark was accompanied at the presentation by Casey’s owner, fellow six-goaler Tom Morley and Casey’s grooms. This beautiful mare, who seemed to realise the importance of the occasion, is New Zealand-bred and was trained by Ross Ainsley before heading to the UK. Meanwhile, the Most Valuable Player prize went to the young patron of the Poulton Balvanera team, Ludo Ephson. He had a strong second half and it was his goals that kept his team’s hopes alive right up until the final whistle. Although Ludo and his teammates must have been disappointed not to win this trophy, they should take comfort from the fact that just reaching the final this year was a great achievement. Twenty teams entered the Bentley Motors Royal Windsor Cup and so the standard of play over the previous three weeks had been particularly impressive. guards polo club official yearbook 2017 143

Guards Polo Club Official Yearbook 2017 Official Yearbook 2017 | Page 143