Hotel La
Tour put on a five star show - by Diana Butler
Sehr Ahmad received
the prestigious Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup from HM The Queen
after the Hotel La Tour team defeated Guy Schwarzenbach’s
Black Bears (received 0.5 goals on handicap) 9-8.5 in an exciting
final. Joining Her Majesty at the presentation table on The Queen’s
Ground at Guards Polo Club was Mr Khalaf Al Habtoor, the Chairman
of the Al Habtoor Group, sponsor of this premier 15-goal tournament.
Hotel La Tour led after
the first chukka, 2-0.5, but then trailed their rivals until the
final chukka. However they produced a consistent performance throughout
the game and it was this consistency that reaped them the rewards
of victory. Team captain, Jean Paul Clarkin was named Most Valuable
Player of the match after scoring seven of his team’s nine
goals. David Allen took the credit for the other two.
Even though the Black
Bears dominated much of the game, their scoring was erratic and
they failed to score in three of the five chukkas. This left them
unable to capitalise on their advantage and pull clear to win
the game. However the Bears did not go home empty handed as team-member
John Martin received the Best Playing Pony for Scarlet.
Eighteen teams of the
highest calibre had taken part in this competition over the past
three weeks, with teams qualifying from both Guards and Cowdray
Park Polo Clubs. Interestingly, all four finalists in action today
qualified from Guards Polo Club.
The subsidiary final,
for the Mountbatten Trophy, which was played on The Duke’s
Ground concurrently with the final, saw an equally close game.
Chris Mathias’s Clarita defeated Momin Sheikh’s BHC
Polo 10-9. Clarita was leading 9-6 at the end of the fourth and
although BHC Polo came back into the game in the final chukka
it was too late to change the result.
These were not the
only two games at Guards Polo Club on this prestigious day. The
Habtoor family themselves began the action in the morning, with
a match for the Al Habtoor Polo Challenge, featuring Mohammed,
Rashid, Tariq and Habtoor Al Habtoor. The fathers teamed up with
their professionals – Piki Alberdi and Justo Del Carril
– to take on their sons and two further professionals. Appropriately
for Fathers’ Day, it was the fathers that won, with Alshindagha
defeating Habtoor Polo 5-3.
This premier
equestrian day ended with a parade of elegant carriages and coaches,
which then lined up on the Club’s main polo ground to receive
rosettes from HM The Queen. Earlier in the day they had been taking
part in a British Driving Society Show on a neighbouring part
of Windsor Great Park.
