COWDRAY PARK POLO

EVENING POLO PRACTICE AT LAWNS

Sat 22nd May 10.30 am start at Lawns	12 noon Final of British Ladies Tournament	3.0 pm England versus South Africa International
Refreshments	Children's Funfair	£10 p. head under 12's free
COWDRAY PARK POLO CLUB'S season has opened, and with a Centenary to celebrate in 2010, plans are afoot for some special additions to the calendar. The first major attraction of the season is the England vs South Africa test match played for the St. Regis International Cup on Saturday 22nd May.  Look out for the special entry voucher coming up in the local papers!  One of the England team members is Tom Morley, born and raised near Petworth.  Team mates will be Mark Tomlinson, Richard Le Poer and Chris Hyde.  The match will be played at 23 goal level, a goal higher than the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open!   Gates open 10.30 am and the Final of the British Ladies Open Tournament will be played at 12 noon.  There will be a children’s mini funfair, trade stands, a bar and food outlets.  Entry £10 per head, under 12s free, free parking. The Midhurst Town Cup on Sunday 20th June will see two of the locally based teams entered for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup in action on the Cowdray Lawns as we get our first chance to preview the tournament and assess the players’ winning potential.  It’s Midhurst’s curtain-raiser to the British Open which formally opens three days later.  With us on the day will be local charity Canine Partners with their puppy walkers. A newly launched Centenary Cup will be played for as one of the Quarter Final matches of the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup at Lawns on Sunday 11th July.  A Centenary tea will be held on the same afternoon, when members are invited to dress in vintage outfits from any decade of the one hundred years – expect to see long dresses, calf length skirts, pretty hats, uniforms, boaters, panamas, blazers and some fancy footwear. Highlight of the season for polo club members will be the Centenary Ball to be held on the opening weekend of the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, Saturday 26th June. Set in a splendid marquee looking towards the Ruins, the Ball will also feature a firework display by world renowned designer Michael Lakin. Dates for this year’s Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup – opening day 22nd June, Quarter Finals 10th/11th July, Semi Finals Thursday 15th July, Final Sunday 18th July.
COWDRAY PARK POLO CLUB announces that twenty teams have entered the 2010 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open Polo Championship. Entries suddenly rocketed from an early expectation of thirteen to include several teams entering the Gold Cup for the first time. 2009 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup winners, La Bamba de Areco, with Patron Jean-Fancois Decaux  Pieres brothers Gonzalito and Facundo, defend the title of British Open Champions with the inclusion of Edmund Parsons as fourth team member.  Finalists in the 2009 Gold Cup, Dubai, return with Rashid Albwardi, son of Patron Ali Albwardy, Adolfo Cambiaso, Francisco Vismara and Pablo MacDonough. 2008 winners Loro Piana return with a new line-up to Alfio Marchini’s team which includes Santiago Chavanne at No: 2, Juan Martin Nero at 3 and young William Beresford at Back. Victor Vargas and his 2007 winning team Lechuza are back, this year with talented young English player Max Routledge, 4 goals, included in the side.  Also high up in the list of contenders is Ossama Aboughazale’s Sumaya team, this year with Carlos Gracida at no: 3 making a bid for his eleventh Gold Cup win. Other contenders from 2009 making a renewed bid to win the most coveted trophy in polo, include Stefano Marsaglia, whose team this year is re-named Piaget, Adrian Kirby, also with a new team name – Silver Spring, and Talandracas with French patron Edouard Carmignac who has drafted in Luke Tomlinson at Back. Les Lions 1 and 2, the teams of father and son patrons Jo and Max Gottschalk, have also made their entries.  Nick Clark is back again with Salkeld and Lyndon Lea with his Zacara team, while El Remanso this year features English brothers Charlie and George Hanbury playing alongside Jaime Huidobro and David ‘Pelon’ Stirling, a previous Gold Cup winner with Loro Piano. After several years’ absence, Roger Carlsson returns to the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup with his team now re-named Billingbear Park, and Swiss patron Fabien Pictet also returns after a four year gap with a new Emerging side. Brand new to the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup are Nigel Warr, a Cowdray member entering the high goal for the first time, Panthers entered by Philip Magor and featuring his son Ed Magor, La Dolfina Polo Ranch, entered by Hector Gutierrez and Cirencester Park Polo Club, the team entered by Nick Britten Long.    Sadly in Cowdray Park’s centenary year there is no Cowdray team, and local support is likely to transfer to the only team actually based on the Cowdray Estate - Enigma, the side of French patron Jerome Wirth, returning with a completely unchanged line-up from 2009. The Draw to decide matchplay in the opening rounds takes place on 8th June and there is palpable excitement at the prospect of such an open tournament ahead. The Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup tournament opens on 22nd June leading to Quarter Finals on 10-11th July, Semi Finals on 15th July and the Final on Sunday 18th July. For further information or to book online visit www.cowdraypolo.co.uk. To explore the Veuve Clicquot Season, download the new Veuve Clicquot iphone App 'The Season' free from the Apple App Store. For the first time ever spectators with the App will be able to order champagne delivered to their seat with the Veuve Clicquot Concierge service.   For more information, visit www.veuve-clicquot.com/ukseason.   Information supplied by Liz Higgins, Press Office Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, Direct Tel : 01798 861934

COWDRAY PARK is recognised world-wide as the Home of British Polo. Set in the South Downs National Park within Viscount Cowdray’s 16,500 acre estate in West Sussex, the game of polo has been played at Cowdray for 100 years, the first recorded competitive tournaments being recorded in 1910.

By the 1920s a whole series of competitions with dedicated cups and trophies was firmly established, although the sport in the UK was to all but die out during World War 2. Ambersham polo ground, for example, became an RNAS Airfield during the war.

Cowdray Park Polo Club’s significance in the establishment of polo in England following World War 2 cannot be underestimated, being largely due to the efforts of a legendary name in the history of polo, John, 3 rd Viscount Cowdray, who died in 1995. Father of the present Viscount, he turned Cowdray Park into one of the most famous clubs in the world, firmly establishing its place at the very pinnacle of the sport both nationally and internationally.

During the post-war years John Cowdray, who had ten or twelve ponies still alive built up the country’s leading string of polo ponies. He was generous in his offers of loaned ponies to increase the number of potential players participating in the sport. Beginning with Cowdray, polo was gradually revived at other clubs around the country. Although hen had lost an arm at Dunkirk , this did not keep him from continuing to be part of the sport he loved.. With help from Churchill, his gun makers, he had an artificial arm adapted at the Roehampton Limb-Fitting Centre so that he could hold the reins with a hook.

By 1948, visiting Argentines Jack Nelson and Luis Lacey were sufficiently impressed by the re-launch of British polo to invite John Cowdray to take a team to compete in Buenos Aires the following year. This was a huge success and marked a significant step in the recovery of British polo.

In 1953, Cowdray Park hosted England’s first big post-war international tournament – the Coronation Cup – first presented in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V. Teams from England, the USA , Argentina and Chile competed and the finals drew a crowd of more than 10,000 people including HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. In 1956 the country’s premier High Goal Tournament, the Cowdray Park Gold Cup, was inaugurated. The Gold Cup continues to be the highlight of the polo season at Cowdray. Sponsored since 1995 by the champagne house Veuve Clicquot, the Gold Cup welcomed its Golden Jubilee in 2006 with due celebration.
Adapted with thanks to Cowdray Park Polo .

 

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