SEASON 2023
YEARBOOK
CONTENTS 2.................................. CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME 2024 3.................................. LIST OF OFFICIALS 4.................................. GET TO KNOW THE COWDRAY PARK POLO CLUB TEAM 6.................................. POLO MANAGER’S REVIEW 10.................................. AN INTERVIEW WITH TOMAS BERESFORD 20.................................. GOLD CUP FINAL 26.................................. GOLD CUP SEMI-FINALS 30.................................. MIDHURST TOWN CUP 32.................................. VIVA LA VIDA : THE IBIZA NIGHT 34.................................. THE GOLDEN AGE WITH NO.3 GIN 36.................................. RODA POLO : RIDE THE FUTURE 38.................................. MAIZE MAZE 40.................................. COWDRAY HOUSE 42.................................. ARTIST SPOTLIGHT : HORSES IN SPORTS 46.................................. A BADGE OF HONOUR 50.................................. ALL THE KING’S HORSES 52.................................. AN INTERVIEW WITH KAYLEY SMITH 54.................................. BRITISH LADIES HIGH GOAL FINAL 56.................................. BRITISH LADIES OPEN FINAL 60.................................. DOLLAR CUP FINAL 61.................................. DUKE OF SUTHERLAND CUP FINAL 62.................................. HARRISON CUP FINAL 63.................................. CHALLENGE CUP FINAL 64.................................. HOLDEN WHITE CUP FINAL 65.................................. AUTUMN CUP FINAL 68.................................. TOURNAMENT RESULTS 2023 76.................................. BEST PLAYING PONIES 2023 84.................................. AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER O’RORKE 86.................................. AN INTERVIEW WITH BEN TURNER 88.................................. AN INTERVIEW WITH KELLIE LEACH 91.................................. CHRISTOPHER HANBURY CUP 92.................................. FROM THE SIDELINES 94.................................. DOG SHOW 96.................................. SEASON 2023 PRIZE WINNERS 98.................................. PLAYERS’ MEMBERSHIP LIST WITH HANDICAPS 100.................................. PONY POWER 102.................................. PONY CLUB AND JUNIOR HPA 104.................................. COWDRAY PARK POLO CLUB ACADEMY 2023 106.................................. TRIBUTES 110.................................. OUTSIDE THE BOARDS 114.................................. BUSINESS DIRECTORY COW D R AY PAR K P O LO CLU B | 2 0 2 3 SE ASO N Y E AR B O O K
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C H A I R M A N’S WELCOME 2024 Welcome to another wonderful polo season here at beautiful Cowdray Park Polo Club. 2023 was a great year for us with over five hundred games played. The newly resurfaced Lawns 1 performed incredibly well this season, garnering compliments from some of the best players in the world. The grounds team worked very hard to combat the effects of some par ticularly unusual weather conditions, including dr y Nor th Easterly winds which made irrigation par ticularly difficult. We invested heavily in new equipment, and I am delighted to repor t that the grounds have had an extremely good year. We continue to have the top three most attended polo days in British polo here at Cowdray Park. The ever-popular Midhurst Town Cup, the semi-finals and the finals of the British Open for the much-coveted Gold Cup drew over 30,000 people this season. We decided to remove entry fees for the Midhurst Town Cup to celebrate the reopening of the high street after the dreadful fire at the Angel Hotel, resulting in a record turnout. 2 C OWDRAY PA RK PO LO CLU B | 2023 SEASO N Y EAR BO O K
Fifteen high goal teams vied to lift the Gold Cup this year and the standard of play was extremely high. We saw significant growth in the eighteen and fifteen goal – along with a very high level of play. Having massively reduced the cost to watch Cowdray Polo TV this year, we saw a doubling of the number of subscribers, thanks to suppor t from our new par tnership with PoloLine TV. I would like to thank the seven hundred plus people who suppor ted us once again this year with their membership. A big thank you, as always to the Cowdray Estate, without whom we would not be able to do what we have done each year for over a century. We are most grateful to the team and suppliers for their tireless suppor t in making all this look easy. Finally, I would like to say a special thank you to our sponsors, whose highquality brands enhance the experience at Cowdray Park Polo Club. I very much look forward to welcoming you and your families to our beautiful club in the South Downs, once again.
LIST OF OFFICIALS
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT CHAIRMAN MEMBERS
HONORARY MEMBER
OFFICIALS MANAGING DIRECTOR POLO MANAGER ASSISTANT POLO MANAGER MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER POLO EXECUTIVE GROUNDS TEAM
PROJECT CONSULTANTS VETERINARY CONSULTANT PONY WELFARE CLUB VETERINARY PRACTICE
cowdraypolo.co.uk Viscount Cowdray The Hon. Mrs Lila Pearson Andrew Swaffield John Bunn Nick Clague Andre Fattal James Harper Alan Kent The Marchioness of Milford Haven Jonathan Russell Julian Hipwood
01730 813257 Jamie Peel Chris Bethell Matt Sim Mar tine Har tridge Fleur Turner Anthony Lewis Michael Ethrington Lee Bliss Jakob Swiecicki Chris Salmon John Bishop P J McMahon MRCVS Patrick Churchward BVSc MRCVS Blackdown Equine Clinic
COW D R AY PAR K P O LO CLU B | 2 0 2 3 SE ASO N Y E AR B O O K
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G E T TO K N OW T H E C OW D R AY PA R K P O L O C LU B T E A M ... from Polo Managers to Groundsmen and everyone in between. At Cowdray Park we are proud to employ a huge range of personalities and these pages will introduce them and give you an insight into what they do behind the scenes.
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JAMIE PEEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR As a successful professional polo player for ten years, Jamie attained a UK handicap of 3 goals. His playing highlights include winning the Prince of Wales trophy with Dubai and the 2008 Gold Cup with Loro Piana. During his polo career Jamie enjoyed a variety of management roles with high and medium goal teams here in the UK and at club level abroad, giving him an insight into all aspects of the spor t. For the last eight years he honed his business and management skills in Newmarket, where he established and built a £1m + enterprise with over ten employees. The business was focused on pre-training, boarding, rehab and recuperation of racehorses. Jamie grew up a local boy and first played at Cowdray in the Pony Club. He said: “Cowdray Park Polo Club has always been a very special place for me, and to now be part of the management team is a huge honour“.
CHRIS BETHELL, POLO MANAGER Chris has been at Cowdray for the past 21 years. He began helping out the then chairman while still a player. Then, when the role of Assistant Polo Manager came up, Chris jumped at the chance to apply. He was soon promoted to Polo Manager and has held the role ever since. “My highlight is always the Gold Cup and getting the two best teams to the final” he reflects. While polo is undoubtedly a huge par t of life for Chris, when he wants to relax you will find him either on the 7th tee looking down over the Queen Elizabeth Oak or spending time with his family.
MATT SIM, ASSISTANT POLO MANAGER Matt joined the team as par t of a university placement and, having experienced that first season, he stayed. He suppor ts the Polo Manager in the running of the club and manages team entries, play dates and scheduling all tournaments played at Cowdray. “I always look forward to the first chukkas of the season – they can be quite entertaining for those of us on the side-line. The Gold Cup is obviously the highlight of the calendar though” says Matt. When he’s not at work you’ll find Matt enjoying Ambersham common with his dedicated hound, Hibou, or blowing off steam out on the water at Bosham. FLEUR TURNER, POLO EXECUTIVE As a former playing member, Fleur is known to many at the club. Her new role is all things memberships – including events, presentations and the behind-the-scenes processes that make a polo office run smoothly. “One of my favourite times each year is when CPPC welcomes back the players, grooms, and ponies. The semifinals of the Cowdray Gold Cup are the highlight though; two incredible games showcasing the very best in British polo.” You’ll also find Fleur riding on the common or making beautiful jewellery. MARTINE HARTRIDGE, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Managing the polo club brand, Mar tine has a broad role, encapsulating everything from the production of programmes, fixtures lists and the CPPC yearbook, to planning and producing all membership communications. “My background is in marketing strategy, so I also
plan and oversee our social media campaigns, PR and press relations to drive awareness of the club.” A new member of the team, Mar tine is enjoying getting to know the estate, and par ticularly enjoys any chance to get out to Ambersham and enjoy the games at Brooksfield. ANITA HOWE, FINANCE MANAGER Anita is responsible for the Polo Club accounts and repor ting systems. “Working at Cowdray and getting to know the game of polo has been genuinely exciting. The grounds are simply stunning and it’s an absolute pleasure to work in this beautiful place” she says. Anita’s loves in life, besides her family, are Japanese food, and her dog, Harvey, who regularly keeps her company at the Polo Office. TITCH LEWIS, GROUNDSMAN Titch’s main responsibilities are looking after the high goal grounds, marking all of the pitches and managing the irrigation at Lawns and Manor Farm. “As part of a small team I usually end up mucking in with any job that needs doing!” MICHAEL ETHERINGTON, GROUNDSMAN As with the rest of the team, Michael may be a groundsman, but he takes on many other jobs around the club when it’s all hands to the pump. “I look after it all – mowing, irrigation, general maintenance, even painting boards in the past.” LEE BLISS, GROUNDSMAN Working with the rest of the grounds team, Lee helps to keep the grounds at their peak throughout the season. From irrigation to seeding, Lee and the grounds team are busy year round maintaining our world-renowned pitches. “Working with the rest of the grounds team is really rewarding, especially when top players compliment the quality of our pitches." JAKOB SWIECICKI, POLO OPERATOR Jakob is our Polo Operator and a wizard with a paintbrush. He looks after the clocks, kick boards, name boards, and makes sure everything is working. “In the off season I have been busy hand painting the boards for each pitch. On average there are 160 boards per pitch which is a lot of painting!” COW D R AY PAR K P O LO CLU B | 2 0 2 3 SE ASO N Y E AR B O O K
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POLO MANAGER’S REVIEW The 2023 season proved a huge success with a number of long-standing patrons and teams making the jump to higher level polo. Several of our 4, 6 and 8 goal patrons stepped up to play 12, 15 and 18 goal polo, which is excellent to see and could be a sign of what is to come in the next few years. We had an increase in the number of teams playing in 18 goal tournaments in par ticular, with 15 teams in the Duke of Sutherland Cup up from 12 in 2022. The Challenge Cup also saw a lift in teams up to 10 from 6 in the previous year. Interestingly, this included two teams who went on to play the Gold Cup tournament which rarely happens. 6 C OWD RAY PA RK PO LO CLU B | 2023 SEASO N Y EAR BO O K
As the season began, David Turner’s DJ Cats star ted strong and raised the Tyro Cup with up-and-coming talent Leon Donoso, Jimbo Fewster and his long-time professional Jake Daniels, beating Confido in a tight, closely fought game. The first Victor Ludorum 12 goal tournament, the Dollar Cup, followed swiftly with a staggering 20 teams entering. Creighton Boyd’s Confido continued their impressive winning streak, not losing a match on their way to lifting the trophy. Since 2019 when Confido first took home the Dollar Cup, they have won an impressive 19 out of the 22 matches they have played in the tournament and in the last 2 years have maintained a perfect record of 11 wins from 11 matches. The 15-goal season was off to a great star t with 7 entries in both the Cicero Cup and Bryan Bethell Cup and we witnessed some tight matches throughout both tournaments. The final was between 2 Cowdray teams in Ferne Park/ Cowdray Vikings and Valhalla/Madams Farm. We managed to get a glimpse of Lukin Monteverde Jr. playing for Valhalla/ Madam Farm before he went on to his outstanding performance in the Gold Cup. Unfor tunately, they lost out to the experience of Ferne Park/ Cowdray Vikings who beat them 9-4, winning the Cicero Cup for a second year in a row with the same line up. On their way to winning they collected the Paul Withers Memorial Trophy presented by Sheldon Withers to commemorate her late husband and John Cowdray’s long-standing professional, Paul.
The Gold Cup, as always, delivered the high-octane polo that we all love to see. There were numerous exciting matches out of the 37 played but we must commend the turnout for the Midhurst Town Cup, which coincided with the reopening of Midhurst high street. Making the event free to all drove the spectator numbers into the 4,000’s which is staggering for the league stages of even the Gold Cup. We were treated to 2 exceptional matches that day in King Power v Park Place and Queens Cup finalists La Magdeleine v Dubai. However, the stand out match of the tournament had to be the first semi-final between Marques de Riscal and Dubai. Marques de Riscal came into the game as underdogs with nothing to lose, going toe-to-toe with the might of Dubai and for 6 chukkas no one could say who would end up in Sunday’s final. As it was, Dubai snuck a win and ended up against UAE, fresh off their 18-9 win over Park Place in the semi-final. The two Castagnola brothers spent most of the first half battling with one another which gave Tomas Beresford, Lukin Monteverde jr. and Kayley Smith the chance to creep ahead going into the second half. The last 2 chukkas saw the star t of a come-back for the Dubai team, even pulling into the lead at one stage, before UAE equalised. With seconds left Lukin came back out screaming for the pass from Bar to before the ball was out of the line out and scored an incredible tournament winning goal.
In all the excitement, we must commend Kayley for being the second ever woman to win the Gold Cup, an amazing achievement. Despite thinking we had gotten away with only having rain at pre-season chukkas, the bad weather returned late in the season, to the annoyance of our playing members and their hard-working grooms. Torrential rain and dropping temperatures in late September meant the Autumn Cup and Farewell Cup felt incredibly autumnal. Congratulations to Four Quar ters Orange for the second year running and Cheds on battling the adverse weather and securing some end of season silverware. As always, my congratulations go to the 2023 Award winners, the Hon. Mrs Lila Pearson for Most Successful Patron and Rufus Uloth for the Most Promising Young Player for the second year, Nick Clague for winning the Large Cup for Pony Welfare for the second time and finally John Mar tin for taking home the Millennium Plate for Umpiring. I must also thank the Cowdray Park Polo team on delivering this season, the grounds team for working tirelessly to keep our grounds in such great shape to provide our members with the best playing surface we can. Also, to our patrons, playing members, social members and sponsors for their continued suppor t throughout the season. Here’s to more of the same in 2024!
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