Four teams contested the Balaclava Trophy this year, with the second day of matches played in front of crowds for our first Picnic Polo event of the year on 2nd July.
Saturday saw a close match going to an extra chukka between Dragonfly Polo and Core, with Dragonfly pulling ahead by half time before Core responded strongly to finish normal time with 6 goals apiece. The extra chukka saw a swift goal from Eden Ormerod to secure Dragonfly’s place in Sunday’s final, leaving the final score 7-6.
Coombe Place had a strong start against Ainsley Saddlery in the other semi-final, and continued to play well throughout with no response from Ainsley Saddlery, leaving the final score 10-1.5 in Coombe Place’s favour, meaning they were through to face Dragonfly Polo in the final.
In the sub final on Sunday, Core played Ainsley Saddlery. Goals from Ben Sim and Andrew Baldwin saw Core pull ahead 5.5-1 at half time. Ainsley Saddlery were able to respond in the fourth chukka with two goals from Ade Karim but it wasn’t quite enough, and Core ran out the winners 7.5-3.
The final between Coombe Place and Dragonfly Polo started with a close first chukka, before Coombe Place were able to gain the edge in the second thanks to three goals from Roddy Stanning, leaving the half time score 5-2.5. Both teams continued to score throughout the second half, but Coombe Place managed to maintain their lead to win the Balaclava Trophy with a final score of 9-5.5.
Roddy Stanning was awarded MVP, and BPP was awarded to Polly, owned and played by Roddy Stanning.
