Mon 24th Jul 2017 Thrice the Champions King Power wins The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for The British Open On Sunday 23 July, the crowds descended on the historic Cowdray Park Polo Club Lawns for a skirmish of wills and persistence. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup champions of 2015 and 2016, King Power, were back for business as they rode onto Lawns 2. Their adversaries were the record-breaking El Remanso line-up, a team to which King Power have lost twice in the past three months (once in the Cartier Queen’s Cup and also in the qualifiers of the Gold Cup). It certainly was a stellar day for British supporters as El Remanso were the first all-Brit team to play in The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup Final since 1969. In fact, this year saw a total of six British players on the Finals field as young Brits Hugo Taylor and James ‘Jimbo’ Fewster also had the call up for the blue shirts of King Power.  Our pre-match option poll showed the public equally divided over the outcome and this was echoed by the soothsayers in the stands who were split between backing the abilities of the El Remanso team finding a  way to shut down the fire power of the Pieres duo and those who were determined that King Power would make it a hat trick with a 2017 win. The El Remanso supporters’ prayers were answered as their team came out of the stalls with fire in their bellies scoring a successive three goals to only one in return from King Power’s Jimbo Fewster in the first chukka. The four well drilled British players had the courage and tenacity the crowd had hoped for as they systematically fired the ball between the posts. However, as the clock ticked down towards half-time, Facundo Pieres found his game changing rhythm, first equalising the scoreboard then taking the King Power score to 6-3 as the bell rang out. As the drizzle abated somewhat, the mood considerably lightened as one brave individual took it upon himself to run the length of the field with all but his dignity on show. Quite the half-time spectacle for the Brit supporting, somewhat bedraggled and now rather beleaguered El Remanso spectators.  As the weather closed in as the second half commenced and spectators hunkered down against the rain, the fraternal Pieres brothers’ onslaught of the British side continued quickly taking the score to 3-8, but England Captain James Beim and British stalwart James Harper, more than ably abetted with a determined Ollie Cudmore came back fighting in the fifth chukka narrowing the score to 6-9 as the sixth chukka started. Fewster, the second youngest player on the field, made the play of his blossoming career at the beginning of the final chukka firing the ball up field through the posts, quite rightly earning himself the Most Valuable Player Award.  However, despite El Remanso’s best efforts they could not stop the onslaught of blue shirted dominance and as the final bell rang it was a decisive 8-13 victory for King Power. The Pieres brothers once again took to the black and yellow Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup podium, to the cheers of the forty strong King Power entourage. With the addition of Fewster’s receipt of the Most Valuable Player Award and Facundo Pieres’ pony, New Chicago, taking home the Best Playing Pony Award, King Power truly dominated the day’s proceedings, ending the British high goal season with cheers and embraces all round, despite the unreliable British summer weather once again making its presence felt.   The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup Final Teams: King Power (22): Hugo Taylor (1), James ‘Jimbo’ Fewster (1), Gonzalito Pieres (10) & Facundo Pieres (10) El Remanso (21): Charlie Hanbury (4), Ollie Cudmore (5), James Beim (6) & James Harper (6)   A full report with exclusive interviews will feature in the August issue of Polo Times. To keep up to date on the news, click here to subscribe.   Photograph: The King Power team and entourage celebrate their The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup at Cowdray Park Polo Club. By Clive Bennett/www.polopictures.co.uk

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