Jamie Packer's Ellerston team came from behind to win a record sixth VIVARI Queen's Cup Final on The Queen's Ground yesterday (June 15). Packer was following in his late father, Kerry's footsteps when he went up to receive The VIVARI Queen's Cup from HM The Queen. Ellerston had previously won the trophy in 1991, '92, '96,'98 and '99.
Ellerston were 6-5 down at half-time and as Pablo MacDonough explained after the game, it was only in the "second half that they started running and hitting the ball". MacDonough was wearing an Ellerston shirt as opposed to his usual Broncos kit, as he was substituting for Facundo Pieres, who had been injured in the quarter-finals.
Sumaya, who were making their debut in this final, put up a great performance throughout the game and remained in contention until the very last whistle. Pepe Heguy admitted at the post match press conference that it was the ponies that made the difference between winning and losing. "We had two really difficult games coming into this final and so our ponies were really tired." Pepe knows what he is talking about as he was a member of the Queen's Cup winning team in 1995 with Labegorce, again playing alongside Milo Fernandez Araujo.
However defeat did not dampen the enthusiasm of Sumaya's patron, Ahmad Abougazale "This has been a fantastic experience and to go down by just one goal to a team that has such a great history in this tournament - it's been great." He went on to praise his team-mates, saying: "We are very close to each other and produce our best when we play as a team, as we did today."
Ellerston not only received The VIVARI Queen's Cup, but all the other honours of the day too, including the Rosenthal Trophy for the Best Turned Out Team. Gonzalito Pieres received the Most Valuable Player Award and Pablo MacDonough, who was surely a candidate for the MVP award too, received the Best Playing Pony Award for the Ellerston six-year-old bay mare, Elaborate.
Action on the polo field had started earlier in the day when Apes Hill and Grayshurst battled for the subsidiary VIVARI Cup. This match went into extra time and a seventh chukka and it was Tom Morley, who scored the "golden goal" for the Apes Hill Team. Their captain, Luke Tomlinson, who will be retuning to Smith's Lawn on Cartier International Day as captain of England, went up to receive the VIVARI Cup from HM The Queen and Megan Reid of VIVARI.
Ellerston: Max Routledge (2); Gonzalito Pieres (9); Pablo MacDonough (9); James Packer (1). Sumaya: Ahmad Aboughazale (0); Pepe Heguy (8); Milo Fernandez Araujo (8); Hilario Ulloa (6).
Apes Hill: Ed Hitchman (3); Mark Tomlinson (7); Luke Tomlinson (7); Tom Morley (5). Grayshurst: Martyn Ratcliffe (0); Ruki Baillieu (7); Augustin Merlos (9); James Beim (6).
