May is when the British season finds its rhythm, and Cowdray Park has plenty to report. The Sussex club’s 2016 programme opened on 23 April with the eight-goal Barrett Cup and the 12-goal Tyro Cup, and the main high-goal event of the month, the Trippetts Challenge, produced a good final on Sunday 15 May.
La Indiana beat Britannia El Remanso 14-9
Five sides entered the 22-goal tournament. In the final, American patron Michael Bickford’s La Indiana faced Charlie Hanbury’s all-British Britannia El Remanso.
- La Indiana: Bickford, American seven-goaler Nic Roldan, and the Argentines Agustín Merlos (eight goals) and Julián de Lusarreta (six).
- Britannia El Remanso: Hanbury (four), Ollie Cudmore (five), England captain James Beim (seven) and Malcolm Borwick (six).
La Indiana started quickly, with two Roldan goals and one from de Lusarreta in the first three minutes. Borwick replied with a 30-yard penalty and Beim scored a fine field goal, so the first chukka closed 3-2 to La Indiana and the second 4-3. The third belonged to Britannia El Remanso, whose two Borwick penalties, a long shot from Hanbury and another from Beim put them 7-6 ahead, and the fourth ended 8-8.
The fifth chukka swung it back. Two more from Roldan sent La Indiana 10-9 up, Merlos scored from a huge hit at the start of the sixth and added a 60-yard penalty, and Roldan scored twice more. The final score was 14-9. Roldan’s pony Miriam, owned by Bickford, was named best playing pony.
Elsewhere at Cowdray
- The eight-goal Barrett Cup went to Peter Barfoot’s Maiz Dulce, who beat Ray Fine’s Las Estrellas 6-4.
- In the four-goal Spring Cup, Alcedo beat Sea Breeze in the final.
- The Tyro Cup, traditionally the first cup of the season, was won by the Cowdray Vikings, who beat Jaeger-LeCoultre/Hurlingham Media 8-4 in the final.
What is coming
Cowdray has added two new tournaments for this year, the Petworth 12-goal trophy in early June and the Heyshott six-goal cup from 21 June. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the British Open also begins on 21 June, with King Power returning to defend the title. La Indiana have shown what they can do in the build-up, and we expect to see them in the mix.
