This weekend starts with the annual Black Tie Summer Party this evening. On Saturday morning the David Healy Trophy continues with a league match taking place. On Sunday the headline sponsor Polo BCS will be hosting a Japanese Kiba Dakyu display and match. A full programme of polo is planned on top of this with the annual Ham Polo Club vs RAF match. We very much look forward to welcoming you to the club.
Last Week at the club
Fishers Friday Night Polo
Following from last seasons' successful Friday evening polo match the first of three Friday evening polo events for this season sponsored by Fishers Gin took place this past Friday.
A club league match between Ham Polo Club and M Restaurants provided the spectacle for a packed clubhouse. With M Restaurants running out winners over the club team a great party followed on to finish off what was a hugely successful evening. We look forward to you joining us for the next Fishers Gin Friday Evening Polo on 20th July.
A Ham Polo Club team consisting of Howard Davis, Lucy Dowie, Benjie Davis and Will Healy travelled to France to play against the Courances Polo Club in Fontainbleau, the French town twinned with Richmond. The trip began with a visit to the Polo de Paris Club to meet the Marquis de Ganay and Serge de Ganay, the owners of Chateau Courances where the polo club has recently been established.
The Ham team then went on to Courances where they played the French side and a team from Germany. Whilst the results of the matches are best left unmentioned the hospitality was second to none and huge thanks go to Patrick Deedes for organising the whole occasion. It is very much hoped that this new connection will become an annual away fixture for Ham furthering the wonderful international connections the club has.
RAF Cranwell
For the 4th consecutive year Ham Polo Club sent a team to RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire to participate in this celebration of military polo. The tournament was made up of 9 teams, 3 from the RAF, 2 from the Army and 4 Civilian. The Ham team was Mark Sheldon, Matt Jones, Seb Tarnowski and Sami Lomri.The tournament was an American format with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd placed teams going forward to play their equivalent teams on finals day. On the 1st day after a good victory against an RAF Cranwell team by 3 goals, the Ham team lost a hard fought game against eventual runners up Leadenham.
The evening's entertainment was a Black Tie dinner in York House Officers Mess attended by approximately 100 players and polo supporters. On a balmy May evening the RAF were generous hosts with much fun being enjoyed into the early hours. It was great to see Ham Chairman, Howard Davis, attend to a build further relationships.
Having progressed to the 4th Place final Ham played two great matches on the Sunday against the RAF Spitfires and Hackett Army. The latter being described as one of the matches of the tournament, the two competitive teams played open and flowing polo with the Army winning by 1 goal in the last few seconds.
The Ham team had ‘great fun’ at a very well organised and social tournament. Thank you RAF for the invite and we look forward to playing you at Ham on the 10th June.
Photos and words by Mark Sheldon
Richmond Park Cup
The first action on Sunday was the Richmond Park cup played as an american tournament with three teams playing three two chukka matches.
With a high standard of play from all three teams the cup was a tight affair. In the end Impavido took first place with Ojo de Agua second and Ventura Pauly runners up.
Invitational Match
For the main match of Sunday's polo Claremont Family Office played Jet Set in a 7 goal invitational match. Katharine Smithwick's Jet Set team based out of Ham consisted of club player's Simon Lo Gatto, Juan Cruz Araya-Martelli and his brother Santiago Araya. The Claremont Family Office team from Ranelagh Farm in Berkshire also had Ham's Ali Paterson playing in their lineup.
What followed in the match was a fantastic spectacle of open polo between the two teams. The visiting team Claremont Family Office ran out the winners 5 goals to 2.
Watch back Sunday's Invitational Match.
Doug Brown Plate
For the final match of the day on Sunday Vendetta and Quadriga played for the Doug Brown Plate. Both teams exchanged the lead for the duration of the match with some end to end play. The professionals on each team kept the play open and fast helping each of their players to put away some impressive goals. In the end it was Vendetta running out the winners of a tight encounter.
For those who are not satisfied with just spectating we also offer polo lessons. Ham Polo Club has a number of HPA qualified coaches and a string of quiet school ponies for novices to learn on. The polo school offers several ways to learn the sport. For more information contact our head coach This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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