Queen’s Cup

With its grounds an easy hack from Windsor Castle and with the Duke of Edinburgh as its president and Queen Elizabeth II presiding at its major events, Guards enjoys one of the highest profi les of any club in the world.

Guards’ Queens Cup, fi rst played in 1960, has always been considered the second most important trophy to win after the British Open’s Gold Cup.

To receive the small silver bowl from Her Majesty is the dream of every amateur playing-patron, so the tournament always has a good turnout of top teams. is season was no exception. With Guards marking its 50th anniversary, a record 16 teams threw their hats into the ring, and competition was fi erce throughout the tournament, sponsored this year by Cartier. ere was a sell-out crowd of 12,000 for the fi nal on the Queens Ground at Smith’s Lawn in Windsor Great Park, but some of the most nail-biting action had already taken

Adolfo Cambiaso, stick raised to strike, gets past Eduardo Novilla Astrada in red helmet.

place in the semi-fi nals the previous week, when two English-patroned teams came surprisingly close to pulling off upsets against the favourites.

Maidford was the only team in the Queens Cup to be comprised of all English pros: 6-goalers Malcolm Borwick and Roddy Williams and 5-goalers Johnny Good and Oliver Hipwood. In one of the semi-fi nals, this well-balanced, home-grown squad faced Urs Schwartzenbach’s Black Bears, with their dynamic duo of 9-goalers Javier and Eduardo Novilla Astrada and one of the strongest pony strings of the season. Maidford did England proud and lost the match only 9 goals to 7.

An even closer semi was between Ali Albwardy’s Dubai, with 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso, and Adrian Kirby’s Atlantic. Cambiaso was clearly off form on the day as Atlantic came close to staging a major upset, in the end losing by only one goal, 12-11. Kirby proved his worth by scoring four of Atlantic’s goals, the best performance of any amateur playing-patron in the tournament.

When Dubai met Black Bears in the fi nal, on a wet ground under intermittent showers, it looked at fi rst as if the latter would prevail. e fi rst half was dominated by Black Bears, with the Novilla Astradas keeping Cambiaso largely bottled up, allowing him only one goal. e half ended with Black Bears leading 6-5. en, in the fourth chukka, Cambiaso – riding Small Person for the full seven minutes – caught fi re, scoring four goals in quick succession to give Dubai a lead they never relinquished. e Argentine went on to thrill the crowd with all the brilliance that has earned him the accolade ‘world’s best player’. At the fi nal bell, Dubai came out the winners by a decisive 12 goals to 7.

‘ is was one of Adolfo’s best days,’ said Dubai’s No.3, Piki Diaz Alberdi, who had provided excellent support to Cambiaso. ‘When you give him the space, he gets away.’ Black Bear’s Eduardo Novilla Astrada agreed. ‘We managed to control Adolfo in the fi rst half,’ he said, ‘but when he found his form in the fourth chukka, there was little we could do to stop him.’ e Queen fi rst presented the Queens Cup to Dubai patron Ali Albwardy. en, to resounding applause from the crowd Cambiaso had so captivated with his skills, she awarded him the prize as Most Valuable Player – and the Best Playing Pony prize to Small Person, which he rode.

A headline in the equestrian magazine Horse & Hound said it all: ‘Cambiaso’s on top of the world’. ■

Nicolas Antinori and Piki Alberdi cross sticks in Dubai v Blackbears fi nal.