It started on Wednesday night as team Jakeira headed down to Cambridge County Polo Club in Lode for their deciding match for the weekends Greenheath and Newmarket Liner tournament.
It's a little odd for us as we're used to playing Saturday and playing the final match on the Sunday so the ponies got a little bit of an odd surprise to be loaded up into a lorry to be taken to a match, rather than their usual evenings ride!
The weather was beautiful if not slightly chilly! But the sun was shining and the ground was dry!
This match saw the first time that Emma Darrington would play for team Jakeira so everyone was keen to see how she'd do and she did not disappoint. As everyone rode their ponies onto he field Jakeira gathered for a little team talk and tactical discussion on who to mark, who is going to be the player to watch out for on the opposing team etc!
The team they were up against was Frolic Farm Polo Team and with their goal handicap they started on 3 goals ahead of Jakeira, so they definitely had making up to do!
After some slightly scrappy stop start chukkas and Jakeira slowly but surely were making the goals up but it was going to be extremely tight. It looked like Jakeira were going to loose their match by the skin of their teeth, but with just seconds to go Phil Seller clouted the ball down towards the goal and with no-one from Frolic being able to catch him and everyone trailing behind, he whacked it through the goal to bring the score up to 7!
The deciding goal about to do scored!
The whistle blowing literally seconds later. They'd done it, they were through to the final!
The ponies were boxed up and off they went home to rest up and be ready for the weekends final.
In good ways and bad, the rain came on Saturday, making the ground soft for the weekend but also verging it on slightly too wet and risking it being cancelled.
Our match was moved from 4pm to 5pm allowing the pit slightly longer to dry earlier in the day before the games began on Sunday so when we arrived the ground was in pretty good condition. If not slightly divoted from earlier matches.
The Ponies were tacked up and ready to go, riders donned their whites and polo shirts and made their way to the pitch.
I warmed up Emma's horse Priscilla so I made my way to the side of the pitch to watch and Tweet from Horseback
Everyone left to put their ponies away fed and rugged for the night before we all met up for a lovely drinks and celebratory meal.Thank you so much to Carl and Jo for treating all of us to a delicious sit down Chinese last night, very very kind of you!
The ponies were boxed up and off they went home to rest up and be ready for the weekends final.
In good ways and bad, the rain came on Saturday, making the ground soft for the weekend but also verging it on slightly too wet and risking it being cancelled.
Our match was moved from 4pm to 5pm allowing the pit slightly longer to dry earlier in the day before the games began on Sunday so when we arrived the ground was in pretty good condition. If not slightly divoted from earlier matches.
The Ponies were tacked up and ready to go, riders donned their whites and polo shirts and made their way to the pitch.
I warmed up Emma's horse Priscilla so I made my way to the side of the pitch to watch and Tweet from Horseback
From the very beginning Jakeira were dominating the ball and had scored 2 goals in the first chukka. Secret weapon Emma being left unmarked meant she funneled the ball into the goal just before the whistle ending the first chukka bring their score up to 3.
In the second chukka they'd rehorsed and were back on and straight on it. Another goal was scored, followed soon by another. The Buccaneers trying really hard to mark the Jakeira players and making them work but by the end of chukka 2 Jakeira were leading 5 - 1.
Fresh ponies were bought on and chukka 3 commenced. If they could keep up this great team work and pace it was going to be in the bag.
Buccaneers were not going down without a flight and held the ball for a lot of chukka 3 but Jakeira marking their players really well meant they only scored 1 more goal bring them up to 2 against Jakeiras 5. With just 30 seconds before the whistle and some great team work between Carl Harris and Francis Molyneux Jakeira were able to tap in a goal ending that chukka 6 - 2.
Fourth and final chukka, would Jakeira be able to hold on to their winning lead? Buccaneers were absolutely on it with some tough ride off's trying to keep Jakeira away from the goal and to their credit they went on to score 3 more goals in chukka 4. They were going down fighting! But Jakeira rose to the challenge and scored another 2 goals. The whistle went and the match ended 8 goals to Jakeira and 5 to The Buccaneers.
The ponies were walked back to the box, with very happy faced riders.
Ponies were untacked and washed off, equipment was bagged up and final beers were shared in celebration just before the prize giving.
I know I speak for the rest of Jakeira when I say everyone is very much looking forward to Suffolk Polo Club's Mansfield Advisers & Tattersalls Flaming June Tournament at Hare Park Stud! It's gonna be some very smart turned out ponies and hoping for another winning match!
See you there, Sophie x
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