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Cartier International Day,
held at Guards Polo Club on behalf of the Hurlingham Polo Association, is
so important in the English polo calendar that all other polo in the country
is cancelled on that day. This gives the polo fraternity the opportunity to
support the home team in their quest to win the impressive Coronation Cup.
This year the England team
will play a visiting squad from Chile, featuring the nine-goal skills of the
Donoso brothers, Gabriel and Jose. Both these players are well known to
English polo fans as they have played in most of our high-goal tournaments
for many years now. The brothers will be joined by another familiar face to
Guards Polo Club members, Jaime Huidobro, who has just received his
runners-up medal in the Larchmont Royal Windsor Cup. The fourth member of
the team will be a newer name to the polo fraternity, the 23-year-old
Alejandro Vial. He has just successfully captained the Chilean University
team in their victory over the English University squad.
The England team line-up
includes captain Henry Brett, England's highest handicapped player. He will
be joined by another sibling duo, Luke and Mark Tomlinson, who play off
seven and six goals respectively. Luke was a member of the winning England
team in their game against Mexico last year, while Mark is making his debut
for England on International Day. The fourth member of the team is the
experienced International player Will Lucas, who is making his 13th
International Day appearance.
This year's Cartier
International Day will take place on Sunday, 25 July. The event
traditionally marks the end of the high-goal season in England and always
provides a thrilling day of competition. International Day has been held at
Guards, Europe's leading polo club, since 1972, although the cup itself
dates back to 1911. This year sees Cartier celebrate 20 years of polo
sponsorship at this event.
International Day action
starts at 11am when two invited teams, the Hurlingham (Richard Le Poer (1),
Malcolm Borwick (6), Satnam Dhillon (6) and Chris Hyde (6)) play the Prince
of Wales's (Harry Wales (1), Nacho Gonzalez (7), Roddy Williams (6), Jamie
Le Hardy (6)) for the Golden Jubilee Cup. Then, at 3.30pm, the main event
of the day, the Coronation Cup, will start. Historically HM The Queen
presents the trophy to the winning captain and also presents trophies to the
best player and best pony, as well as the best young player of 2004.
- from Guards Polo Club
website
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