FINAL OF STELLA ARTOIS MELBOURNE CUP

The final sunday was a glorious sunny day, everything perfect for the Stella Artois Melbourne Cup Polo Final. Marquees large and small were brimming with happy people, looking forward to a great game, good food and wine and they were not disappointed. The subsidiary final for the Sofitel Cup was between Turtle Island v West Side Umpires Greg Keyte and Corrin Gibbs. Chukka 1. This was an open and running chukka with both teams scoring all their goals from the field. The nd score was 3-2 Turtle Island. Chukka 2. A penalty, on the Shadowfax side, was taken by the No2 Turtle Island but it went wide. They got another penalty just after that and it was saved in goal by Westside. They then went on the attack and scored of the mallet of Hoppy at the mansion end. 3 all. Turtle Island replied straight away to be 4-3. Hoppy then took the ball from the throw in and scored before the bell. 4 all. Chukka 3. Simon Walker scored for Turtle Island and Stirling took control and scored also. 6-4 TI. With 24 secs left in the chukka Sam Hopkinson hit a very high shot at goal but it missed. Still 6-4 TI. Chukka 4. Play very messy across goal with all players attacking and defending but Hoppy got stick to ball and scored. 6-5 TI. The teams were very fired up at this point and a penalty 2 went Turtle Island way but was wide. They attacked the goal 3 more times with no joy. They opened the play up with long fast galloping end to end and across goals polo but Sam Hopkinson always seems to be there to deny Turtle Island the goals. Still they attacked and had 2 more goals blocked but went went through. 7-5 TI. Chukka 5. Hoppy came out and scored a quick goal. 7-6 TI. Turtle Island replied just as quickly, then scored a penalty and Stirling also scored from the field to take Turtle Islands lead to 10-6 at chukkas end. Chukka 6. West side scored through James Harper from the field, Hoppy off a penalty and then Harper off a penalty. They had draw closer. 10-9TI. The ball was thrown in on Shadowfax side and it was all a bit frantic untill a 60yd penalty was awarded to Turtle Island. Gillon took the hit and after the 3rd one ho scored the goal. 11-9 TI. Back at the line up at centre field there appeared to be some discussion going on regarding the third hit in the sequence and whether it was a full swing or not. The final bell went and the Sofitel Cup had been won by Turtle Island 11-9 over Westside. The Final was on next between Sandalford v Garangula Chukka 1. The first chukka saw a very fast end to end chukka with the teams sorting each other out. Gilmore scored for Sandalford, Ed and Simon for Garangula and Glen again for sandalford to end the chukka at 2 all. Chukka 2. A penalty resulted in a goal for Garangula and then a field goal from the throw in. 4-2 G. Some fine stick work in a melee by Ed Hitchman saw the ball saved by Sandalford and run the lenght of the field to score the goal by their Ollie Cudmore. 4-3 G. Chukka 3. A huge hit from Tex Webster in first minute resulted in a goal for sandalford to tie the scores at 4 all. There were a lot of penalties awarded and pony changes laking place but the score did not change. 4 all at half time. At divot stomping time there was a "run for the goody bags" in the middle of the field with young healthy people charging madly from all sides. Chukka 4. Simon Keyte scored first for Garangula and immediately an equalizer from Glen Gilmore. Another goal to Simon Keyte and that ended the 4th 6-5 G. Chukka 5. Glen Gilmore was the scorer off a penalty then a hit by Simon Keyte from a penalty kept the 1 goal buffer between the teams. A long fast run the full length of the field by Jack Archibald for Garangula after the first bell gave them a 2 goal lead 8-6at the start of the 6th. Chukka 6. An early whistle in favour of Garangula but Ed Mathies took an 'air swing' then the Sandalford No4 ran the ball to goal and was successful. 8-7 G. Glen was riding Salabre in this chukka and scored twice on her to put Sandalford in front and win the match 9 goals to 8. Everyone agreed it was terrific polo to watch. Both Sandalford and Garangula played fast skillful polo with team work of the highest order. After six full chukkas it came down to the wire, and Jack Archibald was very unlucky right in the goal mouth when his shot just scooted across and narrowly missed scoring just before the bell to tie the game and go into extra time. The Sella Artois Melbourne Cup Trophy for 2008 was presented to the winning team Sandalford and The Gary White Award for the BPP and The Gary White Award for the Best String of Ponies was made by Peter White, the brother of Gary White, who passed away last September. He was a wonderful patron and player here in Victoria and he had won the cup in 1991. It was an emotional moment for everyone. "Salabre" who is owned by Robyn Fitz-Henry and played by Glen Gilmore was Best Playing Pony and Glen also won the Best String of Ponies . He gave the crowd an interesting insight into the history of his involvement with each one of his horses. To top it all off Glen received the MVP award. Not a bad day at the office!!!!! Peter Prendiville, in accepting the trophy, congratulated the VPC on the organisation of the tournament, the spirit in which it was played and thanked his 'whole team' which included everyone helping Sandalford to victory. We would all love to see them come back next season to defend the title .