Khalaf Al Habtoor presented the trophies at the Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup in June alongside Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and also attended by HRH Prince Philip. The event, sponsored by the Al Habtoor Group for the fifth year running, was full of British tradition, pomp and pageantry. Joanna Andrews brings you the highlights from the day.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group stood side by side as they presented the Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup trophy to Four Quarters Orange, winners of the prestigious event. Also present this year was the Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Prince Philip, who is now 93 years old. Simon Arber received the winners’ cup on behalf of Four Quarters Orange, who defeated Mad Dogs 6-3 on the Guards Polo Club’s famous Queen’s Ground on Sunday June 22, 2014.
The black and orange shirts dominated the game. Their opponents, Alan Fall's Mad Dogs, came to this final unbeaten, but struggled to find their form of previous matches, despite fielding the eight-goal skills of Alejandro Novillo Astrada. The Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup is the UK’s leading 15-goal tournament and 18 top-class teams entered this year’s competition. Such a strong entry ensured that these two teams had already played five tough matches in order to reach this final.
The star of the show was undoubtedly the young South African Bradley Mallett who produced a brilliant performance for Four Quarters Orange and was rewarded with the Most Valuable Player Award. The Best Playing Pony Award went to Typhoon, a seven-year-old pony owned by Christopher Hanbury, but played by Bradley in both the third and sixth chukkas.
Habtoor Polo claims Al Habtoor Challenge Match
The day started with the Al Habtoor Challenge match, featuring several members of this tournament sponsor's family. Mohammed Al Habtoor's team, Habtoor Polo, won the day, defeating Matthias Norman’s Penihue Polo 5-4.
This game was followed by the Mountbatten Cup match - the subsidiary of the Royal Windsor Tournament - and honours went to Jonathan Munro Ford’s Black Eagles. They had an impressive 11-3 over Clinton McCarthy’s Emlor C.
The day concluded with a wonderful carriage driving display by the British Driving Society. Her Majesty and Guards Polo Club's President, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, joined the Royal Box guests on the lower terrace to watch this magnificent display and then presented rosettes to all the class champions.