A beautiful Saturday on 4th July set the scene for the highly coveted Texaco Trophy Final, with DJ Cats taking on Bad Boys Polo on Ambersham 3.
Riding out at 1 for Bad Boys Polo Team was Marcus Cork (3), with Mathieu van Delden Jnr (0) at 2, Ollie Cork (4) at 3, and James Beim (5) at Back. In the blue and red shirts for DJ Cats, David Turner (0) rode out at 1, Dane Csaszar (3) at 2, Jimbo Fewster (4) at 3, and 5-goaler Jake Daniels at Back.
The first chukka saw an impressive display of dominant polo by DJ Cats, with back-to-back line-out goals by Daniels and Csaszar to start, followed by a neck shot from the boards by teammate Fewster. This incredible hat-trick was topped off with a further goal by Daniels and a last-second 60-yard penalty conversion by Fewster, leaving DJ Cats leading 5-0 after the first.
, with an interception by Cork, which he took through to goal, followed by a 30-yard penalty conversion by Beim to leave the score at 6-3 to DJ Cats going into half-time.
The third chukka saw some brilliant defence by Bad Boys to prevent any goals for DJ Cats, in addition to another well-worked goal from Ollie Cork to put them within two goals of DJ Cats heading into the final chukka.
The final chukka saw lots of drama, with a first-minute goal by Beim leaving just a one-goal buffer between the sides, followed by a brilliant team goal finished by Van Delden to equalise. A costly mistake by Bad Boys then gave Fewster the opportunity to convert another 60-yard penalty, but Beim equalised again with a 30-yard conversion. Despite the best efforts of Bad Boys, a couple of last-minute fouls gave DJ Cats the opportunity to successfully convert two more penalties and seal victory, 9 goals to 7.
David Turner stepped forward to delightfully receive the historic Texaco Trophy from artist Debbie Harris, who also kindly provided all eight finalists with beautiful prints. The X-Zony Best Playing Pony rug was awarded to Strip, played by Jake Daniels and owned by David Turner.
