Dubai added their name to the prestigious Archie David Cup for the second time. The Albwardy family’s team, led by Tariq Albwardy, dominated this final to win the UK’s leading eight-goal tournament. The Dubai name is already on this trophy though as a Dubai/Desert Palm team claimed victory in 2005.

Thanks to some sharp shooting from Charlie Hanbury, Dubai led from the first chukka. They had a commanding, 5-1.5 lead at half-time and went on to win the trophy 8-5.5. Not surprisingly after such impressive play, Hanbury was named the Most Valuable Player. He also received the Images of Polo Best Playing Pony prize for the home-bred Lovelocks Talisker.

Hanbury was well supported by his team-mates across all four chukkas, but Dubai’s number two, Benicio Castagnola, had a particularly impressive game. This led  to the match commentator Glen Gilmore saying: “Beni is just everywhere”.

Dubai’s opponents in this final were Adilla Jamaludin’s JamJars Polo Team. Playing in their second season they received half a goal on handicap as Castagnola’s handicap had risen to one goal in the mid-season handicap changes.  The JamJars team, featuring three members of the Araya family, Pedro, Juan Cruz and Santiago, created plenty of fast runs up the Queen’s Ground but struggled to convert some strong play into goals.

JamJars got themselves back into contention in the final two chukkas though, including a lovely goal from distance off the stick of Juan Cruz, while Adilla focused on keeping Castagnola away from the play. However this improved form was too late as Dubai had already laid claim to this cup thanks to such an impressive first half. Victory was assured for Dubai on the final whistle.

Twenty-seven teams had entered this year’s tournament and so the sub final, for the Caterham Cup, was a tough, competitive affair. This was won by Philipp Mueller’s Standing Rock. They defeated the El-Ashkar brothers’ Limitless squad 8.5-6.

A unique feature of the Archie David Cup is that those Guards teams that are knocked out of the league stages have the opportunity to compete for the Claude Pert Trophy. The final for this trophy was a round-robin affair featuring The Mirror, Tchogan/Great Oaks and Harum Scarum. Jonathan Hare’s Harum Scarum came out best of this three-way tussle, receiving the cup from Laleh Voelker.

Dubai: Tariq Albwardy (0); Benicio Castagnola (1); Rufino Laulhe (4); Charlie Hanbury (4). JamJars Polo Team: Adilla Jamaludin (0); Pedro Araya (0); Juan Cruz Araya (4); Santiago Araya (4).

Standing Rock: Philipp Mueller (0); Nicolas van Oppen (1); Pierandrea Mueller (3); Nacho Gonzalez (4). Limitless: Celestino Merlos (1); Ramzy El-Ashkar (1); Rashid El-Ashkar (1); Juan Cruz Merlos (6).

Harum Scarum: Jonathan Hare (0); Nicholas Hiller (1); Eugenio Imaz (3); Federico Boudou (4). Tchogan/Great Oaks: Heiko Voelker (0); Alexander Nix (1); Dillon Bacon (2); Will Emerson (5). The Mirror: Sarkis Gabrelian (-1); Josh Hyde (2); Phil Seller (2); Nicolas Roberts (4).