Dubai, Ferne Park, Gaston and La Hechicera are through the semifinals of the St. Regis Cowdray Gold Cup, following their respective wins in the quarter finals that were played through Saturday July 11 and Sunday July 12, at Cowdray Park Polo Club, in Midhurst, West Sussex. The highlight of the season in England sees nineteen teams up to 22 goals, in participation.

Dubai and La Dolfina Marqués de Riscal opened fire on Saturday July 11. While the former reached the quarter finals unbeaten, the latter acceded to the last spot in quarters through a penalty shootout.

The Albwardy’s family lineup were the dominant force; with the exception of the second chukka, that ended tied at 3-all, the match belonged to Dubai, while La Dolfina Marqués de Riscal – with Dillon Bacon and Lucas Criado Jr. subbing in for Alejandro Aznar and Simón Prado, respectively – struggled to stay in the game. By half time, Dubai had a commanding 6-3 lead which widened to 10-3 in the fourth. The deal was said and done in the fifth chukka, when Dubai had a comfortable 11-6 advantage, which at the end of the day would become the final result, as a scoreless sixth chukka would follow.

The second quarter final, between Ferne Park and Sujan Indian Tigers was a very different story. The Tigers played a remarkable match, reaching a commanding 4-2 advantage by half time. Jaisal Singh’s foursome remained in the lead in the fourth chukka (7-4), but Ferne Park – with Vere Harmsworth and Javier Guerrero Jr. filling in for Jonathan Rothermere and Chris Mackenzie – bounced back in the last two chukkas. They closed the gap to two in the fifth (6-8) until they tied 8-8 in regulation time, that sent the contest into an extra chukka. Finally, a foul awarded to Ferne Park ended up in a penalty, that was successfully converted by Facundo Pieres to secure the 9-8 win and the second spot in semifinals.

The last two quarter final matches were held on Sunday July 12. Gaston and Black Bears met up first, in a contest that perhaps was expected to be a balanced one. Instead, Gaston seized the reins from the start, claiming wide advantages in the two first chukkas. And although the Bears managed to close the gap to just one goal (5-6) by half time, Gaston – with Gonzalo Ferrari subbing in for Pelón Stirling – re-gained cntrol – thanks to a fantastic performance delivered by Cruz Heguy (9 goals came from his mallet), Gaston extended their lead to 9-5 in the fourth, and had the deal said and done in the following chukka (11-7); they only needed to produce one more goal in the last chukka to win 12-7 that secured them a place in the semifinals.

The quarter finals ended up with the clash between La Hechicera and Akasha, with the latter receiving one goal on handicap, since the former fielded a 23-goal lineup. After two very close first chukkas, La Hechicera took control of the scoreboard, and went into half time 8-5 up, leaving Akasha struggling to stay in the game. La Hechicera almost swept them in the second half, led by another remarkable performance of the man of the hour, 18-years-old Lorenzo Chavanne, who produced 8 goals. The fifth and penultimate chukka saw La Hechicera leading by an impressive 14-7; and, just like Gaston did in the previous game, La Hechicera, who remain comfortably in the winning path, found the flags once in the last chukka to earn the 15-8 victory.

THE SEMIFINALS OF THE ST. REGIS COWDRAY GOLD CUP WILL BE PLAYED ON WEDNESDAY JULY 15, WITH THE FOLLOWING ORDER OF PLAY:

12pm: Dubai vs. Ferne Park (Ellerston Cup)

4pm: Gaston vs. La Hechicera (Tramontana Cup)