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Hedgerow Richardson makes a statement for England

By Alex Webbe

It was sometime after the fifth chukker that Jack Richardson picked up his American
sobriquet. An English 20-goal team was on the grounds of the Grand Champions Polo
club in Wellington, Florida preparing for a Sunday showdown with a 19-goal American
side. The teams were heading toward the south end of the field at a full gallop. The
goal posts were fast approaching backed up by a long line of twenty-foot bushes, some
forty feet beyond the goal line. The final shot at the goal went wide and Richardson
continued riding. The bushes got closer and closer until Jack disappeared into and
through them, disappearing onto the other side.

“That’s a first,” bellowed American 8-goaler Nic Roldan. “I’ve never seen that done
before.”

“An absolute legend,” came a shout from the small gathering of spectators. “”Hedgerow
Richardson”, sounded another voice, and the tag was applied.

The feat was noteworthy only by the fact that it punctuated a rather choppy round-robin
that had the English team (Jack Richardson, Richard Le Poer, Tom Morley and Jack
Routledge) facing a select US team (Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and
Jeff Hall) and a third team (Jason Crowder, Kris Kampsen, Tommy Biddle and Ruben
Gracida) thrown together to give the visitors some practice chukkers before playing for
the International Cup on Sunday.

Neither national team showed any star power, although both Roldan and Hall scored
impressive goals in the competition.

“You don’t want to show too much of what you have,” offered Le Poer when asked
about the unimpressive showing on the field. “You don’t want to let them see all of your
game plan.”

Although no score was kept, the American team left the field satisfied with their
performance while the English played a bit longer amongst themselves.

“We’re still evaluating the horses,” said former English team captain Andrew Hine. “We
want to make sure we have them organized in the proper order and allotted to the right
players.”

Hine was flown over to coach the four English youngsters as they embark on a mission
of keeping the streak alive. The English (James Beim, Mark Tomlinson, Eduardo
Astrada and Luke Tomlinson) downed the United States (Jeff Blake, Jeff Hall, Adam
snow and Nic Roldan) 10-9 in the 2009 Westchester Cup (a defense of their 1997

victory) and then an English squad (Oliver Cudmore, Malcolm Borwick, James Beim
and Luke Tomlinson) scored an 11-10.5 win over a USA foursome (Marc Ganzi, Paul
Pieres, Nic Roldan and Jeff Hall) in the St. Regis International Cup in May. The United
States were betting that the current lineup would be able to bring a halt to the one-sided
victories in hopes of a 2013 Westchester Cup match in England.

“We have a rather young team,” Hine admitted, “but I am comfortable that there is a lot
of talent on the team, and that it is very capable of winning the match.”

Hine’s coaching talents have assisted English teams in a number of international
victories, and his time spent as captain of the English side have added playing
experience to his rather impressive resume.

Whether his young charges will be up to the task is yet to be seen.

The England vs. USA match for the International Cup is slated to be played at 3pm
on Sunday at the Grand Champions Polo Club. A 1pm match featuring an English
women’s team (Sarah Wiseman, Hazel Jackson, Clair Donnelly and Nina Clarkin)
against a picked USA team (Melissa Ganzi, Tiffany Busch, Sunny Hale and Gillian
Johnston) will precede the men’s showdown.