Polo: Amistra Xtra, Cherokee shine in Rift Valley Cup

Barclay card Gold Cheza Miller playing against BarclayCard Platinum during Rift valley polo cup at Manyatta Polo Club in Gilgil on August 18,2018PHOTO Harun Wathari

Teams reap maximum points to have a head start at Manyatta Polo Club today.

The fight for Rift Valley Cup went a notch higher yesterday with two top teams winning their first two round robin matches on the second day of the Barclays Bank sponsored Rift Valley Cavalry Cup at Manyatta Polo Club in Gilgil.

Playing under warm weather conditions, Amistra Xtra and Cherokee, who won their opening matches on Friday, reaped maximum points to have a head start on their opponents ahead of the final matches this morning.

Amistra Xtra beat Celest Top 9-6.5 as Cherokee defeated Cruiser 7-4.5 in the fight for the Main Competition -- the Rift Valley Cup, a higher tier tournament meant for experienced players.

Amistra Xtra team boast a total of handicap of 7.5. Jamie Murray has the highest handicap (5.0) in the tournament, Kimoi Moi (2.0), Omwakwe Arunga (0.5), Dani Murray(0.0) and they scored their goals spread in all the four chukkas.

Jamie scored the first two goals in the first chukka before he scored another two in the second and third chukkas and his final two goals came in the final chukka as Arunga (two) and Dani (one) scored the rest in the final two chukkas.

Cherokee replied from the efforts of Izzy Parsons (two) and handicap 3.5 Archie Voorspuy (four) to emerge as one of the top scorers of the tournament.

Against team Cruiser who started the match at the advantage of half fraction of a goal from their low handicap, Cherokee must thank Mbugua Ngugi (two), Joss Craig (two) and Henry Limb (one)  for their efforts in goal scoring.  

Handicap 3.5 Craig Millar emerged as the man-of-the-match against Cherokee by scoring the four goals in the four chukkas.

In the second tier, the Bell Inn Cup that comprised five teams playing in a round robin format, Barclaycard Gold kept their winning streak after a positive start on Friday as they dismissed Barclaycard Classic 4-0 yesterday.

Barclaycard Gold of Izzy Parsons (2.0), Cheza Millar (0.0). Amani Nzomo (-1.0) and Josh Seagon (-1.0) were in pure class as they dominated their opponents in the six match. Two chukkas were played each day.  

Despite starting with a weaker handicap and earning half a fraction of a goal against Barclaycard Platinum in their second match yesterday, Barclaycard Gold went ahead to secure a narrow 1.5-1 victory.

Parsons (Izzy) scored first for Barclaycard Gold in the first chukka while Mbugua Ngugi replied for Barclays Card Platinum in the second chukka.

In another round robin match of the Bell Inn Cup, Barclaycard Signature suffered a 1.1.5 defeat in the hands of Barclaycard Classic.

Yesterday, Barclaycard Signature missed handicap 1.5 Magda Jurkowieka who was injured on Friday and was yesterday replaced by horse jumping specialist Rachael Robley.