Olympic gold medallist Scott Brash has been named man of the match at a charity polo event at Cowdray Park.
Celebrity riders
Scott Brash was one of a number of celebrity riders, from different disciplines, to pick up a mallet in aid of The Brooke and children’s hospice Chestnut Tree House. Scott was on the winning team, alongside William Fox-Pitt, The Pwoducer (Marc Golstein) and top American polo player Nic Roldan, who organised the Sunset Polo event.
Playing opposite them was Victoria Pendleton, twice Grand National winning jockey Leighton Aspell, Wocket Woy (aka Mattie Batchelor) and 5 Goal professional polo player Martin Valent.
Job swap
The day kicked off with Olympic eventer William Fox-Pitt and Nic Roldan swapping jobs and giving each other a lesson – both proving naturals in their new sport.
This was followed by a demonstration from Monty Roberts and a Sunset Polo game with professional polo players joining Nic.
Sunset Polo was started in 2016 in Florida, by Nic who is an ambassador of the Brooke USA and the Kids Cancer Foundation. The aim of the event was to bring together various riders from different equestrian disciplines to raise both funds and awareness for the causes closest to Nic’s heart.
‘Amazing experience’
The event at Cowdray Park was the first time Nic has brought the event to the UK. H&C’s Rhi Lee-Jones was invited along to the event to film an episode of Rudall’s Round-Up. Rhi used to play polocrosse at national level and had the chance to brush up on her skills, with a lesson from Nic. She then played a chukka with William.
“What an amazing experience to play polo with William Fox-Pitt,” said Rhi. “It’s been a while since I’ve played polocrosse and I was praying I didn’t fall off in front of him. Luckily it went well and I really enjoyed the whole day.”
You can watch all the action from Sunset Polo in Rudall’s Round-Up: Cowdray at 8pm on 30 June on Sky 253, or online via H&C Play and Amazon Video.