Catch polo on the beach at Cornwall’s Watergate Bay

Chukkas are coming to a Cornish beach on Tuesday (9 September) with an evening polo match at Watergate Bay.

The beach near Newquay is home to Fifteen Cornwall, Jamie Oliver’s beach restaurant, as well as a luxury hotel and extreme sports academy.

Three-man teams will play under arena rules on a pitch marked out below the high-tide mark. The match starts at 6.30pm, following the outgoing tide.

On one side, sponsored by Knight Frank, three-goal professional Richard Blake-Thomas teams up with Barbara Zingg, manager at Sandhurst Polo Club, and Andrew Burgess, also from Sandhurst.

They will face Kier Western, with young professional Ed Olof, Tim Vaux of Vaux Park Polo Club in Somerset and young player Patrick Selfe, also from Vaux Park.

Like Cowdray Park’s Gold Cup, the match is backed by longtime polo sponsors Veuve Clicquot.

Last year’s launch event drew a crowd of 1,000. The game is free to watch from the sands, but for an elevated view spectators can try to bag a table at Fifteen, or splash out on a hospitality ticket.

Watergate Bay Hotel has packages for £90 per person, including a champagne reception, jazz band, a bird’s eye view from the hotel’s deck, a barbecue and post-match party.

Beach polo is gaining popularity around the world, with established tournaments in Miami and Dubai. The first British Beach Championships, with six teams, grandstands and corporate hospitality, took place at Sandbanks in July.

For more details of Tuesday’s event, visit www.watergatebay.co.uk/polo.htm

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