Polo playing Hipwood brothers win lifetime achievement award
Brothers Julian and Howard Hipwood (pictured) won the Cabullus Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Audi Polo Awards 2008.
Five hundred guests attended London’s Intercontinental Hotel on Tuesday 20 May for the ceremony.
The formerly 9-goal brothers have, as Howard told those assembled, spent “48 years travelling the world chasing a silly white ball”.
The Audi Polo Awards has for the last three years heralded the start of the British polo season and was attended by some of the biggest names in world polo.
For the first time Britain’s 3,000 polo players voted on-line to nominate the winners of the 17 categories
David Woodd, chief executive of HPA said the awards showed English polo was in good shape, with little sign of the credit crunch to be seen.
“We will have to wait and see if we can say the same next year, but English polo and the polo season seem to be booming, with great improvements in the number of 15- and 18-goal teams.”
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An addition to the awards was the introduction of the Audi Junior Bursary of £7,500, established to encourage players whom the HPA hope will joint the England Squad in years to come.
Recipients were 20-year-old four-goal Young England player George Meyrick, currently recovering from a broken leg, and Richard Le Poer, also 20, who plays off a three-goal handicap and is on the shortlist to play high-goal for Les Lions this summer.
Winners of the Audi Polo Awards 2008
Pommery Most Outstanding Lady Player: NINA VESTEY
Katie Barker Agency Most Outstanding Ladies Team: COOMBE FARM WINES
Longdole Most Outstanding Arena Player: CHRIS HYDE
Longdole Most Outstanding Arena Team: ASPREY LONDON
The Polo Agency Most Outstanding Low Handicapped Player (-2 to 2): OLLIE CUDMORE
New Alphabet Most Outstanding Professional Umpire: JULIAN APPLEBY
The Julius Baer Victor Ludorum (18 goal): LONGDOLE
The Julius Baer Victor Ludorum (15 goal): WILDMOOR
The Julius Baer Victor Ludorum (8 goal): VAMPIRE BATS
The Kerry Packer Most Outstanding High Goal Pony: ‘MUSIC’ — ELLERSTON
Imagine Homes Most Outstanding Medium Handicapped Player (8 to 10: ROBERT ARCHIBALD
Apes Hill Most Outstanding British Professional: JAMES BEIM
Caballus Lifetime Achievement Awards: JULIAN AND HOWARD HIPWOOD
Indigo Real Estate Most Outstanding High Goal Team Award: LORO PIANA
Cartier Most Outstanding High Goal Patron Award: ALFIO MARCHINI
Audi Most Outstanding High Handicapped Player (8 to 10): JUAN MARTIN NERO
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.