Horse Feed

Off and Racing

Posted on by zt_editor

Head Hunters got off to a good start in the RSPC Merdeka League 1 tournament at the Royal Selangor Polo Club.   It is the first RMPA Merdeka League Tournament of the year.  With league points being earned at every game this year, winning both our matches has given us a great start to the campaign.  We lead the league table with a maximum of six points.

The way the league works is that there are three matches in a league format where not everyone plays each other.  There are two zones of three teams that then play “across” the zones.   League Bonus Points are awarded according to the order of merit after three games.  Then there is a final cup game, randomly drawn, also worth game points.

This how the points work:

Game Points to be awarded per the scale as follows:

  •     3 points for an outright win in regulation time.
  •     2 points for a win in sudden death over-time (drawn in regulation time).
  •     1 point for a loss in sudden death over-time (drawn in regulation time).
  •     0 points for an outright loss in regulation time.

All points earned in matches will be counted as league points, accumulating from tournament to tournament.

Bonus points on the following scale will be awarded after the first round of matches.

  •     1st place = 3 bonus points
  •     2nd place = 2.5 bonus points
  •     3rd place = 2 bonus points
  •     4th place = 1.5 bonus points
  •     5th place = 1 bonus point
  •     6th place = 0.5 bonus point.

After two games, this is what it looks like:

2016 RSPC Merdeka 1 Table v2Head Hunters are ahead of the rest, with 6 points.  We play against Windhorse on Thursday, with a great chance to take maximum bonus points if we can beat them.

We laboured to a 1/2 goal win over Royal Pahang, but against Tu Polo, we ran away from them.  The 7 1/2 – 3 score was done was in just three chukkas as we did not even complete the final chukka because of rain.  It might have been more.

Our final cup match will randomly drawn on Thursday night.  I hope we get a team we haven’t played before, either Putra Polo or Amax Polo.  It is always more fun playing a team you haven’t played before.

Also, with Putra running second in the table, it would be like a league final as we used to have in previous seasons.  And if we can beat them, it would further deny them points.

The new format is actually really exciting because every single game counts towards your final total.  There are no easy games and no games that mean nothing, so the likelihood fixed matches is very low.

The horses are going well, and we have opted not to go to any high octane feeds and are staying with our usual regime of Zack’a Tack Custom Polo Mix and Timothy Hay.  Only a few of the older ones will get a little Mitavite Sustaina.  The older ones will also get some Supa Soy to help maintain their condition.

Head Hunters are off and racing and have jumped out well.  We have a long season ahead and we have to pace ourselves.  It’s a staying race, not a sprint.

 

First published in Pete’s Blog-in-the-garden

zt_editor